a merit/house point (school reward)


Senior Member
English (British)
Hi all,

What would "merit" and/or "house point" be in German [please with gender and plural form!)?

I'm not sure how rewards and sanctions work in German speaking school.

In England/Wales, most schools give out either "merits" or "house points" for good work, good behaviour etc.

A merit system works by pupils getting merits (often stickers). A running total is kept for each pupil and when a certain number of merits has been collected, a prize or certificate is awarded to that pupil.

House points work in the same way, except each pupil is allocated a "house group" - a bit like a team! Pupils get rewarded for earning "house points" just like for merits, but often the team or "house" with the highest number of points will win a whole team prize (which could be a school trip, a non-uniform day or something else)

Danke im Voraus,
  • Kuestenwache

    Senior Member
    Well as far as I know there does not exist any comparable system in the German education system. My suggestion would be not to translate "merit" and "house point" but rather the special forms in which they are represented.
    E.g. if a merit is given out as a sticker you would not say "for good behaviour you will be awarded a merit represented by a sticker" but just "... you will be awarded a sticker" and "sticker" would be "der Aufkleber/pl die Aufkleber" or just as well "der Sticker/pl die Sticker" in German .
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