Opening of Bavarian schools: "change model" is coming - teachers' association draws bleak prognosis

The final year pupils have returned to their schools. Now there are further loosenings in school operations.

• The Bavarian government has announced far-reaching easing.
• On May 11th, the age groups should go back to the schools that will graduate next year
• On May 18, more classes are to return to school in stages.
• Minister of Culture Michael Piazolo also hinted at a "narrow offer" even for third and fourth graders before the Pentecost holidays
  
• Here you will find our guide * for reporting and the Corona News from Germany *. We also provide current case numbers in Bavaria as a map. The following recommendations for corona protective measures * are currently available. There is more on this topic and many other exciting stories in our app. How the download works.

Update from 3:15 p.m .: After the Bavarian Minister of Culture Michael Piazolo announced today on Wednesday (May 13) a "change model" (explanation below in the text) for the return of schoolchildren in Bavaria, the German Teachers' Association has now announced itself voiced. 

The president of the association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, said at the station n-tv that he had the holidays to put himself in a better organizational position. The shift work between classroom attendance at school and learning at home will surely continue in the next school year - “as long as the distance rules have to apply and will have to apply until a vaccine is available. That can drag well into the next school year. "

Update from 1:24 p.m .: One week of class at school, then one week of learning at home - with such a change model, teachers, students and parents in Bavaria should slowly find their way back to normal after a long corona break. Minister of Culture Michael Piazolo (Free Voters) has high hopes for future "learning in turns". "It is good that the students are gradually returning to class at the school - because nothing beats live classes," said Piazolo in Munich on Wednesday. This will result in more regular and direct communication between the teachers and their students.

Corona in Bavaria: schools in the changing model back to class

"It is about creating a stable teaching offer," emphasized Piazolo. "The decisive factor is that the attendance week and the following week of" learning at home "form a meaningfully interlinked unit." Specifically, this means that the content taught in face-to-face lessons should then be practiced and deepened at home. Building on face-to-face lessons, new knowledge should also be expanded at home - "with a sense of proportion", emphasized the ministry. The topics should be suitable for this in terms of scope and degree of difficulty.

Update from May 13, 10.15 a.m .: Minister of Culture Michael Piazolo spoke today on Wednesday (May 13) about how to proceed for Bavarian schools in times of the Corona crisis.

The topic of “learning from home” has been a topic for a long time, which affects many of those affected. The minister announced today that the Microsoft Teams platform may be used. In particular, the function for video conferences is crucial in order to be able to communicate with your own class in the best possible way from home.

PK with Piazolo: Schools can also use MS teams in digital lessons at home. Allows video conferencing for the whole class.

Corona crisis in Bavaria: Schools will open again from May 6th - subject to conditions

Update, May 5, 1:07 p.m .:  By Pentecost, 50 percent of the students should attend Bavarian schools again.

Söder : “Nobody has to end badly because of Corona. Nobody has to stay seated because of Corona. Voluntary repetition is possible. Just as voluntary sitting. "

There will be a partial mask requirement in schools: "We do not make a mask in class, but a mask requirement at school, so, during the break, in the aisles on the toilet."

If the parents assess themselves as a risk group, they can continue to go digital and are supported. At least until Pentecost.

School opening in the Corona crisis in Bavaria - the timetable

According to Minister of Culture Michael Piazolo , four stages are planned . The first has already been ignited, namely that the final classes have been allowed to return since April 27. 

Second step : On May 11th, the pre-grading classes and the fourth grades of primary school should return. That was decided now. 

Third : On May 18 and May 25, the younger students of the respective school type should also return. For example 5th and 6th grades of high school or junior high school - alternating weekly. 

The fourth step with the remaining stages is to come on June 15 , "if the infection allows it," said Piazolo.

Corona in Bavaria: school holidays are not shortened 

Holiday times remain, the holidays are not shortened.

Update May 5, 12.30 p.m .: As the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder recently announced in a press conference, the schools are to be reopened bit by bit from Wednesday (May 6) . 

According to Söder, the aim is for 50 percent of Bavarian students to attend classes again by Pentecost.

And how is all of this supposed to work under the strict Corona hygiene regulations?

According to Söder, there will be a mask requirement for pupils and teachers in the corridors, during breaks, in the toilets etc. at school, but not in the classroom itself.

Many students in Bavaria have to learn from home and are not yet able to go to school. A ten-year-old in Ansbach was so frustrated that he chose a drastic way out.

