There was great excitement when scientists recommended at the beginning of the year that the many part-time teachers should be given more responsibility in order to alleviate the shortage of educators. Trade unions and teachers’ associations reacted outraged. Now the German School Barometer, a representative survey commissioned by the Robert Bosch Foundation, shows that two thirds of part-time teachers would be willing to teach more. However, only under certain conditions.
73 percent of those affected cite a different working time model as the most important requirement. Until now, teachers’ working hours have been based on the obligatory teaching hours, the so-called deputation. Depending on the federal state and type of school, this is between 21 and 30 school hours per week for a full-time position. The time for preparation, corrections and other tasks is not recorded – but this is often the larger part of the activity. So far, the federal states have shown no willingness to change the model. On the contrary: In July, the Conference of Ministers of Education requested the Ministry of Labor to exempt the school sector from the obligation to record working hours.
69 percent of the part-time employees surveyed would increase their salary if they had to do less documentation and non-technical tasks and their work could be done without overtime. For a quarter it would be necessary for the care situation for their own children to be improved or guaranteed.
Disruptive student behavior is the biggest challenge
For the first time, the teachers surveyed cited the behavior of the students as the biggest challenge in everyday school life. It causes problems for 34 percent, compared to 21 percent last year. Experts see the after-effects of the pandemic and the ongoing uncertainty in the face of war, inflation and the climate crisis as possible reasons for this. Almost every third teacher notices fears in their students.
“The life satisfaction of children and young people in Germany is very low, The current Unicef report also shows this“, said Sabine Walper, director of the German Youth Institute, when presenting the school barometer. “This is a big problem that we are not addressing adequately.” There is not enough time in schools to address the concerns of students.
The teachers surveyed also had difficulties due to the high workload (31 percent) and the shortage of teachers (21 percent). As was the case last year, more than three quarters observed concentration problems in their classes. On the other hand, motivation problems, aggressive behavior and unexcused absences from class have decreased compared to the surveys during the corona pandemic.
Child poverty has increased significantly in the past year
What is particularly striking is that child poverty appears to have increased visibly in all sections of the population in the last school year. When families become financially tight, teachers quickly notice this in their everyday lives. Around one in three teachers say that students are missing the materials they need or that they come to school without breakfast; in socially disadvantaged areas the figure is even up to 64 percent. Every third educator has also noticed that students are worried about their parents’ financial situation. One in four stated that children and young people go to school less often.
“Poor children too often become poor adults. This cycle must be broken,” says Dagmar Wolf, head of education at the Robert Bosch Foundation. “A lack of money at home prevents young people from participating in social and cultural life. This also has an impact on psychosocial health.”
Wolf calls for basic child welfare that meets needs. Equally urgently, teachers need a poverty-sensitive attitude so that they can recognize the effects of poverty on children and young people and offer them help without embarrassing those affected.