Education - Trade union deplores summer unemployment among teachers
The education union GEW demands that Hesse's state government issue a revised decree to prevent unemployment during the summer for trainee teachers in the future. Between the end of the referendary period and employment in the civil service, there is once again a gap this year in which new female teachers and teachers would have to survive without income, warned the deputy chairwoman of the education and science union (GEW) Hesse, Heike Ackermann, on Tuesday in Frankfurt.
"Currently, colleagues who have passed the second state exam are facing three weeks of unemployment," she explained. "As a civil servant position is not an employment relationship, they do not even have a claim to unemployment benefits after the preparatory service." Many do not hesitate to use this unbearable practice as an excuse to switch to another federal state.
According to a decree, employment is currently scheduled to begin three days before the start of instruction, as the GEW explained. This year, it is scheduled for August 23rd. Newly trained teachers should be employed fundamentally from August 1st, according to a demand from the union, to prevent summer vacation unemployment.
- Heike Ackermann, the deputy chairwoman of the GEW in Hesse, advocated for the state government in Frankfurt to issue a revised decree to avoid summer unemployment for trainee teachers in future.
- The education union GEW highlighted that due to a current decree, employment for new teachers starts three days before instruction in Hesse, which is scheduled for August 23rd this year.
- Ackermann expressed concern about the practice of unemploying newly trained teachers, mainly female ones, between the end of the referendary period and their employment in the civil service, calling it unbearable.
- GEW suggested a decree change to employ newly trained teachers from August 1st, aiming to eliminate summer vacation unemployment in schools, as this was their demand.
- Trade unions like the GEW in Hesse have criticized this situation, citing the lack of unemployment benefits for trainee teachers as a significant issue that can drive some to consider moving to another federal state.
