Country draws idea for part-time teachers: ask for help

Created: 2022-06-29Updated: 2022-06-29 11:53 am

Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) takes part in a press conference.

© Bernd Weißbrod/dpa/archive image

In times of crisis like these, everything has to be put to the test, says Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann again and again.

He also keeps an eye on the regulations for teachers.

However, his rather spontaneous push for less part-time work for teachers did not succeed.

Stuttgart - Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann has given up his push for limited part-time teachers and is now asking schools for help.

A government spokeswoman told the German Press Agency on Wednesday that the idea of ​​increasing the minimum working hours for part-time civil servants due to the shortage of teachers had been extensively examined by the Ministry of Education.

“However, the exam showed that we would only gain 80 to 120 credits.

That's why we won't pursue the idea any further."

Teachers' associations sharply criticized the letter from Kretschmann and Minister of Education Theresa Schopper (both Green) in view of the stress caused by the Ukraine refugees and the pandemic.

Among other things, it says: “Please consider whether you can teach one, two or maybe even three additional hours in the coming school year.

Or whether you can postpone your upcoming retirement and support us as a pensioner.”

Kretschmann and Schopper also argue that longer working hours could have a significant impact on the provision of teaching in the country.

If every second part-time teacher teaches an additional hour per week, around 1,000 assignments could be won in the coming school year, according to the letter.

"We know that we are asking a lot of you with our call," both continue to write.

In the current crisis, however, the country needs the support of teachers.

The letter is available to the dpa.

The chairman of the Baden-Württemberg Association of Philologists (PhV BW), Ralf Scholl, reacted stunned to the letter and request.

"We find it outrageous that the teachers, who are completely exhausted after two and a half years of Corona, are asked, almost begged, to get the chestnuts out of the fire for the state government," he told the dpa.

Thanking the teachers is nothing more than “lip service”.

The association demanded that additional hours also have to be paid for.

"So far, however, there is no sign of the supplementary or special budget required for this," said Scholl.

State chairman Gerhard Brand welcomed the government's withdrawal on behalf of the Education and Training Association (VBE).

Teachers often made a conscious decision to work part-time for family reasons and thus forego part of their salary.

"For many of them, a forced increase in part-time work would have resulted in having to stop working altogether," said Brand.

"This would have thwarted the goal of the state government."

Kretschmann explained in April that the country urgently needed more teachers in view of the arrival of thousands of refugee children and young people from Ukraine.

The regulations for part-time work are currently “very generous”, so that many female teachers in particular teach relatively few hours.

However, an increase in the general weekly working time of 41 hours for state civil servants is not being sought.

Unions and the opposition were already unanimously irritated by the surprising move and described it as poorly thought out.

State civil servants are generally entitled to work part-time for up to 50 percent.

An application for part-time work for family reasons, for example because a child is being cared for or a relative is being cared for, can only be rejected if there are compelling official reasons to the contrary.

Since a change under Green-Red around five years ago, the lower limit for part-time work has been 25 percent - before that it was 30 percent.

Such applications are checked individually by the respective regional council for teachers.

In the southwest there are a good 110,000 teachers at general schools, 52,000 work part-time, according to the state.

The proportion of female teachers is particularly high in elementary schools.

dpa