Fewer teachers, more class cancellations: Students and parents will have to adjust to this in the coming school year, according to the GEW union. The country is not getting many jobs filled.
Stuttgart (dpa/lsw) - The education union GEW believes that the shortage of teachers in the south-west will become even worse in the next school year. The hiring figures from the Ministry of Education show that several hundred positions are likely to remain vacant, said GEW country manager Monika Stein of the German Press Agency in Stuttgart. There was a growing shortage of teachers, especially at the special education and counseling centers (SBBZ) and at inclusion. Many vocational schools, elementary schools and schools at secondary level 1 would also start the school year with too few staff. This means that students and their parents have to be prepared for more lessons.
Stein said: "It is frustrating for the 130,000 teachers in the 4,500 schools that they have to juggle in the next school year to ensure compulsory teaching to some extent." This is particularly annoying because, unlike the Corona crisis or the Ukraine war, the situation was predictable. If the Green-led state government had taken the figures available from the State Statistical Office seriously in 2012 and had created enough study places, all positions could now be filled. "We expect that the green-black state government will finally understand the seriousness of the situation in daycare centers and schools and react with the necessary investments in the next state budget."
Stein explained that grammar schools were the only type of school in which almost all positions could be filled - with the exception of certain shortage subjects. Stein complained that the permanent reserve of 1,945 positions was far too small, since there were 5,000 to 7,000 permanent absences. All substitutes are already scheduled for the first day of school. "Since there are hardly any other people on the labor market who can be recruited to fill in at short notice, any further failure means that classes have to be combined or classes are cancelled."
In the SBBZ, there were only 401 applications for around 591 positions for special needs teachers. There were also only 13 applications for 137 vacancies for special education teachers. Already in this school year, 12 percent of the positions were vacant, and the rate will increase. At the primary schools, there were 1,205 applications for 1,267 positions. 1,030 people applied for 1,099 vacancies for Hauptschule, Werkrealschule, Realschule and community schools. Although some high school teachers have been hired at the vocational schools, the teaching deficit has been large for years.
Stein showed no understanding of the state government's approach. "When an automaker introduces a new model, they build new factories and hire thousands of people." Although the number of pupils is increasing and new projects such as the all-day extension of the elementary school are pending, "the state government always wants to divert existing resources instead of boldly investing". That won't work. "Those who save on education don't get any interest," warned the trade unionist.
