Studienrat, literally meaning "Educational Councillor", is an official German title for an official or civil servant mostly in the regular state-owned grammar schools in Germany. It is a denomination for an official in the so-called "higher service" as opposed to the "elevated", "middle" and "lower" service ranks. This office is located on the 4th "service level" and remunerated according to "A 13" which marks the first salary level of "higher service" officials. The Studienrat normally works as a teacher in higher education up to the Abitur which corresponds to A-Level exams. In the GDR Studienrat was an honorary title for a teacher. Besides, there are also civil servants at ecclesiastical church-owned grammar schools that hold the title of a „Studienrat im Kirchendienst“, short „StR i. K.“ They are "officials of the church", on a legal basis comparable to officials of the state. The following ranks are Oberstudienrat, Studiendirektor and Oberstudiendirektor
Prerequisites for the nomination and promotion
Nomination of a Studienrat requires a master's degree in at least two subjects like Mathematics and Physics and additional educational studies. The next step is a teacher training at an Educational College for mostly two years including practical training on the job, and a three-year probationary period at a grammar school.
Introduction of "Studienrat" as a title and its background in social history
In 1918, Wilhelm II made a decree to replace the title "Oberlehrer" by the honorary title "Studienrat". In Prussia, since 1892 two thirds of the grammar school teachers held the title of Oberlehrer, a third was addressed by the honorary title of grammar school professor: "Gymnasialprofessor". Oberlehrer were entitled to teach in higher education. As early as 1892 they were seen as equal to judges or magistrates, acknowledged as "higher service officials of the fifth class". This higher ranking and the coveted title of a councillor boosted the previously rather low social prestige of the grammar school teachers, a success mainly owed to the unremitting efforts of the "Vereinsverband akademisch gebildeter Lehrer", founded in 1903, which from 1921 onwards called itself "Philologenverband". The teachers' union represented the professional interests of the 95% of grammar school teachers who were union members. As explained by the legal expert Rudolf Summer, the basic official title of "Rat" has to be specified by the obligatory supplement of "Studien" to convey the relation to schooling and education. This is meant to avoid the general title of "councillor". With respect to the title of director the supplement is expected to avoid confusion because "Director" like the English "director" is used for a variety of leading positions in different fields.
According to the magazine Der Spiegelthe town of Bremen has so far been the only federal state that attempted to abolish the official title of "Studienrat" in 1979 and to introduce the new title "Lehrer/in an Öffentlichen Schulen". After several prolonged judicial procedures, the FederalConstitutional Court decided that official titles are not allowed to level off the distinctive qualities of different professional levels of performance, they have to be differentiated, in order to indicate publicly the graded recognition of performance and to refer clearly to the area of service, in this case to education or schooling as opposed to administrative or military services.
