As of: February 19, 2024, 11:57 a.m
By: Julia Hanigk
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The Pisa study director criticizes the teachers after poor results.
He recommends using them as coaches and social workers.
Berlin – The Pisa study, which checks the level of knowledge of German students every three years, has recently delivered alarming results.
The performance of 15-year-olds in math, science and reading skills is worse than ever.
Andreas Schleicher, OECD education director and head of the PISA study, sees teachers as being primarily responsible.
Pisa study director Andreas Schleicher renews criticism of teachers
In an interview with the
Welt-Zeitung,
Schleicher emphasized: “No education system can be better than its teachers.”
The inventor of the international school performance study has already caused a stir in the past with his statements in which he described teachers as “order takers” and “not in the 21st century”.
Now he is renewing his criticism.
Andreas Schleicher renews his criticism of teachers in Germany.
© Wolfgang Kumm/dpa/picture alliance
When asked about his “general scolding of teachers,” Schleicher replied that “lesson design needs to be made more creative, more interesting and more exciting.”
“Instead, we are still working according to old curricula.
“It doesn’t work that way anymore,” explains the head of the Pisa study.
Schleicher sees teachers “also as coaches, mentors and social workers”
Schleicher points to “major achievement deficits and a very unfair distribution of educational opportunities”.
He attributes this to “many reasons”, but emphasizes: “what happens in class is part of this construction site”.
He doesn't want to assign blame because teachers in Germany have less freedom than in other countries.
His suggestion is to foster relationships outside of the classroom and act “not only as a knowledge broker, but also as a coach, mentor and social worker.”
Better distribution of teachers as a response to poor Pisa results?
In other education systems and countries, more time is spent getting to know students better.
Schleicher says: “In the most efficient education systems, teachers define their role in such a way that they are there to help students of all social classes.
They firmly believe that all children can learn.
“These systems also succeed in attracting the best teachers to the most difficult schools by creating incentives and career paths to motivate these people to take on the toughest challenges.”
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The poor results of the Pisa study are causing debate.
(Symbolic image) © Armin Weigel/dpa/picture alliance
Schleicher also criticizes the distribution of teaching staff.
“The schools with the greatest challenges should get the best teachers.
We are a long way from that in Germany,” said the head of the Pisa study.
Criticism is followed by counter-criticism: “teacher bashing”
The umbrella organization of public service and private service sector unions DBB firmly rejects the criticism of the teachers on its website.
Federal Chairman Ulrich Silberbach said: “In order to sustainably improve the quality of education in our country, decisive measures must be taken to combat the shortage of teachers and appropriate framework conditions for employees must be guaranteed.
Blanket criticism of an entire professional group won’t get us anywhere.”
The German Association of Philologists has even called on the Conference of Education Ministers to no longer take part in the Pisa study as long as Andreas Schleicher is responsible.
They consider his statements to be intolerable.
The President of the German Teachers' Association describes the idea of coaching in
Spiegel
as “nice, nice thoughts”.
Schleicher is “teacher bashing”.
(jh)
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