As of: February 16, 2024, 4:46 p.m
Comments
Press
Split
A teacher stands in front of a digital school board.
© Julian Stratenschulte/dpa
Digitalization has become an integral part of many people's private and professional lives.
Will this make everything better?
Not at all, as a survey among Berlin teachers now shows.
Berlin - According to a new scientific study, many Berlin teachers suffer from “digital stress”.
Although the use of mobile devices, electronic boards and learning platforms is intended to make their work easier, almost three quarters (71 percent) of the more than 2,000 respondents perceive digitalization as an additional burden.
The study was commissioned by the Education and Science Union (GEW).
Only 6 percent see a reduction in stress as a result, as study leader Frank Mußmann from the University of Göttingen announced on Friday.
Quite a few school employees are therefore disappointed by digitalization.
Teachers feel stressed, among other things, by the constant presence of digital media or by a lack of preparation time for digital work in class.
They also find it a stress factor that the technology or internet connection in many schools does not work reliably and that they receive little support in IT issues.
As a result, according to the study, many teachers prepare lessons digitally and analogue at the same time - which results in more rather than less workload.
The demonstration effect also causes them stress: They are afraid that if they use digital elements in front of the class, something will not work and that the students will then laugh at them, for example.
2,385 of Berlin's approximately 34,500 teachers were surveyed for the study.
According to the authors, the survey is “comparative, but not representative in the strict sense.”
It is part of a large-scale scientific study into the “real working hours” and workload of Berlin teachers.
This started in August 2023 and is scheduled to run for one year.
According to the initial results now presented, the use of digital media in Berlin's schools is now the norm.
Two out of three teachers - the exact proportion varies depending on the type of school - use them every day.
93 percent use it at least every week.
Three quarters of those surveyed said they wanted to incorporate even more digital elements into lessons - but they often feel thwarted by the poor framework conditions.
The scientists identify the technical equipment as a major problem.
In many cases, teachers have mobile devices such as tablets.
But: “Only a third of the teachers regularly use the personal digital device issued by the Senate Administration at least weekly,” says study director Mußmann.
“Among other things, because it cannot be connected to the digital board at school or a printer.” Other teachers therefore used private devices, even though this was not allowed.
The bottom line is that, according to the survey, 55 percent of those surveyed experience “stronger” or “very strong digital stress”.
In the remaining 45 percent it is “low” or “very low”.
The result could be damage to health and even burnout, warned Mußmann.
The scientist therefore sees a need for action in educational administration.
His suggestions: More training, better IT infrastructure and reducing barriers to the use of business devices.
My news
New investigations in the Rebecca Reusch case: Now her mother is speaking out
Missing Rebecca Reusch: Many puzzles - and always a suspicious reading
1 hour ago
Navalny's death shows the monstrosity of the Putin regime
High security precautions during Zelensky's visit to Berlinread
1 hour ago
Lauterbach shows up on the red carpet with his new girlfriend
“We haven’t had that yet either”: Walker finds four-meter python in Berlin’s Parklesen
Anne Albers, head of the GEW Berlin executive board department for civil servants, employees and collective bargaining policy, was alarmed.
“The results should finally wake up Education Senator Katharina Günther-Wünsch, because so far school digitalization has been overlooked by those in charge,” she said.
“The survey clearly shows that teachers are highly motivated and want to work digitally.
The Senate Education Administration is literally pulling the plug on them.” Purchasing expensive equipment is not enough if the digital infrastructure is not developed and teachers do not have time to adapt their work.
“We are aware that digitalization brings with it new challenges, but also opportunities for teachers,” explained a spokesman for the education administration when asked by dpa about the study results.
“This is also why we try to relieve the burden on teachers wherever possible.” This is done, for example, through additional administrative management at all schools, additional external IT support or further developed learning management systems.
School digitalization is also continuing consistently: the goal is to equip all public schools with fast internet during the current legislative period, which runs until 2026.
At the moment, on average, a new fiber optic connection is put into operation at a Berlin school every day.
In addition, the schools still have around 15,000 mobile LTE routers available, which provide fast internet via WLAN.
dpa