School Start in Berlin and Brandenburg: Around 800 Teachers Missing, Record Number of Schoolchildren

CDU Criticizes Policy Failure

The opposition CDU in Brandenburg is sharply criticizing the state government. Gordon Hoffmann spoke ahead of the school start of a "devastating signal to parents, children and teachers." The Christian Democrats are calling for an immediate program to hire career changers, more university places for teacher training, and better working conditions at schools.

The red-green state government points to ongoing recruitment initiatives and intensified efforts to attract lateral and career entrants. Most recently, Brandenburg has received several hundred additional applications, some of which can be taken on after a review of qualifications. Unfilled hours are to be covered at short notice through overtime, substitute teachers, and fixed-term contracts.

Measures Against the Bottleneck

In Berlin, too, the education administration is fighting for every available hour. wants to "do everything to ensure that lessons take place everywhere on the first day," according to its own statement. The Senate Department for Education had announced in advance that additional funds would be made available for substitute teachers and that lesson cancellations would continue to be documented. Parent representatives nevertheless report that some schools had to publish timetables with major gaps even before the start.

In addition to the staff shortage, schools face further challenges: rising class sizes, a growing share of children with German as a second language, and an increased need for school social work. Teacher associations warn that the burden on existing staff will continue to grow without additional hires. The Education and Science Union (GEW) spoke of an "all-time high in pupil numbers" and called for an immediate hiring freeze on bureaucratic tasks at schools.

Pixi Book with Police Dog Barny for First Graders

To support the youngest pupils, the police and the state government in Brandenburg have also produced new accompanying material. "A little book with police dog Barny is meant to help first graders," as the presentation of the Pixi book puts it. The small booklets are being distributed to many first graders at the start of school and are designed to familiarize children in a playful way with the way to school, how to deal with strangers, and behavior in road traffic.

Structural Problems and Self-Initiative

Education researchers see the staff shortage as a structural problem that has built up over years. Fewer high school graduates are deciding to study teaching, while at the same time many teachers are leaving the profession early. Without fundamental reforms – from better pay and reliable working hours to more career paths within the teaching service – the situation is unlikely to ease in the medium term, according to a statement from the Leibniz Institute for Educational Research to RBB.

Parents and municipalities are reacting with concern, but also with self-initiative. Several districts in Brandenburg are now recruiting teachers from abroad themselves, cooperating with universities, and offering scholarships for prospective teacher training students. In Berlin, individual boroughs have begun to win back retired educators for part-time positions. Whether these measures will be enough will only become clear in the coming weeks, when the first statistical data on lesson cancellations become available.