The number of teachers who quit their jobs has increased significantly in Baden-Württemberg in recent years. This emerges from a response from the Ministry of Culture to a request from the FDP parliamentary group in the state parliament.
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According to this, 470 teachers terminated their employment contracts last year or asked to be released from civil service positions – around 20 percent more than in 2022. According to the Ministry of Culture, 391 teachers resigned at that time. This year, 434 teachers submitted notice of termination by the beginning of October.
In 10 years the number of layoffs has almost quadrupled
Compared to ten years ago, the number of terminations has almost quadrupled: in 2013, according to the evaluation, 123 teachers asked for their contracts to be ended. According to the State Statistical Office, a total of around 100,000 teachers taught at schools in Baden-Württemberg in the 2023/2024 school year.
According to the ministry, teachers do not have to give a reason for termination. There is therefore no systematic investigation of the causes. “The reasons can be varied,” writes the ministry in its response to the FDP request. In addition to a professional reorientation, a move could also be an option, for example if the partner’s work is not in Baden-Württemberg.
FDP sees overload as a reason for increasing layoffs
The FDP education expert Timm Kern, who queried the figures from the Ministry of Culture, spoke of an “alarm signal”. The reasons for the increase in layoffs are obvious, says Kern: more and more bureaucracy, new educational projects, less and less appreciation and fewer and fewer teachers for more and more students.
«I often hear of cases in which teachers continue to carry out their valuable service with all their hearts, despite all the circumstances. And too often this continues until it is no longer possible – until the additional workload pushes too many teachers to the edge of what they can psychologically afford,” said Kern. Teachers are increasingly becoming mentally ill and see no other way out than to apply for dismissal.
FDP calls for a prevention concept
From Kern’s point of view, the Ministry of Culture is not taking the problems seriously enough. “Despite the Ministry of Culture’s knowledge of the increasing number of layoffs, it sees no need for action,” said the education policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group. Minister Theresa Schopper (Greens) could definitely act and, among other things, present a concept for preventing and dealing with mental illnesses among teachers, demanded Kern.
Before dismissal, there are always efforts to retain teachers, the ministry emphasized. For example, school management or staff representatives tried to find solutions on site to enable teachers to remain on duty.
The number of teachers who quit their jobs has increased significantly in Baden-Württemberg in recent years. This emerges from a response from the Ministry of Culture to a request from the FDP parliamentary group in the state parliament.
According to this, 470 teachers terminated their employment contracts last year or asked to be released from civil service positions – around 20 percent more than in 2022. According to the Ministry of Culture, 391 teachers resigned at that time. This year, 434 teachers submitted notice of termination by the beginning of October.
