Logo Die Sachsen News
News / Education

More Than 800 New Teachers—Saxony Sticks to Its Priorities

More Than 800 New Teachers—Saxony Sticks to Its Priorities
According to Minister of Education Conrad Clemens, Saxony plans to hire teachers primarily where they are needed most. (File photo) / Photo: Jan Woitas/dpa
From: DieSachsen News
Saxony is staying the course: New teachers are being hired specifically where they are most needed. Education should not depend on one’s ZIP code, says the Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs.

Saxony continues to prioritize the same criteria when hiring new teachers. “We’d like to hire the applicants, but only where we urgently need them. We’re sticking to our course: Education must not depend on one’s ZIP code,” Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs Conrad Clemens (CDU) told the German Press Agency.

This comes in the wake of a report by the “Leipziger Volkszeitung” and the “Sächsische Zeitung,” according to which graduates of teacher training programs in Saxony are increasingly applying for jobs in Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt—because they do not want to work in rural areas of Saxony. 

More from this category

Ministry: Applicants in Saxony Receive More Than One Offer

“Every prospective teacher has every right to seek out additional offers and to apply in other federal states as well. In Saxony, too, graduates who were trained in other federal states apply every year,” responded the Saxon Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs.

The State Office for Schools and Education generally makes more than one offer to all applicants. “We want to hire them. However, which position an applicant ultimately chooses is entirely up to them.”

800 new teachers have already signed contracts

According to the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs in Dresden, the hiring process is still ongoing. More than 800 contracts have already been finalized. “Among them are graduates from other federal states and people from Leipzig who have accepted positions in the Ore Mountains—but also in many other locations,” the ministry stated.

Applications from Saxony are on the rise in Thuringia

According to the Thuringian Ministry of Education, the number of applicants who earned a teaching degree in Saxony has increased. “Since August 1, 2025, 75 such applications have been received across all five state school boards, compared to 54 during the same period last year (August 2024 to July 2025),” the ministry stated in response to an inquiry. It said that “in principle, an increasing interest can be confirmed.”

Particularly in eastern Thuringia, there has been a noticeable increase in interest from applicants from the Leipzig area—both for employment and for completing the preparatory service, the ministry said. This interest is focused primarily on the neighboring region around Altenburg. There, interest is strongest in the elementary school sector. In contrast, for state-wide applications, the focus is on teaching at the high school level.

However, the Thuringian Ministry concluded by stating that it is not possible to draw a reliable conclusion about actual hiring trends based on the existing data.

Saxony-Anhalt Reports High Interest from Saxony Based on a Sample

According to the Ministry of Education, Saxony-Anhalt does not track where within the state applicants earned their degrees. However, a brief period was examined more closely using a random sample. During this time, one-third of the applications came from teachers in Saxony. A spokesperson emphasized, however, that this analysis is “not statistically validated and therefore hardly representative.”

Prospective teachers who studied in Saxony-Anhalt always receive a job offer in the state, the spokesperson added. People from other federal states are neither given preferential treatment nor disadvantaged when applying for a vacant position through the normal application process. Who gets the job depends, among other things, on the person’s suitability, qualifications, and academic credentials.

Copyright 2026, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reserved

The translations are automated with the help of AI. We look forward to your feedback and your help in improving our multilingual service. Write to us at: language@diesachsen.com.
Sachsen News
Article from

Sachsen News

Sachsen News is responsible for the content itself. The platform's code of conduct applies. The platform checks and treats content in accordance with the legal requirements, in particular the NetzDG.

Social Media