"The organization of this school year was particularly demanding this year." This is the conclusion that the head of the school office, Marion Bauer, and the new head of the school office, Stephan Rettig, draw six days before the start of classes on Tuesday.
Erding - Because this time not only had classes to be formed and teachers divided up at the 31 primary and ten secondary schools, but the special circumstances of classroom teaching with all children in the class in the midst of the corona pandemic had to be taken into account.
Some teachers cannot stand in front of the class to protect against Corona.
In addition, 15 educators from the mobile reserve who stand in for sick colleagues are absent for the same reason, including pregnant women.
In return, says Bauer, the education authority was able to hire two team teachers to look after the classes whose teachers teach from home.
5017 elementary and 2338 middle school students
As of Tuesday, the school authorities expect a total of 5017 elementary and 2338 middle school students to be taught in 243 and 117 classes, respectively.
According to Bauer, the number of middle school students has remained almost constant.
But there are 122 primary school students more than a year ago.
The number of first graders is slightly down to 1,227 (- 19).
“So the increase is the result of people moving in,” says Rettig.
It is encouraging that the class sizes are manageable.
160 (44.4 percent) have between 16 and 20 children, 138 (38.3%) between 21 and 25. No class has more than 30 girls and boys, says Bauer.
30 classes even only have up to 15 children.
"During the time of the partial face-to-face teaching, they were the only ones who had continuous school", reports the technical director.
Even more differentiated range of courses
From this school year, the educational offer will be even more differentiated, announced Bauer.
So-called M courses can be set up in the second half of the year at all M locations that lead to a secondary education qualification “to prepare students for admission to the secondary school leaving certificate at an early stage”.
Those who have an average of at least 2.66 in the main subjects German, Maths and HSU after the fourth grade can choose the Realschule, but also the M course.
In the fifth grade, an average of 2.66 is then also required.
"This is another contribution to more attractive middle schools," said Rettig.
There are already 18 M and two so-called preparatory classes (formerly the “9 + 2 model”), which also lead to the secondary school leaving certificate.
Computer science classes are expanded
Another new feature is that IT lessons are no longer only available in grades five and seven, but from five to eight.
In 2021, the ninth grade will be added, announces Rettig.
Bauer describes the supply of teachers as sufficient, and each class will have its own management.
508 primary and secondary school teachers, 66 specialist pedagogues, 43 church teachers and 25 special needs teachers are available.
67 new teachers come to the district.
Because of Corona: bottlenecks among teachers cannot be ruled out
Because of Corona bans, however, she cannot rule out personnel bottlenecks, "especially not when there are quarantine orders that, in the worst case, affect several teachers," said Bauer.
The proportion of migrants has decreased slightly from 26 to 24.8 percent.
Specifically, there are 1825 girls and boys.
Due to the proportion of foreigners of over 50 percent at the Klettham elementary school, a class can be divided again this year so that the maximum number of 25 children can be met in this case.
Additional German lessons for foreign children
According to Bauer, 254 additional teaching hours are available for German support measures.
In 38 pre-course groups, pre-school children with poor language skills are given special care.
There are separate German classes again at the Altenerding and Taufkirchen Middle Schools.
Bauer reports that 41 full-time classes are being set up for 811 students, one less than in the previous year.
The open all-day school is available at twelve (+ 1) primary schools.
At least 19 other facilities offer at least one day care.
Should partial homeschooling become necessary again due to the increasing number of infections, the Ministry of Education has its own guidelines for this for the first time.
In this context, Bauer criticizes the still inadequate digitization.
It is not uncommon for there to be a lack of efficient WiFi (report to follow).