More and more teachers in Lower Saxony are working part-time

Schools - More and more teachers in Lower Saxony are working part-time

While teaching provision in Lower Saxony has fallen to an all-time low, more and more teachers are working part-time. This is shown by figures published by the Ministry of Education at the request of CDU MP Lukas Reinken.

According to the figures, the proportion of teachers working a maximum of 75% of full-time hours has risen from just under 19% to 24% since 2013. Around one in five teachers (19.54%) therefore work 50 to 75% part-time. Almost one in twenty teachers (4.45%) work less than half-time.

CDU MP Reinken called this development alarming. "Many teachers are on the brink of exhaustion due to ever new tasks, more complex pupil behavior and proliferating documentation requirements," he said.

On the one hand, incentives are now needed to get more part-time staff to work full-time. Possibilities for this include more money for overtime or more flexible working time accounts. "On the other hand, we need to relieve teachers of unnecessary tasks."

Specifically, administrative and documentation tasks need to be streamlined and teachers need to be given more freedom. After more than a year in office, the state government must now start to act, demanded Reinken: "The proposals are on the table: lateral entry programs, dual teacher training, unbureaucratic rehiring of retired teachers."

The Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs emphasized that the part-time rate of teachers in Lower Saxony, at around 36.6 percent in the 2021/2022 school year, was well below the national average of 41 percent. However, the state has recruited a large number of young teachers in recent years, many of whom work part-time in order to reconcile family and career.

"The fact is that most of the part-time work requested by teachers in Lower Saxony is for family reasons," said the ministry. "This may also be due to the fact that the proportion of female teachers in the state is more than 70 percent."

However, in view of the increasing number of hours required at schools, for example due to inclusion, all-day care and language support, it is also hoped that part-time teachers will work more of their own accord and increase their hours. An important tool for increasing motivation to do so is consultation meetings with school principals. These could, for example, be used to discuss relief for substitutions, project weeks or the management of classes.

The teacher shortage in Lower Saxony is more serious than ever. Teaching supply is at its lowest level since statistics began 20 years ago. As of September 8, 2022, the ratio of pupils to teacher hours was 96.3% (previous year: 97.4%).

Minister President Stephan Weil (SPD) admitted in December in the "Nordwest-Zeitung" newspaper: "Although never before have so many teachers been employed in Lower Saxony, the staffing level among teachers is undeniably too short."

Response from the state government (pdf)

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1. CDU MP Lukas Reinken requested figures from the Ministry of Education regarding the increase in part-time teaching roles in Lower Saxony's schools.
2. The Ministry of Culture and Education in Lower Saxony reported that the proportion of teachers working part-time has risen from 19% to 24% since 2013, with around one in five teachers working part-time.
3. Reinken, a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), expressed concern about the high number of teachers working part-time due to exhaustion caused by increasing tasks, complex student behavior, and numerous documentation requirements.
4. The Ministry of Education in Lower Saxony stated that the 36.6% part-time rate for teachers in the 2021/2022 school year is below the national average, attributing the high part-time rate to female teachers and family-related reasons.
5. To address the teacher shortage in Lower Saxony, Reinken proposed lateral entry programs, dual teacher training, and unbureaucratic rehiring of retired teachers while suggesting the streamlining of administrative and documentation tasks and offering teachers more flexibility to increase their hours.

Source: www.stern.de