The Corona crisis also forced the Bavarian schools to speed up digitization. Now the minister is planning the next steps.
Munich (dpa/lby) – According to the will of Minister of Education Michael Piazolo (Free Voters), schoolchildren in Bavaria should be equipped with their own laptops or tablets as standard in a few years – at least at secondary schools. “My goal is: In the medium term, every student in Bavaria has their own digital and state-subsidized work device,” Piazolo told the German Press Agency in Munich. This should happen “as quickly as possible”. “The devices should be used wherever they demonstrate their specific advantages and thus contribute to an increase in teaching quality,” he explained.
This is currently being tested at around 250 schools in selected grades in a “Digital School of the Future” pilot project. Each child has their own state-subsidized tablet or notebook that can be used inside and outside of school. This could be used to try out new learning arrangements as well as innovative teaching, diagnostic and feedback methods, said Piazolo.
Piazolo already sees the digitization of schools in Bavaria on course. “In the next few days, the 65,000th digital classroom in Bavaria will go into operation,” reported the Minister of Education. “We have thus far exceeded our own target for this legislative period of 50,000, earlier than agreed.” In doing so, however, he emphasized that it was important to switch between digital and analogue lessons: “The children and young people should not just look at the computer for eight hours a day.”
Equipping teachers with end devices is also making progress. “Every teacher in Bavaria will have a personalized mobile device at their disposal by the end of the school year,” said Piazolo. “Just a few years ago that seemed unthinkable.” In total, there are around 150,000 devices throughout Bavaria.
Young teachers are now also equipped with their own devices. “A personal training device will be an integral part of seminar training in the future,” said Piazolo. He personally handed over the first devices to student trainees this week. “The digital reality will thus be anchored even more firmly in the training of tomorrow’s teachers,” he emphasized. The minister also announced that he would continue to invest in digital training for all current teachers in Bavaria.
“If you had told me four years ago that we were where we are today – I probably wouldn’t have thought it possible,” said Piazolo. However, the Corona crisis has helped to massively accelerate the pace – also through the financial resources that were made available during this time. “Since then, a lot has happened at all levels,” said Piazolo, at the federal, state and local levels. But there is still a lot to do in the future.
