As of: January 26, 2024, 4:39 p.m
By: Dirk Walter
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Anna Stolz wants to strengthen math and German with a Pisa offensive.
© astrid Schmidhuber
The Minister of Education has now made an important decision regarding the planned reform of primary schools.
The third religion lesson in the 3rd and 4th grades could very well be canceled if “the school family” wanted this, said Anna Stolz in the Bavarian state parliament.
Munich – She calls it “the Pisa offensive”: In response to the decline in German students in the latest Pisa study, the Minister of Education wants to strengthen mathematics and German in primary schools.
After Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) initially rushed forward with ideas, Stolz also published their concept last week: There should be one more hour of German in grades one to four, and one hour more mathematics in grades three and four.
Schools should decide for themselves where to make cuts
Since the total number of hours should not increase, cuts will also be necessary in return, as Stolz emphasized yesterday in the state parliament's education committee.
She wants to “leave flexible options on site”.
This means that the schools should decide for themselves where they want to make cuts.
When asked by Green MP Gabriele Triebel, Stolz confirmed that in addition to English, a religious lesson could also be sacrificed.
“I don’t rule out flexibility.” This openness in the 3rd religion lesson, which is available in the 3rd and 4th grades, is a must.
The CSU recently ruled this out during its closed meeting.
In the committee yesterday, however, there was no objection from the CSU MPs.
CSU MP Björn Jungbauer even welcomed the fact that schools can make flexible decisions.
However, she draws a “red line” when it comes to sports, added Stolz.
There should be no reduction here.
In a few weeks she wants to present the “orientation framework”, which lists all possible cuts in detail.
Different accents than Söder
Stolz also set somewhat different accents than Söder on other educational policy issues.
Unlike Söder, who announced restrictions on the granting of part-time work in an interview with our newspaper, Stolz relies on voluntary work.
“My main approach is to create incentives to increase part-time work.” Here too: no objection from the CSU, on the contrary: Uta Eiling-Hütig emphasized that the CSU is “by no means” interested in abolishing part-time opportunities.
The teachers' associations are of this opinion anyway.
“It cannot be emphasized often enough that part-time bans are an attractiveness killer for the profession,” emphasized the Bavarian secondary school teachers’ association again yesterday.
Stolz also wants to act flexibly when it comes to everyday skills in schools.
While the CSU and FW want to anchor everyday knowledge “as part of a school subject” in the future, as it says in the coalition agreement, Stolz is relying on an expansion of project weeks.
So: no separate school subject.
When it comes to the constitutional quarter hour, she wants to differentiate: in primary schools the focus is on “experiencing democracy”, while in higher grades individual articles of the constitution should also be covered.
Stolz also announced that the first mandatory language proficiency surveys would be carried out in daycare centers in March 2025.
This is intended to prevent children with a migrant background from coming to school even though they do not understand German.
Addressing the AfD, which had explicitly called for “German children” to be made strong, Stolz said: “All the children who are with us are Bavarian children and are our children.” All MPs – apart from the AfD – applauded.
Church protests
The Catholic Church protested: “No savings in teaching values, hands off religious instruction,” explained the chairman of the Diocesan Council of Catholics of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, Armin Schalk.
In a statement published in Munich on Friday, he pointed out that the subject of religion conveys orientation and values.
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