Germany, Persuasion, Framing - understand-culture

Who Can Solve It?

The ZDF Politbarometer, the opinion poll of Germany’s second public television channel, has long asked Germans: Was ist Ihrer Meinung nach gegenwärtig das wichtigste Problem in Deutschland? What, in your opinion, is the most important problem in Germany at present? It has also asked which party can best solve the country’s current economic problems.

On 7 November 2025 ZDF reported a result under the headline Mehrheit zweifelt an Problemlösungskompetenz der Bundesregierung, majority doubts the federal government’s competence in solving problems. Only 38 percent thought the government was making an important contribution to solving the problems in Germany. 58 percent doubted it.

The Industrial Master’s Exam

A German industrial master, the Geprüfter Industriemeister, earns the title in an exam at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce. In the exam for the metal trades, the second part consists of integrated situation tasks of at least 240 minutes each, followed by a technical interview.

The rules say what the candidate must show. He must be able betriebliche Aufgabenstellungen zu analysieren, zu strukturieren und einer begründeten Lösung zuzuführen, to analyze and structure tasks in the company and bring them to a reasoned solution. In the interview he must show that he can analyze practical problems in the company and work out possible solutions.

When a Problem Arises

In 1935 the psychologist Karl Duncker published Zur Psychologie des produktiven Denkens, on the psychology of productive thinking. On the first page he defines a problem. Ein ‚Problem‘ entsteht z.B. dann, wenn ein Lebewesen ein Ziel hat und nicht ‚weiß‘, wie es dieses Ziel erreichen soll. A problem arises, for example, when a living being has a goal and does not know how to reach it.

Thinking, Duncker wrote, is called onto the scene wherever the given state cannot be turned into the desired state by simple action. Its task is to design the action that leads from one to the other. In 2003 a seminar at Heidelberg University opened with this definition.

The Doer

When Helmut Schmidt died on 10 November 2015, obituaries traced his reputation back to February 1962. As Hamburg’s senator for the interior, he coordinated the rescue work during the storm flood. The Berliner Zeitung wrote: Dieser Einsatz begründet Schmidts Ruf als entschlossenen Macher. This work founded Schmidt’s reputation as a decisive doer.

The portal deutschland.de, which presents Germany abroad, summed him up in one line. Der Altkanzler galt als Macher und Krisenmanager. The former chancellor was seen as a doer and a crisis manager.

The Problem Behind the Invention

A German patent application includes a description of the invention. Section 10 of the Patent Ordinance sets out what the description must contain. Besides, where needed, the technical field and the state of the art, the applicant must state das der Erfindung zugrunde liegende Problem, the problem on which the invention is based. After it comes the invention for which protection is sought.

The problem may be left out only if it already follows from the solution described or from the stated advantages of the invention. It must be stated in particular wenn es zum Verständnis der Erfindung oder für ihre nähere inhaltliche Bestimmung unentbehrlich ist, when it is indispensable for understanding the invention or for defining its content more closely.

Eight Levels of Problems

The German Qualifications Framework sorts qualifications from the different areas of education into eight levels. The higher levels are described by the problems a person can handle. Level 6 speaks of umfassenden fachlichen Aufgaben- und Problemstellungen, comprehensive professional tasks and problems. Level 7 speaks of neuen komplexen Aufgaben- und Problemstellungen, new complex tasks and problems. Level 8 speaks of developing innovative solutions and methods.

Expertise Means Solving Problems

The framework curricula for Germany’s vocational schools are adopted by the state education ministers. They name the goal of training as Handlungskompetenz, the competence to act. Its first part is expertise, Fachkompetenz. A curriculum of 2009 defines it as the readiness and ability Aufgaben und Probleme zielorientiert, sachgerecht, methodengeleitet und selbstständig zu lösen und das Ergebnis zu beurteilen. That is, to solve tasks and problems in a goal-oriented, appropriate and methodical way, independently, and to judge the result.

Almost the same definition stands in curricula for very different trades. It appears in the 1999 version of the curriculum for media and information services and in 2009 in the curriculum for works fire fighters.

Solving Problems Mathematically

Germany’s national education standards for mathematics name the process-related competences that mathematics teaching is to build. The standing conference of the state education ministers first adopted them in 2003 and 2004 and revised them on 23 June 2022. The list includes Probleme mathematisch lösen, solving problems mathematically, and Mathematisch modellieren, modeling mathematically. In the primary school standards of 2004, Problemlösen, problem solving, comes first.

The standards describe the first competence step by step. It starts vom Erkennen und Formulieren mathematischer Probleme, from recognizing and formulating mathematical problems. It goes on to choosing suitable heuristics and developing a way to the solution. Modeling, they say, is about das Lösen eines realen Problems mit Hilfe von Mathematik, solving a real problem with the help of mathematics.

The First Phase of Design

In 1977 Gerhard Pahl and Wolfgang Beitz published Konstruktionslehre, a handbook of engineering design. Through many new editions it is still a standard work, and it has been translated into seven languages. Its method begins with Klären der Aufgabenstellung, clarifying the task. The result of this phase is a written requirements list, the Anforderungsliste. The phases of concept, layout and detailed design come after it. The engineering guideline VDI 2221 also begins with clarifying the task. In its 1993 edition, this is the step in which the requirements for the product are defined.

The First Chapter of a Thesis

Many German theses open with a section called Problemstellung, the statement of the problem. University guides set out what it must contain. A guide from the FOM University of Applied Sciences asks students to formulate here the questions the study will answer and to explain why they chose this research question. The goals of the work follow in a separate section. A bachelor’s thesis guide at the Free University of Berlin asks students to delimit the topic clearly in the introduction. The introduction should not anticipate the main part.