As of: January 22, 2024, 4:01 p.m
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A teacher teaches in a classroom.
© Marijan Murat/dpa/Symbolic image
The school ministry in North Rhine-Westphalia wants to advertise for more teachers online with a social media campaign.
Teachers' associations and the opposition, however, are calling for other solutions in the fight against the shortage of teachers.
Düsseldorf - Five teachers from North Rhine-Westphalia are supposed to advertise their profession on various social media channels under the motto “What is your teacher?”
Together with two teachers involved in the campaign, NRW Schools Minister Dorothee Feller (CDU) presented the campaign, which was launched on Monday, to the Düsseldorf state parliament.
She wants to use the campaign to improve the staffing situation in schools.
“When teachers describe why they enjoy working with their students despite all the challenges, it makes them the best ambassadors we could only wish for for this important profession,” said Feller, summarizing the content of the campaign videos together.
The videos can be seen on the platforms Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
There is also a website where those interested can find out more about studying to become a teacher or starting a career.
After a campaign that was criticized in 2018, the North Rhine-Westphalia Teachers Association received praise this time.
“The real problem with this advertising campaign is that we need an advertising campaign at all,” said Sven Christoffer, the chairman of lehr nrw.
The best advertising is attractive working conditions, where there is still a lot going on.
The teachers' unions VBE NRW and GEW NRW also made similar statements, calling for better framework conditions, especially with regard to working hours.
The campaign is also not enough for the state parliament opposition.
“In order for more people to become enthusiastic about the profession again, structural changes must also be at the top of the agenda,” said the SPD parliamentary group’s school policy spokeswoman, Dilek Engin.
She also called for comprehensive curriculum reform.
Minister Feller, on the other hand, sees NRW on the right track.
In the current winter semester, the state, together with the universities, created 465 new study places for primary school teaching and special education.
There were also 800 new entrants in 2023.
As of December 1, 2023, around 3,900 more apprenticeship positions were filled nationwide than a year before.
“We are on the right track,” said Feller.
In a representative Forsa survey from the fall, more than 60 percent of school principals in North Rhine-Westphalia stated that at least one teaching position had not been filled at the beginning of the current school year.
One in five schools in North Rhine-Westphalia had three or more vacancies.
According to the Ministry of Education, as of the beginning of June, North Rhine-Westphalia's public schools were lacking staff for more than 6,700 teaching positions.
dpa