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School in Lower Saxony (archive image)
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / picture alliance / dpa
Many schools in Germany are likely to continue to struggle with a teacher shortage in the coming years.
As can be seen from the latest model calculations up to 2030 presented by the education ministers of the federal states on Friday, the situation remains tense, especially in lower secondary education - i.e. above primary school.
"Continuous bottlenecks" are expected here.
Accordingly, math, chemistry, physics and music teachers are primarily needed.
According to the forecasts, the gap in lower secondary education will at least narrow, from 4,770 now to 1,300 missing teachers in 2030. An average annual shortfall of almost a thousand teachers is also expected at vocational schools.
On the other hand, there is a surplus of teachers at grammar schools.
Here, the ministers of education are assuming a nationwide oversupply of an average of 2200 teachers per year.
In primary schools there is currently still an average shortage of 1,700 teachers per year, but a trend reversal towards an oversupply is expected from 2025.
In total there are around 40,000 schools and vocational schools, eleven million pupils and more than 800,000 teachers in Germany.
Changes in the birth rate and immigration are cited as the main causes of the teacher shortage.
Britta Ernst elected as the new KMK President
The outgoing KMK President and Education Minister for Rhineland-Palatinate, Stefanie Hubig (SPD), said that the federal states are already taking a variety of measures to increase the number of teachers.
Some of these, such as the increase in the number of study places, would only be able to take effect in a few years.
On Friday, the Conference of Education Ministers elected the Brandenburg Education Minister Britta Ernst (SPD) as Hubig's successor.
She said she was sure that her colleague would continue the good and trusting cooperation between the state ministers in the coming year.
"She is also facing many challenges, it will not be an easy year," said Hubig, referring to the corona pandemic and its effects on schools.
The chairmanship of the Conference of Ministers of Education is "a beautiful and exhausting office."
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