The corona pandemic is keeping the primary schools in the district in suspense.
Four rectors now speak up.
You want more personal responsibility - and more trust.
District
- Explaining complex things in an understandable way is the core competence of every teacher.
What is normally limited to lessons in the classroom has expanded to include phone calls and emails with parents in times of the corona pandemic.
“We explain decisions that we cannot always understand on site,” sighs Markus Rewitzer, headmaster of the Hausham elementary and middle school.
It usually works as follows: The minister of education addresses the public at a press conference or writes to the parents directly.
They then call the school and want to know how it will implement the new rules.
The problem: "We usually have no knowledge of the necessary details and room for maneuver, because the corresponding letters are a long time coming," says Rewitzer.
The rector is not alone with his criticism.
His colleagues from other primary schools in the Miesbach district are also exposed to this tension.
At a press conference in Hausham, Rewitzer, Sabine Bösl (Quirin-Regulator Primary School Holzkirchen), Claudia Horstmann (Tegernsee Primary School) and Holger Kraus (Waakirchen Primary School) expressed their displeasure, but also their concerns - and formulated an urgent wish: more Trust.
From politics and from parents.
Not a presence everywhere
Not every offer recommended by the Ministry of Culture can be implemented in every school.
"Here apples are often compared to pears," says Rewitzer.
What nobody noticed in the past is becoming more apparent as a result of the corona pandemic.
The rectors cite classroom teaching as an example.
"We have small classes and large rooms," reports Horstmann.
Means: All students could be taught on site.
At Bösl in Holzkirchen it is the other way around.
“We are still completely in the interchangeable model.” Simply because the local conditions would not allow it any other way.
Also read: School principals not very enthusiastic about alternating lessons
The problem: the parents are well connected these days.
One of the most frequently asked questions: “Why can't it work here when it works elsewhere?” The rectors report that the pressure to justify itself is sometimes enormous.
Online is not a substitute
Rewitzer emphasizes that elementary schools have reinvented themselves last year.
The current level of digitization is like a quantum leap.
Coupled with the high level of commitment on the part of the class teachers, distance teaching worked well in many cases.
Nevertheless, the technical alternatives to presence - for example, the hybrid lessons with live stream from the classroom recommended by the Ministry of Culture - only make limited sense.
Children between the ages of six and ten cannot be “parked in front of the screen” for several hours a day.
"From an educational point of view, this is in no way a substitute for the very individual support in the classroom," explains Kraus.
Only here can one offer the children the necessary alternation between learning, movement and interaction.
Not to mention the often very different funding needs.
"The primary schools cover the maximum possible spectrum," emphasizes Bösl.
Conversion worries
So the fact is that, depending on the school, you are currently progressing at three different speeds (face-to-face, alternating and distance lessons).
This is noticeable at the latest when you cross over.
"In the public discussion everyone only talks about the Abitur," criticizes Rewitzer.
When asked whether a child should switch to middle school, junior high school or grammar school after fourth grade, parents are currently even more unsettled than usual. This is by no means just about the average grade.
“As a teacher, you have plenty of room for maneuver here,” says Kraus.
Far more decisive, however, are the individual abilities of the children, whose development often suffered due to the corona-related restrictions.
Also interesting: This is how digitization works at the secondary school in Finsterwald
Rewitzer hopes that the secondary schools will show greater sensitivity and consideration.
If a child cannot keep up immediately, this does not mean that they are generally not suitable for the respective type of school.
“They simply have a backlog that cannot be made up overnight.” Horstmann even speaks of a “new reality” that the entire school system must face.
The way out of the crisis
Whether rapid tests or vaccinations for the teachers: "Anything that helps us to have safe classroom teaching is good," says Horstmann.
You experience a high degree of cohesion, emphasize the school principals.
Many teachers would work well beyond their normal workload - not least because of the emergency care that is shouldered in parallel at primary schools.
For the coming period they want one thing above all else: less polarization.
"We all try to get the best out of the children together," says Rewitzer.
This works best, adds Bösl, when the schools are treated with two things: "Personal responsibility and trust."
so-called
