The Increasing Reliance on Unqualified Teachers in Schools: A Cause for Concern

The proportion of lateral and lateral entrants in the teaching staff of German schools is increasing. In the 2021/22 school year, 8.6 percent of teachers at general schools did not take a recognized teaching qualification exam, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Wednesday in Wiesbaden.

Around 60,800 of the 709,000 teachers nationwide were lateral and lateral entrants. According to statistics, in the 2011/2012 school year the proportion was 5.9 percent. At that time, around 39,300 of the total 669,800 teachers at general schools were lateral and lateral entrants. According to the Federal Office, the increase is a result of the shortage of teachers.

Lateral entrants are people who have not completed a teaching degree and who are accepted into school service without a traineeship. In contrast, career changers are required to complete a traineeship. According to statistics, 20.8 percent of the total 124,000 teachers at vocational schools did not have a recognized teaching qualification in the 2021/22 school year.

Education unions view the development with concern. “Lateral and lateral entry teachers are already ensuring that teaching runs smoothly,” said the chairwoman of the Education and Science Union, Maike Finnern. But they need support. “The ministries of education must immediately bring universities, study seminars, school authorities, state institutes and staff councils together to jointly develop high-quality, part-time qualification offers for lateral and lateral entrants.”

Concern about educational qualifications

The federal chairman of the Education Association, Gerhard Brand, explained that colleagues from other professions could be an asset to the school – “if there were a few people who could be well prepared, qualified and adequately supported.” But these conditions do not exist. Brand expressed concerns that the rate of teachers without a teaching qualification is particularly high in schools that are less attractive as a place to work. “Where we need the highest pedagogical quality, we have the highest number of people who only receive their pedagogical qualification part-time, if at all.”

Despite the high demand for trained teachers, the number of teaching graduates with a master’s or state examination degree is declining, as the Federal Statistical Office announced. In the 2022 exam year, around 28,700 teacher training students passed their final exams – more than ten percent fewer than ten years earlier.