Volksschule

In Germany and Switzerland it is equivalent to a combined primary (Grundschule and Primarschule, respectively) and lower secondary education (Hauptschule or Sekundarschule), usually comprising mandatory attendance of nine years.

In Denmark and Norway, they were referred to as folkeskole[1][2] and in Sweden as folkskola;[3] the Finnish term kansakoulu[4] is a direct translation.

In 1717 King Frederick William I of Prussia decreed the compulsory education of children from the age of five to twelve.

In 1763 King Frederick the Great enacted a first Prussian general school law, elaborated by the theologian Johann Julius Hecker.

Similar Volksschulen were established in the Electorate of Saxony and in the German-speaking parts of the Habsburg monarchy, backed by Johann Ignaz von Felbiger, through a system of state-supported primary one-room schools.