As of: March 24, 2024, 9:57 a.m
By: Peter Schiebel
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Teacher Marcus Burkert Elementary school teacher Marcus Burkert with a baseball cap and his dogs: A real argument has now broken out over the question of whether he sometimes wears the hat during class.
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Should an elementary school teacher be allowed to teach with a baseball cap on his head?
Marcus Burkert (48), a teacher at the Josef Dosch primary school in Gauting, says yes, the Starnberg State School Authority says no.
The conflict seems to have hardened and the teacher is threatened with consequences.
Gauting/Starnberg – Anyone who talks to Marcus Burkert about his job gets the impression that the 48-year-old puts his heart and soul into his work.
After 15 years in the private sector, he has been working as a primary school teacher for nine years, first in Munich and since the beginning of the 2022/23 school year at the Josef Dosch primary school in Gauting.
Burkert is a civil servant and, when asked what is important to him and what he wants to teach the children in addition to school material, says “empathy, respect and social interaction”.
His employers don't like the fact that he occasionally wears a baseball cap.
Recently, Burkert received a written notice from the Starnberg State School Office stating that he should no longer wear the cap.
“According to the school rules, students are required to remove their head coverings in the school building.
Since teachers have a role model effect, this regulation naturally also applies to them (indirectly), explains school district director Manuela Hollweg in writing in response to an inquiry from Starnberger Merkur.
The discussion about Burkert's hat has been going on for some time, but so far only between the teacher and the school management.
When school council members were recently at Josef Dosch Elementary School for another event, they saw the teacher himself wearing a cap - and then wrote to him about compliance with the rule.
Debate about baseball cap has been simmering for a long time: school district director speaks out
Hollweg also argues with Article 75 of the Bavarian Civil Service Act, which obliges civil servants “to maintain a certain external appearance”.
“Even if there are no specific requirements from the Ministry of Culture for the school sector – unlike, for example, for the police sector – the schools are free to make certain specific specifications in this regard,” explains the school councilor.
And the rules of the Gautinger elementary school include removing headgear in the school building.
Who am I to tell children what they have to wear?
Completely different things are important to me.
Marcus Burkert
Whether with or without a hat: Marcus Burkert can only shake his head about it.
“This is a view that is completely out of time,” he says in an interview with the Starnberger Merkur.
“Who am I to tell children what they should wear?
I believe that every person is allowed to develop freely.
Completely different things are important to me.” In addition to the material to be taught, he always talks about how we interact with one another, how we work together, about a sense of responsibility – and also about the shortage of teachers.
“How are you ever going to fix it if you bully people like that?” he asks and finds it “remarkable what priorities are being set in the current situation”.
Teacher at primary school in Gauting: “I don’t regret anything”
Working with the children every day gives him great satisfaction, he says.
Despite his rather late entry into the teaching profession, Burkert, who lives in Starnberg, is not a career changer.
Even though after graduating from high school he initially worked in the private sector, primarily in the area of public relations and most recently as a lecturer at the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
He then studied English and art at the Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU) to become a teacher.
He completed two years of legal clerkship and passed two state examinations.
By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Starnberg newsletter.
At the Josef Dosch primary school, he is the only male teacher in the 40-strong staff, teaches a bilingual fourth grade class as a class teacher and occasionally brings his school dog “August”, a Labrador trained as a reading dog, with him.
“It’s very meaningful when you can teach other people something,” says Burkert.
And in primary school the children are much more open than in later years.
“I’m happy when children enjoy learning,” he says and emphasizes: “I don’t regret anything.”
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And the cap thing?
The state education authority is already hinting at consequences in the email to Merkur.
“These are specific school requirements that the State Education Authority has informed the teacher about,” explains Manuela Hollweg.
“If a teacher persistently refuses to comply with such orders, he or she must ultimately – like any civil servant – expect official or even disciplinary measures.”
Meanwhile, Marcus Burkert is not willing to take off his cap in the future for these reasons. “The law doesn’t allow me to be obliged to do so,” he says.
He is in contact with the Bavarian Teachers' Association (BLLV) about this.
Especially since the rules are not handled uniformly elsewhere.
For example, children would have to wear slippers in the school building, but teachers would not.
For him, the cap is nothing more than a fashion accessory, says Burkert - it has now become a political issue in Gauting.
The elementary school principal didn't want to talk to Mercury.
You can find even more current news from the Starnberg district at Merkur.de/Starnberg.