The CDU’s school policy spokeswoman, Claudia Schlottmann, countered that the number of vacancies at schools in NRW had at least fallen – from 7,121 in December 2023 to 6,050 in June 2024.
Even for mediocrity, billions are missing
From the GEW’s point of view, long-term underfunding and the ongoing inadequate staffing situation are reinforcing the social imbalance. NRW is already 900 euros below the national average with annual expenditure of 8,300 euros per student. “If the state government were to only aim for mediocrity here, an additional 2.3 billion would be needed within a year,” Çelik calculated. “We need an education budget that is separate from the budget and secures investments over ten years.”
Education Minister Dorothee Feller (CDU) had announced more primary school lessons in German and mathematics for the new school year and comprehensive tests on pre-school language skills. Such initiatives, which are actually welcome, would be ineffective if there was no staff who could implement recommendations for support, Çelik criticized.
“Once again, it has become clear that these projects only work if employees go beyond their limits.” The shortage is already being managed in schools. Nevertheless, more and more programs are being pushed through from above. Making parents responsible for pre-school support will not solve any problems due to the different social conditions at home.
GEW: Better to work with children than with the red pen
It would be better to reduce the number of tests, suggested the GEW chairwoman. Instead of sitting for hours over tests with a red pen, the teachers could then spend more time with the children. In addition, the curricula would have to be cleared out, said Çelik.
She also criticized the controversial secondment of teachers to under-resourced schools. In principle, these are legally permissible, but they bring uncertainty and dissatisfaction into the teachers’ rooms. Learning is also based on relationships, said Çelik. “Cutting off these relationships and shifting the shortage from A to B is not sustainable and not beneficial.”
In two emergency decisions the week before last, the Münster Administrative Court stopped two teacher secondments on the grounds that the selection criteria were not appropriate.
Fight against teacher shortage remains a marathon
The CDU and Green government factions, however, argued that school policy was on the right track. “The solution to the teacher shortage remains a marathon, but we are making progress step by step,” Schlottmann stressed.
In just one and a half years, more than 7,000 additional teachers, social workers, school psychologists and everyday helpers were brought to schools in NRW. Çelik, on the other hand, complained: “But it was never said how many of these 7,100 are actually trained teachers – we don’t know.”
The Green Party’s spokesperson on education policy, Lena Zingsheim-Zobel, stressed that the Start Opportunities program for schools in difficult social situations, which begins in the new school year, will specifically combat educational inequality. The GEW, on the other hand, doubts that the billion-euro federal-state program will have a broad impact.
Make every school a beacon
“We cannot afford to strengthen individual schools and leave other schools alone,” warned Çelik. “We do not need lighthouse projects, but a program that turns every school into a lighthouse. That must be the aim of educational policy.”
