Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - The Ministry of Education has defended the government's sharply criticized fire letter to schools on teachers' working hours and described similar requests as common routine. In the letter, Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann and Minister of Education Theresa Schopper (both Green) asked teachers and school principals to do extra work voluntarily in view of the shortage of staff, the pandemic and refugees from the Ukraine in order to be able to ensure classes in the next school year.
"The request to teachers who are on parental leave or who are working part-time to come back from parental leave or to increase their part-time work is an instrument that school administration has chosen quite commonly in recent years," said Secretary of State for Education Volker Schebesta (CDU). Thursday in the Education Committee. The letter should "additionally underline" this request.
Kretschmann and Schopper specifically addressed their appeal to teachers who work part-time, who are about to retire or who are retired. In the letters, they asked teachers to consider whether they could "teach an extra hour, two, maybe even three hours" in the coming school year or postpone their upcoming retirement. Both argue that longer working hours could have a significant impact on the provision of education in the country. The government had previously abandoned the head of government's proposal to increase the minimum working hours for part-time civil servants due to the shortage of teachers.
Teachers' associations and the political opposition had sharply criticized Kretschmann and Schopper's letter in view of the stress caused by the Ukraine refugees and the pandemic. The SPD and FDP also repeated their allegations in the committee.
