Bavaria wants to combat the general shortage of teachers by offering easier promotion opportunities for special and specialist teachers. “For young people with a secondary school leaving certificate, a career as a specialist or special education teacher offers promising career prospects,” said Education Minister Michael Piazolo (Free Voters) to the German Press Agency in Munich.
Special education teachers carry out special tasks at primary, middle and special schools in providing individual support in small groups, in differentiating in the classroom, in working groups and in looking after students. From the 2024/25 school year onwards, particularly high-performing special needs teachers at primary and secondary schools will be able to receive further qualifications as “specialist teachers for German as a second language” or “specialist teachers for inclusion”. “Anyone who trains to become a specialist teacher takes on a greater area of responsibility – and therefore rightly rises to a higher salary group,” emphasized Piazolo.
There are currently around 6,500 specialist and special needs teachers at state primary and secondary schools across Bavaria. More promotion opportunities with better pay are also planned for specialist teachers who, in addition to primary, middle and special schools, are also employed at Bavarian secondary schools in subjects such as nutrition, sports or English, it said. “With new functional positions, I want to open the way to A12 for more specialist teachers than before. Because here too, the principle applies to me: performance and commitment must be rewarded,” said Piazolo.
The offensive also provides for additional locations for the training of prospective specialist and support teachers in order to be able to recruit even more people. From the 2023/2024 school year onwards, the subject of sport will also be integrated into the previous subject combination of nutrition/design at the Munich-Pasing training location. “I know that for many young adults, an education close to home is very important in order to be able to stay with friends and family,” said Piazolo. He therefore wants to create an additional training location “as quickly as possible, especially in Lower Bavaria”.
According to the ministry, the prerequisite for training to become a specialist or special teacher is at least a secondary school leaving certificate. The two to four year training takes place at one of the Bavarian state institutes for the training of specialist or support teachers. The duration of this first training phase depends on the chosen training course or any relevant vocational training you may already have. This is followed by a two-year preparatory service at a school.