Actually, we didn't want to return from our summer break for another two weeks.
Well, let's get in touch a little earlier.
This week, North Rhine-Westphalia is the first federal state to start the new school year - and that is interesting for several reasons:
The Corona summer wave has not yet subsided and could, if the Federal Minister of Health's gloomy forecasts come true, transition almost seamlessly into the third Corona autumn.
Are the schools prepared for this?
North Rhine-Westphalia was the first to have to find answers - and they were rather cautious.
It is obvious that other countries follow the NRW course.
You can read more about what it looks like below ("That's what's going on").
In addition, the country has had a new school minister, Dorothee Feller, for just over a month.
That is why we would like to take a special look at the West in this issue.
As a teacher, school management, parent or student, how do you view the third Corona autumn?
We are very interested in your opinion!
Please send us an email to bildung@spiegel.de.
The Kleine Pause team wishes everyone who is still on vacation a relaxing time - and everyone else a successful start to the new school year!
Best regards
Miriam Olbrisch
for the SPIEGEL education team
That's going on
1. Gaps, Gaps, Gaps
Actually, the federal states had promised each other not to dispute the teachers.
In view of the shortage of skilled workers in schools and daycare centers, some people seem to have forgotten that, as Silke Fokken and Armin Himmelrath described in SPIEGEL.
2. Mrs. Feller and the virus
Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) did not find it easy to occupy the Ministry of Education.
Now someone has found themselves.
A little over a month ago, Dorothee Feller took up her duties.
What is she up to?
We briefly introduce you to the new minister and her plans for the third Corona autumn.
The federal government has also presented a new infection protection concept.
It contains little that is concrete, most of which the countries can decide for themselves.
That's not enough for teachers' associations.
3. Cold noise
In view of the energy crisis, politicians have called for gas savings.
The city of Zwickau therefore announced that it would turn off the hot water in daycare centers and schools.
The Lahn-Dill district did this on June 1st, but only over the summer, limited to mid-September, as the "Hessenschau" reports.
The district administrator would like to save 100,000 euros in energy costs in this way.
The philologists' association demands that schools should be given preferential treatment when it comes to gas supply.
4. And anything else?
The controversial learning-to-write method »writing by ear« is finally a thing of the past in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Good thing, comments the »Rheinische Post« .
After a long back and forth, the parents' initiative "unseKinder" is allowed to start its "Children's and Youth Campus" in Stralsund, an inclusive school for children from the first grade through to high school.
There had been a dispute for months because the Ministry of Education in Schwerin had not granted the founders a license.
Now there has been an agreement before the administrative court in Greifswald.
Again and again, teachers who are supposed to integrate Ukrainian children into the German school system feel left alone with the task.
The »Süddeutsche Zeitung« visited a high school in the Munich area and took a look at the situation on site.
quote of the week
»When I passed the Abitur with an average of 3.0, that was a day of liberation for me and my parents.«
At least since the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann has also been known to non-military experts.
The chairman of the defense committee repeatedly draws attention to her sharp analyses.
She also liked to attract attention at school, as she said in an interview with Die Zeit.
debate of the week
A few weeks ago we asked you about your experiences with the ongoing topic of digitization - and asked you to give us positive examples for a change. Some of you have done that, thank you very much. We would like to show some letters here.
The Augsburg pedagogy professor Klaus Zierer has written a guest article on SPIEGEL.de.
Yvonne Engelmann from the
Helmholtz School
in
Frankfurt am Main
reports that in 1969 her school was the first school in Hesse to have a computer.
During the pandemic, digitization really picked up speed, so that the Helmholtz School applied for the German School Prize, among other things.
A short film was made in the film elective class that impressively demonstrates the digital (and artistic) skills of the students.
From Lower Saxony came the reference to the
commercial school in Hameln
, a vocational school in the district of Hameln-Pyrmont.
For ten years, teams of teachers have been developing various learning environments and IT tools for teaching together with training companies and students.
The trading school has received several awards for its teaching concepts.
High school teacher Marc Matthieson from
North Rhine-Westphalia
recommends a not too narrow - and above all: critical - look at the topic.
For example, the mystification of digital potential must be questioned just as much as the growing influence of the IT industry in the education system.
A position paper on this was published in the journal »Medienpädagogik«.
Do you also have an opinion on digitization in schools? Please write to bildung@spiegel.de.
The good news at the end
While others laze around in the outdoor pool during their summer holidays, a 16-year-old high school student runs around 70 kilometers every day in the scorching heat across Germany, from Freiburg to Hamburg.
This is reported by the "Augsburger Allgemeine".
Denis Holub wants to collect donations for school children in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
That's it for this time. Do you have a topic on your mind that we should take a closer look at? Then please write to bildung@spiegel.de – the »Kleine Pause« team thanks you for your interest!
