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Lessons at a Berlin school: "For at least ten years we will go through a bottom where we will not have enough teachers"
Photo: Jens Kalaene / picture alliance / dpa
The bearer of bad news in Lower Saxony has received surprising praise: "It's a good step that the Minister of Education is finally speaking plain language," said the Lower Saxony State School Council on Wednesday - and thus reacted to the assessment of the new Lower Saxony Minister of Education Julia Willie Hamburg (Greens ) that the shortage of teachers in schools "will actually continue for the next few years".
On Tuesday, Hamburg found surprisingly clear words about the staffing situation in the classroom: "For at least ten years we will go through a bottom where we will not have enough teachers," she said in an interview with NDR.
It's a "terrifying prognosis," but it's "finally a prognosis that's honest, that you can adapt to and work with," said Yanik Möller, board member of the state student council.
Those who know the problem can also find the right solutions.
»At the moment, schools in Lower Saxony are regularly missing several lessons per day.
This is currently our everyday life," said Louisa Basner, deputy chairwoman of the Lower Saxony state student council.
The current wave of illness has exacerbated the situation.
The Ministry of Education is now obliged to "present concrete and long-term measures to really eliminate the shortage of teachers in ten years".
Teachers' associations also welcomed the minister's frank words on NDR.
The Ministers of Education (KMK) of the federal states regularly publish figures on the need and supply of teachers.
However, their calculations are usually much more positive than those of educational researchers, foundations or teachers' associations.
While the KMK assumed in its last model calculation that there would be a shortage of around 14,000 teachers in 2030, the scientist Klaus Klemm identified a significantly higher balance of 81,000 at the beginning of the year.
The latest model calculation for the years up to 2035 was supposed to be presented at the Conference of Ministers of Education almost two weeks ago.
However, since there were still discrepancies, the date had been postponed to early 2023, the KMK press spokesman said.
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