the traffic light has managed to displace Corona - at least from their plans for education policy.
In the coalition agreement of the three future governing parties, the word corona appears only once in the chapters on education and research.
We have summarized and analyzed what it says instead and by what the designated new education and research minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger will have to be measured.
("That's going on")
Otherwise, Corona is of course omnipresent.
The new minister also spoke out against school closings despite the ever increasing number of infections.
On »Bild live« last week, Stark-Watzinger said: »We are in favor of not closing schools.
Wherever we have government responsibility as liberals, we don't do that either, because we believe that the pupils should not suffer educational deficits again now. «
In case of doubt, the virus closes the schools completely by itself. The number of school outbreaks is currently "very much" above the maximum level of the second wave, the RKI reported in its weekly report on Thursday.
At the beginning of November, around three times more outbreaks were reported per week than in the previous year at this time.
A vaccination could reduce the risk of infection. But only about 45 percent of 12 to 17 year olds are vaccinated. And in some places there are efforts to ensure that this number does not increase either: Many schools are becoming battle zones for opponents of vaccinations. (»Debate of the Week»).
In Munich it became apparent that the test concept for safe schools could falter. The results of the schoolchildren's PCR pool tests should actually be available there by 7 p.m. on the same day, but that did not succeed in several cases last week. The school management of a primary school received only 4 out of 14 results one evening. In response to a request from SPIEGEL, the Munich Department for Education and Sport confirmed "that due to the increased increase in PCR tests, the duration of the evaluations has in some cases been delayed well beyond the planned deadline." However, if chains of infection are only detected several days later, the entire test concept would be obsolete. The situation seems "out of control" to an affected father.
How are you as a parent, teacher or student?
We look forward to hearing from you by email to bildung@spiegel.de.
And as always in these times, the wish: stay healthy!
The SPIEGEL education team
That's going on
1. Karliczek 2.0?
The liberal Bettina Stark-Watzinger is to become Federal Research Minister of the Ampel coalition.
When it comes to the personnel decision, parallels to her predecessor Anja Karliczek (CDU) stand out.
Is history threatening to repeat itself?
Miriam Olbrisch predicts what to expect from an FDP education minister.
2. Digital Pact 2.0!
The digital pact 2.0 should exist, that is what the three parties of the new federal government promise in their coalition agreement.
"Education and opportunities for everyone" is the motto under which education policy should be based in the future - and by which the future government will have to be measured.
Associations and interest groups are cautiously optimistic when looking at the coalition agreement, which provides, among other things, for student loans that are less dependent on parents and better support for schools in focus.
But they demand that words must now be followed by deeds.
3. What else?
As the last federal state, Berlin also wants to employ civil servants again. The future new state government under Franziska Giffey (SPD) agreed on this. The capital abolished the teaching staff about two decades ago. According to Giffey, the plan is now to start this practice again from the 2023/24 school year. In addition to new colleagues, employed teachers should also receive a corresponding offer, provided they have not yet exceeded the age limit of 45 years. The "Süddeutsche Zeitung" analyzes whether the official bonus helps against a shortage of teachers.
The federal states want more time to use federal funds to expand all-day care in primary schools.
The Federal Council decided on Friday to submit a corresponding motion to the Bundestag.
Because of the tense situation in the construction sector and the corona crisis, there are considerable delays in construction projects, according to the reasoning.
That is why the funds cannot be called up by the end of the year.
The federal government is funding the expansion of all-day places with 750 million euros.
The money is the first building block for the planned legal right to a full-time place for elementary school children, which is to be introduced gradually from 2025 to 2029.
Good to know
The shortage of teachers has many facets.
A study by the DIPF Leibniz Institute for Educational Research and Educational Information and the Goethe University Frankfurt shows that students with a migration background have a lower feeling of belonging to a teacher training course and are more likely to drop out.
The study suggests that there may be a connection between the sense of belonging and the intention to drop out.
Number of week
46
That is the percentage of school principals who “probably not” or “definitely not” would recommend their job to others.
This is the result of the annual representative Forsa survey commissioned by the Association for Education and Upbringing (VBE).
As before, the biggest problem at school is - you guessed it - the shortage of teachers.
More details can be found here.
Debate of the week
To vaccinate or not?
To what extent should and may the school, as a public, mostly state institution, interfere in this private decision?
The vaccination itself remains of course a personal matter for the families, said Olaf Petschauer, head of a Thuringian high school, the SPIEGEL.
“But the children can only be educated through schools - because we cannot ensure that information about the parents is passed on to the children.
This is how I interpret the educational mandate of schools «.
With this attitude Petschauer and other directors became the target of vaccination opponents and "lateral thinkers".
Opponents of school vaccination get a tailwind from the professional association of paediatricians.
"Whoever gets vaccinated and who doesn't, only concerns the families," says its spokesman, Jakob Maske, a pediatrician in Berlin.
The subject has no place in the school, where there are mostly minors.
The danger that peer pressure would arise is too great.
"Providing neutral information is practically impossible."
Read the whole story here
How do you see it
Write to us at bildung@spiegel.de.
We'll say goodbye until next time.
The “Small Break” team thanks you for your interest!