Responsibility for educational oversight in Germany lies primarily with the federal states individually, whilst the federal government only has a minor role. Optional kindergarten education is provided for all children between three and six years old, after which school attendance is compulsory for at least nine years. Primary education usually lasts for four years and public schools are not stratified at this stage. In contrast, secondary education includes three traditional types of schools based on a pupil's ability as determined by teacher recommendations: the Gymnasium enrolls the most gifted children and prepares students for university studies, and attendance lasts eight or nine years depending on the state; the Realschule has a broader range of emphasis for intermediate students and lasts six years; the Hauptschule prepares pupils for vocational education.

Since the 1960s, a reform movement attempted to unify secondary education in a Gesamtschule (comprehensive school). However, instead of overcoming the stratification, Gesamtschule just became a fourth type of secondary school. Since about 2000, several West German Länder simplified their school system to two or three tiers. Motives were: The example of Eastern Germany where in the 1990s, following reunification, a two-tier school system was established; mediocre scores in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), first published in 2001, prompted a nation-wide debate about the school system, and in particular about the social selectivity of early stratification; catering mostly for students from immigrant families, inner-city Hauptschulen were increasingly considered dysfunctional; outside the metropoles, the population is shrinking, so that it becomes increasingly unpractical to maintain a three- or four-tier school system.

A special system of apprenticeship called Duale Ausbildung ("dual education") allows pupils in vocational training to learn in a company as well as in a state-run vocational school.

To enter a university in Germany, high school students are generally required to take the Abitur examination, which is similar to A-levels in the UK and typically done at the age of 18 or 19. However, students possessing a diploma from a vocational school may also apply for matriculation in certain subjects. Germany's universities are recognised internationally, indicating the high education standards in the country. In the ARWU ranking for 2008, six of the top 100 universities in the world are in Germany, and 18 in the top 200. Nearly all German universities are public (i.e. non-private) institutions, charging tuition fees ranging from 350–500 per semester for each student.