More places at the universities, better conditions for lateral entry or return and more administrative employees at the schools: the Bavarian SPD wants to alleviate the teacher shortage in Bavaria with a so-called teacher recruitment package. This was “blatant,” said Simone Strohmayr, education policy spokeswoman for the parliamentary group, on Monday when the package was presented in the state parliament. According to a report that was commissioned, a good 4,000 teachers were missing in the current school year. This is likely to get worse by 2025.
In order to combat the problem in the short and long term, the SPD has bundled ten individual proposals. Not all are new; some take up state government plans, others go further. For example, a concept is required as to how the adjustment of teachers’ starting salaries to A 13 should be carried out. Similar to the state government, the SPD also wants more administrative staff in the schools to take over organizational tasks from the teachers. Above all, primary and secondary schools should receive the 400 positions provided for in the draft budget. Among other things, more study places at the universities could provide relief – as well as better offers for pensioners so that they help out for a few hours in class. And in order to make the apprenticeship more financially attractive for career changers from business, they should receive more money during the two-year traineeship.
On the other hand, there is no plan for the SPD to poach teachers from other federal states, as Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) announced. That was a “non-solidarity breaking taboo” and “educational robbery,” said Strohmayr. Henrike Paede, deputy chairwoman of the Bavarian Parents’ Association, who was virtually connected to the state parliament, also criticized what she saw as an “incredible” project: “Other federal states also have parents.” In the past, trainee lawyers with good degrees were rejected in the Free State, said Paede. “Saving back then is now costing us dearly.” As a result, lessons were often canceled.