Germany’s schools are facing a structural staffing crisis. More teachers have been hired and the federal states are trying to counter this by creating additional posts, recruiting lateral entrants and offering financial incentives.
Yet in many places there are still not enough staff to cover all lessons in full.
There is a particularly chronic shortage of teachers in the STEM subjects – mathematics, computer science, physics and chemistry. There is also a continuing nationwide or regional need in special needs education as well as in art and music.
According to the latest projection by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education (KMK), there is a calculated shortfall of around 27,000 fully qualified teachers in Germany.
How dramatic the situation can become in individual regions is currently illustrated by Brandenburg. Education Minister Gordon Hoffmann (CDU) warned in June that the state would probably no longer be able to guarantee the standard timetable everywhere in the coming school year. The situation is particularly difficult in rural areas and in subjects such as biology and chemistry.
