Minister of Education warns of "ever more dramatic forms" of the teacher shortage

Enlarge image

Young teacher at a school in Hanover: "Making the teaching profession more attractive"

Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / picture alliance / dpa

Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) warns of a drastic shortage of teachers and sees the federal states as having a duty to deal with the problem.

"The shortage of teachers is taking on more and more dramatic forms," ​​she told the "Bild" newspaper.

And stated the already known consequences: "We are already seeing alarming deficits with regard to the basic skills of primary school students, for example, which have been exacerbated by the corona pandemic."

The federal states are faced with a "Herculean task," stated the minister.

It is important to »make the teaching profession more attractive and show it more appreciation«.

Among other things, it is about freedom in the design of lessons and relief from bureaucracy.

The federal government should take on more responsibility in school policy

At the same time, Stark-Watzinger in the »Rheinische Post« called for the federal government to have more influence on the school policies of the federal states.

»It's not about taking something away from the countries.

But it can't be the case that the federal government should always give more money without being able to have a say." She wants to talk to the states about it and distribute the tasks better.

"As a federal government, we could take responsibility for overarching tasks, such as digitization," suggested the FDP politician.

»Not every country and every school has to develop its own concepts, for example for the implementation of the digital pact.

The federal government could create standards here that can then be adapted locally.«

A primary school in the district of Ammerland wanted to introduce a four-day week due to a shortage of teachers.

«»Our teaching provision looks very bad and we are not in a position to provide all classes with the same lessons«, wrote headmistress Doris Tapken in a letter to parents.

But the ministry in Lower Saxony prohibited this measure.

Bavaria wants to counter the shortage of teachers with bait offers: The Free State wants to pay a flat rate for moving costs for trained teachers from other federal states who have decided to work in Bavaria, said State Chancellery boss Florian Herrmann (CSU) in Munich.

He advertised that salaries in Bavaria are often better than elsewhere.

For example, a teacher in salary group A 13, in which future teachers at primary and secondary schools are to be grouped in addition to high school teachers, earns around 9,400 euros per year more in the initial level than in Saxony, for example.

The director of studies and bestselling author Ewald Arenz represented the conviction in SPIEGEL that many teachers are responsible for their own overload.

They would have to show more openness to new teaching material and digital learning.

ala/AFP