Update of May 5, 10:32 am:  The president of the Bavarian Teachers' Association, Simone Fleischmann, spoke out against a uniform solution for all schools in the Corona crisis. "Self-responsibility before standard model" is the motto, Fleischmann said on Tuesday. Every school has a different clientele, different rooms and different staff. One expects, for example, that around a third of the teachers belong to the so-called risk group. Waiting for the signal from the state government that local schools can decide on regulations, Fleischmann said before the cabinet's deliberations on the pandemic.

A week ago, classes in school buildings had started again. "Everyone is looking for normality, and when school is back, everything is normal again" - that would be how many would feel. "This puts a lot of pressure on the decision-makers." For the teachers, the premise was: "The more live lessons, the better" - but on a virological basis. The teaching staff is based on three components: starting emergency care, live lessons and coaching for learning at home.

Back in the classroom in spite of Corona: students describe in desolate conditions in a fire letter

Counter notification of May 5: The school management of the FOS / BOS in Augsburg has objected to the report about alleged hygiene deficiencies at its facility vis-à-vis the Ippen-Digital central editorial office. In a letter to Augsburg Mayor Eva Weber, which is available to the editors, senior study director Dr. Oliver Laqua: "First of all, I would like to make it clear that there are no desperate conditions in our school and that FOSBOS Augsburg does not urgently need help." The school's sanitary facilities are "perfectly fine" despite the age of the facility. In addition, the soap was even increased by the supplier in a special delivery. There are “always problems” with the windows, but this is not unusual for windows that are 45 years old. In addition, defective windows are usually " fixed within a relatively short period of time", according to the school management. The school management's conclusion: "Talking about catastrophic conditions is definitely not the truth." 

Update from May 4th: The final classes have been back at their schools since last week - including the students of FOS / BOS in Augsburg . Around three quarters of all pupils at school are back in class, because this type of school only starts in 11th grade. But there is a lack of hygiene as far as hygiene is concerned, such as the sink and soap , as the Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) reports. Not harmless in times of Corona. For this reason, the pupils of the 12th grades sent a fire letter to the city council faction of the free voters in Augsburg about 10 days ago .

They have now submitted an emergency request to Mayor Eva Weber . They demand that the hygienic defects in the school be remedied immediately. Soap dispensers and toilet flushes are largely broken; there are no toilets at all in the containers that were set up because the school was bursting at the seams. In many classrooms, the windows cannot be opened because they are broken. As a result, it cannot be adequately ventilated, as the BR further reports. All classrooms are to be equipped in accordance with the hygiene regulations issued by the Ministry of Culture. This is what the free voters demand.

Corona forced break for schoolchildren in Bavaria: FDP rushes forward - shift lessons for everyone?

First report from May 3rd

Munich - what's next with Bavaria's schools ? The first pupils are now back in the classroom after the Corona mandatory break - but it is far from certain when all children and young people in the Free State can go to school again with the usual classroom lessons . 

The FDP parliamentary group is now taking part in the discussion again - and is calling for a perspective for further controlled opening of Bavaria's schools in an urgency application . The paper states that taking into account the occurrence of infection and regional and local circumstances, it is necessary to decide on an expansion to other grades - beyond the steps already decided to open the school.

Corona compulsory break for schoolchildren in Bavaria: FDP rushes ahead and calls for further openings

Literally, in the FDP application : "In consideration of infection control, educational and social goals can be (...) are responsible for a gradual opening of schools for classroom teaching." This should for other grade levels in two steps in the rotation process be resumed . The first part of the classes could start again from the week of May 18 and the further part from the week of May 25.

The #Corona crisis must not become an educational crisis. In an urgency application, the # FDP faction @fdpltby demands a controlled opening of the # schools. ‍ https://t.co/Px50p0CYpK

The FDP group, however, tied its request to several conditions. Until then, among other things, the number of reproductive disorders R should remain stable below 1 and the local infection rate should be so far under control that the number of infections per week is locally below 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Schools in the Corona Crisis: FDP submits urgency, but calls for special rule for risk groups

When transporting schoolchildren, care should also be taken to ensure that the necessary minimum distances are guaranteed in local public transport . Attendants should not be required to attend . Instead, they are to be comprehensively digitally supported.

Last but not least, families were in the spotlight - they had to shoulder the “double burden” in the Corona crisis, commented the Merkur * from Munich. In the meantime, dealing with the pandemic is also causing some strange blossoms among hairdressers in the Munich area. From Monday (May 4th) they can again receive customers, but under different conditions.

dpa / nema / fn

* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.

List of rubric lists: © dpa / Christian Charisius