In the Soviet Occupation Zone (Sowjetische Besatzungszone, SBZ), the foundations were laid for the later public education system of the GDR, which was initially based on the Soviet school system, oriented towards Marxism-Leninism, and then increasingly developed independently. After the German Central Administration for Public Education (Deutsche Verwaltung für Volksbildung) was set up in 1945 on the orders of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (Sowjetische Militäradministration in Deutschland, SMAD), intensive work towards a new beginning for the school and education system began. This new beginning after the Second World War referred on the one hand to repairs to school buildings, some of which had been destroyed, and on the other hand to the urgent task of recruiting new teachers and redeveloping previous National Socialist textbooks and methods against the background of denazification (Denazifizierung). The declared goal of education policymaking for this first phase was democratic school reform that would contribute to anti-fascist and truly democratic education and would lay the foundations for a unified democratic school system (see the Joint Appeal by KPD and SPD for Democratic School Reform of 1945, Gemeinsamer Aufruf von KPD und SPD zur demokratischen Schulreform quoted in Baske & Engelbert, 1966, pp. 5-7). The first and second pedagogical congresses also dealt with the democratisation of education and schools (see protocols BArch DR2/2 and DR2/7; see also pedagogical congresses,).

In this first phase of differentiation, the GDR's public education system was divided into kindergarten, elementary school, vocational school, technical school, high school, adult education centres, evening school, preparatory colleges (later the workers' and farmers' faculties, Arbeiter- und Bauernfakultäten), and university and college. Public education initially included all these educational institutions, but also youth welfare, extracurricular education, science, art and culture, radio, and sport institutions. Responsibilities for sport, radio, higher education and technical schools, art, literature, and film were gradually transferred to other bodies in the following years. With the establishment of the Ministry of Public Education in 1950, at the latest, other development issues became the focus of school and education policy. On the one hand, in direct reference to the Soviet system, a stronger unity of ideological education and technical education was now pushed for and this was also promoted through laws and resolutions (cf. Baske, 1998, p. 170ff.). On the other hand, triggered by a decision of the SED, a discussion began regarding the polytechnicisation of education, training and instruction. The German Pedagogical Central Institute (Deutsches Pädagogische Zentralinstitut, DPZI) and the textbook publisher Volk und Wissen, which had a state-monopoly, were subordinate to the Ministry of Education. It therefore also had a significant influence on pedagogical studies and research as well as school/curriculum-related publications.

From the mid-1960s, a phase of greater consolidation and standardisation followed. At the level of educational content, work had been underway since 1964 on a uniform curriculum for all grades and subjects in the ten-year school. At the level of structures, the Law on the Unified Socialist Education System (Gesetz über das einheitliche sozialistische Bildungssystem, 1965) gave this system its differentiated form: it consisted of nurseries (from 1-3 years) and kindergartens (from 3 years until school entry), a ten-year, compulsory polytechnical high school (with lower, middle and upper levels; see also POS). In addition, there were so-called special talent schools for particularly gifted children, as well as special needs schools and special school facilities for mentally or physically impaired children and adolescents. The POS were followed by vocational training facilities, extended high schools leading to university (EOS), engineering and technical schools, and facilities for training and further education for working people. Universities and colleges, in turn, were essentially based on the EOS and vocational training qualifying for a diploma (Berufsausbildung mit Abitur). The Ministry of Education continued to be responsible for reform schools and extracurricular education. Efforts to establish a strong link between school and family education were varied, and those that were particularly successful were those that were able to integrate the mass organisations of the Young Pioneers (Junge Pioniere) and the Free German Youth (Freie Deutsche Jugend, FDJ) into schoolwork.

Following the education policy maxims stability and continuity, structures of the public education system remained relatively stable until the late 1980s. Despite the structural continuity from 1965 to 1980, developments and changes are noticeable not only within pedagogical discourse, but also statistically. For example, the proportion of pupils who completed a ten-year compulsory upper secondary school education rose from 52.7% (1965) to 86.8% (1980). The proportion of EOS graduates in the respective age group rose from 9.1% (1966) to 9.8% (1970) but eventually fell to 7.7% (1980). Due to a general decline in pupil numbers and an increasing number of full-time teachers, the number of pupils per class fell from 27.6 (1965) to 22.6 (1980) at POS and from 26.1 (1965) to 20.4 (1980) at EOS. Although a certain degree of modernisation was observed, such as the inclusion of computer science and computer education in the curriculum or the adoption of new scientific findings, there were no more fundamental reforms until the end of the GDR.