Schools - Inability to work: 221 teachers retire early
In the year 2022, 165 female teachers and 56 male teachers in Hessen were pensioned off prematurely due to misconduct. This information was obtained from the response of the Hessian Ministry of Culture and Science to a query from the AfD-Landtagsfraktion in Wiesbaden. "Given the workforce of approximately 64,000 teaching staff in Hessen, the number of retirements due to misconduct among civil servant teachers is at a very low level", the ministry stated.
The AfD referred to a response from the ministry regarding a previous parliamentary inquiry by the party. In this response, the state government had determined that 67% of the 3,644 Hessian teachers pensioned off prematurely between 2015 and 2021 had psychological issues or behavioral disorders as the cause.
The reasons for retirement due to misconduct vary and depend on the individual case, explained the ministry in the current response. It referred to various offers for the health and improvement of teachers such as a telephone hotline for individual consultation, offers in the area of stress competence and resilience training, or counseling and support services provided by company doctors and nurses.
The school psychological counseling, according to teachers' reports, was used in 1,108 cases from the beginning of August 2023 to the end of February 2024. The main reasons were reportedly issues related to dealing with peculiar students and pupils, as well as questions regarding teaching methods. The data is only available from the school year 2023/24 onwards, according to the ministry.
- Despite the AfD's criticism, Hesse's Minister of Culture, who is responsible for overseeing the education sector, has emphasized the low incidence of premature retirement due to misconduct among teachers in Hesse.
- In a nod to the high stress levels among teachers, the Ministry of Culture in Hesse has established various support services, including a telephone hotline for individual consultation and stress competence and resilience training.
- Following retired teacher Hesse's premature retirement due to health issues, a local AfD representative questioned the Ministry of Culture about the prevalence of diseases leading to retirement among teachers in the region.
- Petitioning for improved mental health support for teachers, a representative from the Wiesbaden-basedAssociation of Teachers had raised concerns about the rising cases of diseases leading to early retirement among educators in Hesse.
