Finally come to Bavaria! That’s what Mrs. Müller tried to do, that’s how she tells it. Ms. Müller is a kind of rare species, namely a teacher – and for years she wanted to move to southern Bavaria, where her husband also works, instead of teaching far away in northern Germany. “I also like the school system,” she says on the phone. That’s why she wrote a good 30 applications to Bavarian schools. She also introduced herself to some of them personally, but in the end only received rejections despite “mutual interest”. The Bavarian authorities had signaled to her that her “individual action was not desired,” says Ms. Müller. “And my two very good first and second state exams are of no use to me either.”
A teacher that Bayern doesn’t want? The shortage of educators in this country is so great that Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) wants to poach them from other federal states. But sometimes that wouldn’t be necessary. Again and again there are teachers who voluntarily try to be transferred to the Free State – but receive rejections. Despite the lack of staff.
Ms. Müller actually has a different name. Please do not write your real name: the change request might not go down so well with your superiors at home. Also because of such concerns, it is difficult to quantify how many people are standing in front of classes in NRW or Bremen instead of the desired ones in Bavaria. What is certain is that Ms. Müller is not alone. For example, a woman tells Schmidt – another false name – that she applied for a position in Bavaria that the school authorities had already advertised for the second or third time due to a lack of applicants. Nevertheless, she was rejected. “Instead, they suggested to me: go to Baden-Württemberg!”
These and similar descriptions can only be checked to a limited extent. In any case, the Free State does not enjoy the reputation in the school family of reacting particularly accommodating to requests for a change. The reasons for rejection are varied. Sometimes the combination of subjects doesn’t fit. Sometimes Bavaria does not recognize a degree from another federal state as equivalent – no matter how long and how well the people concerned have been teaching with it. Sometimes there is no counterpart. Because in addition to the so-called free application, the countries have established an exchange procedure among themselves. The idea, simplified: If you give me a teacher, I’ll give you another one in return. A zero sum game.
According to the Ministry of Education, 91 such exchanges were successful by September 2022; how many failed, it does not name. There were also around 280 people who had completed their preparatory service elsewhere and applied for a job in Bavaria as part of an open application. “Most of these were also discontinued,” the ministry said. One problem: Applicants from another federal state often have a very specific location and are not very flexible in their choice of location. However, they “wouldn’t have it any harder when hiring than Bavarian applicants”, the “principle of selecting the best” applies.
However, Simone Strohmayr has her doubts about the procedure. She finds it too rigid and bureaucratic, “antiquated”. In her own words, the education policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group regularly receives mail from people who would like to teach in Bavaria. Among all the reasons for rejection, she wants to have identified one sticking point in particular: whenever it comes to pension arrears that have already been paid in other federal states, moving to Bavaria becomes particularly complicated. “The countries would have to find a flexible solution together,” says Strohmayr. Instead, however, Söder deliberately bypasses the best-trained specialists with his poaching attempts. “He only wants people who are fresh out of university” – so not yet civil servants and as untied as possible. However, the fact that people are more mobile today than they used to be and that many applicants are older is not taken into account.
According to the Bavarian Teachers’ Association, up to 4,000 teachers are missing in Bavaria. The fact that so many staff can be poached elsewhere in a timely manner is considered rather hopeless in the school family. In order to make the move more palatable for at least a few more, the state government wants to pay out a gross bonus of 3,000 euros to those who decide to work in a region with “particular personnel needs”. According to the Ministry of Education, the details are currently being finalized and should be published in good time for the application and recruitment process. Minister Michael Piazolo (FW) announced that qualified applicants from other federal states would be gladly accepted. Nevertheless, interested parties would have to meet the relevant requirements – such as “equivalent training to Bavarian training”https://www.sueddeutsche.de/bayern/.”If qualifications, desired destination and corresponding local needs match, nothing stands in the way of employment.”
In fact, the failed cases are offset by a number of successful ones. Ms. Schmidt is also familiar with such. “It worked for a friend on the first try,” she says. Why? She would also like to know. “I have the impression that it is decided arbitrarily who is allowed to work as a teacher in Bavaria.” She will continue to apply, provided there are suitable job offers. In the meantime, Ms. Müller has successfully moved to another, third federal state. The new school is not far from the Bavarian border. Perhaps Ms. Müller and the Free State will not get any closer.