In Germany, in less than a week, school will start again in all governorates, and the only question is who will teach. According to calculations of the German Teachers’ Association, this year is approx. There are 40,000 teachers missing in German schools, so some lessons are canceled every day. The German Teachers’ Association has sounded the alarm: according to it, the misery surrounding education should be made public, as there is already such a backlog that a fifth of students do not acquire even the basic knowledge necessary for later employment.
There were several ideas to resolve the situation. At the district level, it is more acceptable not to allow older teachers to retire, or to invite German or foreign professionals living in Germany who do not have pedagogical qualifications as guest teachers.
A fierce debate arose over other ideas, whether in politics or between the cultural administration and teachers’ unions. These are the commitment to unpaid overtime for volunteers, the introduction of four-day schooling, and the consolidation of classes under one teacher in the same classroom.
– I believe that the quality of education rests on the responsibility of the German bureaucracy. As a professional teacher, I face daily not only the fact that female teachers are hired only part-time and that one teacher often teaches three classes, moving between students, but also the naturalization of foreign professional degrees is expensive, takes years, and because the German Cultural Administration conflicts with the regulations European Union, they simply do not recognize degrees issued by universities in EU member states – our correspondent shared his experience.
