The AfD in the Saxon state parliament has proposed a package of measures to combat teacher shortages. It should be presented to the plenary session this afternoon. "Our core concern is to make teacher training more practical," explained MP Roberto Kuhnert. The high drop-out rate of 40 percent for teacher training courses shows that not a single CDU minister of education has succeeded in meaningfully reforming preparation for the teaching profession in recent years.
AfD wants to set up teacher training colleges in medium-sized towns
"To put it quite simply, we are calling for student teachers to be thrown in at the deep end at a very early stage - in other words, to be placed in front of a school class after just a few semesters so that students can see at an early stage whether they are suited to teaching," said Kuhnert. He also suggested teacher training colleges. Possible locations would be Weißwasser, Bautzen, Mittweida and Zwickau.
"We also believe that the training of specialist teachers in seminar form, as in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, is worth emulating. For the subjects of music, art, handicrafts and sport, years of university attendance are not absolutely necessary - especially in times of teacher shortages, the government should show flexibility here," explained the MP.
According to the Ministry of Education, there is currently a shortage of at least 1,400 full-time teachers in Saxony. In the first half of the 2024/2025 school year, the proportion of canceled lessons to the total teaching hours was 9.4 percent, it said. Depending on the type of school and region, however, there is a significantly higher rate of absenteeism. Education Minister Clemens Conrad (CDU) has also launched a package of measures. His aim is to halve the number of lost lessons.
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