Our employees only speak German in the office and on the phone.

Apply for recognition of a substitute school Unternehmensstart und Gewerbezulassung

Find out how to apply for approval of an alternative school here.

  • Basic information

    An approved alternative school can apply for recognition. The recognition of a private alternative school is accompanied by the right to issue certificates with the same effect and to hold examinations in accordance with the regulations generally applicable to public schools.

    Recognition of a private alternative school can be applied for from the competent authority, provided that the school offers the guarantee that it will continuously, i.e. generally for at least 3 years without interruption, meet the requirements placed on corresponding public schools.

    The recognition of a private alternative school is accompanied by the right to issue certificates with the same effect and to hold examinations in accordance with the regulations generally applicable to public schools.

    Requirements

    For the recognition procedure, the instructional preparation of the pupils for the final examinations of the lower secondary level as well as for the Abitur of the school must guarantee that the requirements made of similar or related public schools are permanently fulfilled.

    For the recognition procedure, it must be ensured that the alternative school permanently fulfills the requirements placed on public schools.

  • Procedure

    Once the application documents have been received by the responsible office, they will be checked for completeness. You will be notified if any documents are still missing. Comprehensive and final processing is only possible once the complete documents have been received.

    Specialist departments of the competent authority will be involved in examining the application for recognition. For example, the question of whether the school's internal curricula meet the requirements.

    In addition, the requirements for the quality of preparation for the final examinations at lower and upper secondary level in comparison to state schools are also examined.

    More information

    The following documents are generally required for the general education sector for the examination of a possible recognition:

    • Proof of the implementation of the timetables of the respective type of school and the respective course of education
    • Consent of the school to the collection of performance data on qualifications and transitions by the responsible body (e.g. from comparative tests, final examinations)
    • Internal school curricula for the subjects German, mathematics, English, natural sciences, society and politics at secondary level I, possibly others on request
    • Internal school curricula for the introductory and qualification phases of the upper secondary school for all subjects
    • Submission of written examinations from the introductory and qualification phase to review written performance (with regard to the assignment, expectations, student work)
    • Submission of evidence of further training for teachers
    • Submission of sample certificates

    In addition, observations can be made by the responsible body in selected year groups.

    The following applies to the vocational education sector:

    • Proof of the implementation of the timetables of the respective educational program
    • Consent of the school to the collection of performance data on the qualifications by the responsible body
    • Submission of evidence of further training for teachers
    • Submission of sample certificates on the basis of the certificate decrees

    In addition, observations can be carried out by the competent authority.

  • Competent Department

  • Fees / Costs

    There is the cost regulation of the education administration (BiKostV). The administrative fee depends on how time-consuming the application processing is.

  • Deadlines & processing time

    What deadlines must be paid attention to?

    The following applies to general education: Application (including application documents): by 30.09. of the calendar year prior to the year of the desired recognition
    Note: Recognition can only be requested for the beginning of a school year.
    The following applies to vocational education:
    Application (including the application documents) at the latest 8 months before the start of the desired recognition/start of training

    How long does it take to process

    Not specified.

  • Legal Bases

  • More Information

Feedback on quality

Your feedback will help us to identify and solve problems. You will not receive a personal response. Please do not submit any personal data.

Did you find what you were looking for?

How do you rate this page?*

*Mandatory field

This page has been automatically translated by DeepL. We cannot guarantee that the translation is correct.

The official information in German is complete and correct. 04.11.2025

Dienstleistungen · syfq nzm