With a keynote speech, the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder at the CSU winter retreat the MPs attuned to the state election campaign. In the coming months he wants to focus on school politics in particular.
“For me, children and young people have top priority,” emphasized the CSU leader at a press conference in Banz Monastery. “We want to work on the modern school of the future over the next five years.” He announced that another 6,000 teaching positions will be created by 2028. In addition, 2,000 jobs for administrative staff, school educators and school psychologists are planned.
In the short term, Söder wants to recruit teachers from other federal states. “Because some of the Bavarian teachers are paid much better,” he emphasized. “We will openly present this and invite you to come to Bavaria.” In order to persuade as many teachers as possible to move to the Free State, there will be a “package for start-up and relocation assistance”.
Cruiser: Not an unkind act
CSU parliamentary group leader Thomas Kreuzer emphasized in the BR interview that the main aim was to hire graduates who had just completed their studies. “I don’t see that as an unfriendly act,” said Kreuzer. After all, prospective teachers also went to other federal states after their studies in Bavaria.
There is praise and criticism from the teachers’ unions. “A prime minister who doesn’t deny the teacher shortage in a keynote speech, but instead wants to solve it, first of all deserves respect,” commented the chairwoman of the Bavarian Teachers’ Association (BLLV), Simone Fleischmann, on the announcement. Now it’s a matter of getting the additional teaching positions up and running.
The chairman of the Bavarian secondary school teachers’ association, Jürgen Böhm, also emphasized: “It is very good that the Prime Minister is making the creation of new teaching positions the focus of his future demands.” However, the quality of education must be kept in mind, and under no circumstances should the differentiated Bavarian teacher training be softened.
6,000 additional teaching positions by 2028 are good, but poaching teachers from other federal states – like recruiting career changers – is only an emergency solution,” said the chairman of the Bavarian Association of Philologists, Michael Schwägerl. “For a fundamental solution to the teacher shortage through more qualified Bavarian teachers the attractiveness of the teaching profession must be increased.”