Teachers and Students Demand More Funding and Changes in Education System

“School has to be different”: Under this title, several thousand people demonstrated nationwide on Saturday for a better education system – including in Mainz. Around 200 people demonstrated here for a better education system. The “Educational Transition Now!” alliance, which includes more than 170 educational organizations, trade unions and parent and student representatives, called for the day of protest.

Deep changes required

A profound change in school education policy is needed. This is the core of the appeal “Education turnaround now!”. Specifically, it is about the shortage of qualified teachers, more money for education and an outdated education system.

How do you want to achieve this educational transition in Rhineland-Palatinate? What do the GEW union, the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Education and the state student representatives say about the problems? What solutions do they propose? An overview of the positions.

Shortage of skilled workers

Too little money for education

When will the educational transition come?

According to a non-representative survey, there is a lack of this in Rhineland-Palatinate Education and Science Union (GEW) 6,300 teachers. According to GEW state chairman Klaus Hammer, this shortage of skilled workers will increase in the future, as the number of students will increase significantly in the coming years and at the same time many teachers will retire. “We are faced with a problem that is almost impossible to solve because the problem has been denied by politicians for a long time.”

In order to make the teaching profession more attractive again, measures must be taken so that teachers can concentrate more on the work for which they are trained: teaching. Schools urgently need the support of multi-professional teams, such as school social workers, health professionals, educational specialists and school psychologists. And finally, according to Hammer, pay also plays a role.

Pascal Groothuis, press spokesman for the State student representation in Rhineland-Palatinate says teachers in the country feel burned out. When you go to class, you notice that too. The teachers went into the classes completely overwhelmed, they had far too many hours and it was no wonder that almost every third lesson was canceled. In order to make the teaching profession attractive again, appropriate salaries and recognition of teachers’ work are of great importance.

It was time to talk about those who provide education, it was said in an appeal by the state student representatives in 2022. An increased number of teachers would enable personal support and individual support. Schools needed at least 7,000 additional teachers. “The learning groups must be significantly smaller – school management, teachers and students must be relieved.” Multiprofessional teams are also needed in schools.

Ministry: Almost all positions filled

The Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Education According to its own statements, it took early measures to attract and retain teachers – for example, making employment as a rule, advance approval for prospective teachers and the expansion of studies and preparatory service. Overall, it was said that almost all positions were filled at the beginning of the school year. 170 positions at general education schools and 100 at vocational schools would not be filled until the second half of the year, when more teachers complete their preparatory service.

“But we see that it is actually becoming more difficult to recruit people in the representation sector, and that we are also having difficulties getting teachers at primary schools and special schools,” says Education Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD). “We are still well positioned in Rhineland-Palatinate compared to other federal states. We have hired 1,900 new teachers this school year. But we notice that especially when a teacher falls ill, it is difficult to find a replacement.”

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Learning success at primary schools in Rhineland-Palatinate is to be improved through a nine-point plan. Among other things, the children should receive more German lessons.

In addition to the additional teaching course at primary schools in Trier, there will be a teaching course at special schools at the University of Koblenz in the future. In addition, the state wants to recognize master’s degrees in education and social pedagogy for lateral entry into special education teaching in the future.

The signatories of the “Educational Transition Now” appeal are calling for a special education fund of at least 100 billion euros for daycare centers and schools as well as annual spending on education and research of at least ten percent of the gross domestic product, as was the case at an education summit in 2008 under the then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) was agreed. According to current data from the Federal Statistical Office, spending on education, research and science amounted to 9.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2021.

Die WT criticizes the fact that there is a lot of talk about education, but when it comes to money, lip service is mostly paid. Action must be taken urgently, says Klaus Hammer. “What was possible very quickly for defense spending should be a given for education. Where there is a will, there is a way.” How the money is distributed must then be negotiated between the federal and state governments. It is clear that the states would no longer be able to cope without money from the federal government, which is made available sustainably.

The demand for 100 billion euros for schools and daycare centers is very ambitious, said Pascal Groothuis, press spokesman State student representative of Rhineland-Palatinate. However, the funds should generally be used where they are most urgently needed, such as improving equipment, promoting digital education and hiring more teachers.

Dripping ceilings, moldy and unhygienic school toilets are unfortunately already normal in Germany’s schools, according to the state student representatives. It is time for these grievances to finally be truly addressed. “We will no longer allow ourselves to be sold as ‘intergenerational justice’ because of the ruined savings of our future,” says David Richter from the state student representative. The debt brake must be lifted. Particularly given the consequences of the pandemic, it is advisable and permissible to take on additional debt. “It obviously worked and still works for corporate economic aid.”

Education budget is the largest single item in the state budget

There is no doubt that there is a need for comprehensive investment in education, says Das Ministry of Education in Mainz with. The country invests every fourth euro in education – that’s almost six billion euros per year and almost twelve billion in the current double budget. The education budget is still the largest single item in the state budget. “These are strong signals of how important education is to the state government,” said Minister Hubig.

Ultimately, however, the challenges in the education sector would not be solved with more resources alone. The tense situation for skilled workers is a key example of this.

The nationwide alliance “Educational Transition Now!” calls on the federal and state governments to set the course for a “fair and inclusive” education system. Klaus Hammer from the GEW thinks it is important “that we have an alliance in which many actors from a wide variety of areas are committed to a change in education and thus to good education.”

It will be a long way from having their demands met and implemented, said Hammer. The federal government’s current austerity program alone shows that the focus is not on good education. “We have to have staying power, and we have it. We have to achieve a ‘turnaround’, otherwise where will the urgently needed and well-qualified specialists come from?”

Unfortunately, as is often the case with the weather, the chances that the federal and state governments will respond to the demands are difficult to predict, says Pascal Groothuis. “But we will not give up. We will continue to push, raise our voices and fight for better education. Because we are the future!”