Berlin’s police force is facing mounting difficulties in recruiting new officers, with poor German language skills among applicants emerging as a major concern, according to the city’s police leadership.
Police President Barbara Slowik Meisel told the Interior Committee of Berlin’s House of Representatives that a large number of candidates are failing the entrance examinations, primarily because they do not meet basic language requirements.
“We have a very serious problem with German language skills, regardless of nationality,” she said, as cited by Welt, adding that many applicants struggle to pass computer-based tests because of inadequate command of German.
“I don’t want to criticize schools, but there is a problem with the educational levels young people are leaving school with,” Meisel told lawmakers. She said around 80 percent of failed computer tests could be traced back to language deficiencies.
Meisel stressed that the police could not respond by lowering standards. “Otherwise, we’ll simply see higher dropout rates,” she said, noting that while attrition among Berlin police trainees has so far been lower than in some other forces and professions, that balance could not be maintained if entry requirements were watered down.
In an effort to address the problem, the Berlin police have introduced their own German-language tutoring courses for applicants and hope the additional support will improve pass rates.
The recruitment challenge is also reflected in staffing figures. Of the 1,224 training positions available each year, only 936 were filled last year, according to Berlin’s Senator for the Interior, Iris Spranger of the left-wing Social Democratic Party (SPD).
The concerns come amid a broader debate about declining educational performance in Germany. A study presented by Humboldt University in Berlin last year found that students are increasingly failing to meet minimum standards in core subjects such as mathematics and the sciences. The “IQB Education Trend” reported that fewer students reached required benchmarks than in earlier assessments in 2012 and 2018, with failure rates rising across multiple subjects.
A review published in August 2023 by the New Social Free Market Initiative found that the proportion of children who do not speak German at home had risen sharply over the past decade, contributing to widening gaps in educational achievement and placing additional strain on schools already facing staff shortages.
