Top marks in the report
What do you think of assessments of work and social behaviour?
Expensive and superfluous: bad report card for behavioural grades
17.7.2025
Translation: machine translated
Employees: good. Social behaviour: very good. Meaningfulness: insufficient. One study criticises such "head marks" for children as expensive, superfluous and inefficient.
For parents, looking at these grades can be a real soul massage: If the daughter «works with concentration and perseverance» and the son accepts the «rules of school life», the odd slip-up in maths or English is half as bad. They appear in some school reports, but not in others. The Swiss Curriculum 21 does not regulate this in a binding way.
In Germany, such assessments of employees and social behaviour are called «Kopfnoten» - and if according to a recent publication by the ifo Institute for Economic Research, they are superfluous. They would cost the state around 206 million euros per school year due to the working time spent on them, without any influence on the educational success and later career entry of children and young people.
Sometimes abolished, sometimes introduced
This type of assessment has long been controversial. In some places, it was abolished only to be reintroduced later. Researchers used this to look for «causal effects» In other words, to see whether they demonstrably favour a positive development. If heads are already spinning when it comes to awarding top marks, then they should at least have added value. Proponents argue that feedback can motivate pupils to improve their behaviour and thus have a long-term effect on performance.
The researchers strongly doubt this effect: the analysis of various data sets shows that head marks have no noticeable influence on reading skills and social skills, study author Florian Schoner is quoted as saying in the press release on the publication. «Behavioural grading also does not influence entry into professional life.» One reason for this could be that subject-specific school grades already take behaviour in the classroom into account to some extent. In plain language: those who are troublesome in the classroom are graded lower than children who are easy to teach, despite having the same level of behaviour.
Teachers are in disagreement
The addition that the subject grades take partial account of behaviour «» is interesting - because it shows that teachers disagree on this. In a survey for the study, a third of 246 teachers tended to believe that behavioural grades are already included in the subject grades. A good half would at least tend to disagree with this statement.
Other publications suggest that good or bad behaviour is included in the assessment anyway. Whether consciously or not. In any case, this suspicion is often discussed among children and is naturally perceived as unfair. It is, even if it is handled differently depending on the teacher. Then it's better to separate them properly. Or?
From an economic perspective, the case is clear: do away with behavioural grades. Fortunately, schools are not commercial enterprises. But it is a problem when superfluous work is done at the expense of those who are already stretched to the limit: «Teachers need an average of 30 minutes per schoolchild and school year to award grades that are meaningless for the children's future», quotes ifo researcher Vera Freundl. «This time and the resulting costs could be used more efficiently - especially in times of teacher shortages.»
When up to eleven teachers discuss in one meeting whether Dario has behaved well «» or very well» like Vivienne «, this adds up to a lot of working time that can be offset against cash. Or not. Because many teachers work unpaid overtime, in Germany as well as in Switzerland. This, in turn, may be positive in economic terms - but it is a fact that ultimately causes teachers and learners to suffer.
Michael Restin
Senior Editor
Michael.Restin@digitecgalaxus.chSimple writer and dad of two who likes to be on the move, wading through everyday family life. Juggling several balls, I'll occasionally drop one. It could be a ball, or a remark. Or both.
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