As of: February 1, 2024, 5:07 a.m
By: Peter Sieben
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The pressure during final exams is high for most young teachers.
Many people then experience even more stress.
© Ute Grabowsky/imago
Specialist knowledge and pedagogical know-how are not enough: teacher trainees often have to undergo a strange custom.
This is actually forbidden.
Berlin/Düsseldorf – rolls, cold cuts and good orange juice: Yvonne Walters had thought of everything.
Actually, the then trainee teacher only wanted to have pedagogical concepts, German and math in her head on the day of her final exam.
But in addition to all the exam stress, she also had to prepare breakfast early in the morning - for her examiners.
“We were told that we had better come up with something good,” said Walters.
Today the young woman works at a primary school in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Because she doesn't want to have problems with her employer, her real name is not shown here.
She represents numerous young teachers, all of whom report on a ritual that is actually strictly forbidden.
And they all feel pressured by it.
Spreading bread during teacher exams was seen as demeaning
The ritual is often part of the so-called teaching rehearsal.
An examination committee visits the trainee teachers in a lesson to assess: How does the young teacher interact with students?
Is she professionally suitable?
An important test that sometimes decides the fate or fate of a career.
Some of the training takes place at the centers for practical teacher training (ZfsL).
And there, many people hear about the breakfast ritual, and for some the announcement comes from the respective schools.
“The instructors made it clear that this was expected,” Walters said.
To some extent she found it humiliating to have to butter the examiners in the morning.
“The staff often throws together so that the examinees at least don’t have to pay for everything themselves,” says Walters.
The Education and Science Union (GEW) is aware of the strange custom.
“Yes, this practice is known,” says Anja Bensinger-Stolze, GEW board member, to
IPPEN.MEDIA
.
“There is usually no regular requirement, but it has become established in some federal states, districts and districts over the years.” At some point, the competition for the best breakfast for the examiners took on ever greater dimensions.
Student teacher under pressure: “This should not be reinforced by preparing breakfast”
The trainee teachers are often under a lot of pressure during their examination lessons.
“This should not be reinforced by preparing breakfast for the examiners,” says the trade unionist.
“On the day of the exam, you should be able to concentrate on carrying out the lessons and the subsequent discussion about the lessons.” Today, the relationship between examiners and trainees should not be hierarchically structured, says Bensinger-Stolze: “That’s why there is such ‘deference ' also not appropriate."
In fact, it is not only inappropriate but forbidden.
“The examinee may not be involved in any way in the preparation, implementation or even financing of the examination board’s entertainment.
The respective school management must ensure this.
Violations of this must be reported to the examination office immediately,” says the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Education upon request, quoting the State Office for Quality Assurance and Information Technology for Teacher Training.
The appearance of bribery should be avoided
In some federal states, schools now provide examiners with coffee or tea;
as a collegial gesture of hospitality, so to speak, and so that the trainee teachers can concentrate exclusively on their lessons.
The North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Education says that the training school should not provide any entertainment at all.
Only the use of school canteens or kiosks “is of course possible”.
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One thing is clear: even the appearance of bribery on the one hand and exerting pressure on junior staff on the other should be avoided.
Also and especially at a time when a massive shortage of teachers is a problem in many schools and you don't want to scare anyone away.
The Ministry of Education says there are no current complaints about this.
But anyone affected can contact the examination office “and be sure that the complaint will be seriously investigated.”
But: “Nobody does that, you don’t want to mess up the exam,” says Yvonne Walters.
Teacher shortage: Do young talents feel deterred?
Do such practices perhaps deter young people from taking up teaching as a profession?
“No, because you usually only find out about this ritual during your traineeship or even shortly before the exam.
“That won’t deter anyone from studying to become a teacher and completing a traineeship,” believes Anja Bensinger-Stolze from the GEW.
But: “The spirit behind it can, however, be an overall hindrance to completing a traineeship in an open and good learning atmosphere.”