ABSTRACT
The polytechnical principle had been implied in the decision of a Party conference in May 1952 to begin the 'systematic building of socialism' and in the Politburo statement which followed soon after regarding the need to raise standards in the schools. The years 1956 and 1957 saw sporadic developments designed to improve productivity. The transformation of Berufsschulen into Betriebsberufsschulen was speeded up so that vocational education became more directly linked with production. What was in fact being attempted in 1958-1959 was to incorporate in the normal school curriculum some of the basic components of an industrial or agricultural apprenticeship. The relevance of this is only fully apparent when it is seen in combination with the other main preoccupation of this period, the introduction of universal ten-year education. The central aim in building up the Mittelschule in the DDR was to eliminate the former dualism between academic and vocational education.
