Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) – In view of the increasing tasks at schools, the SPD parliamentary group has called for more relief and appreciation as well as higher pay for Hessian teachers. Good working conditions would also make school work attractive again, said SPD MP Nina Heidt-Sommer on Wednesday in Parliament in Wiesbaden. “Many teachers today work at and often beyond their limit.”
More and more teachers are suffering psychologically from not being able to maintain the quality standards they have imposed themselves, said Heidt-Sommer. “Anyone who works far beyond their limit will get sick and drop out.” Among other things, Heidt-Sommer repeated the SPD’s call for the salary of primary school staff to be increased to level A13.
Hesse’s Minister of Education, Alexander Lorz (CDU), rejected the criticism. Almost everything that the SPD parliamentary group criticizes in its application has already been tackled with determination by the state government in recent years.
The leader of the Left Group, Elisabeth Kula, said that schools should not only be a place for imparting knowledge, but also for creativity and togetherness. “But in addition to political will, the provision of appropriate resources is also necessary to ensure good working conditions.”
The educational policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, Heiko Scholz, renewed the call for teachers to be relieved of the burden of using administrative specialists in schools. To solve the chronic shortage of teachers, it is not enough to create new study places – “they also have to be occupied,” said Scholz. However, young colleagues in particular felt that their university studies and traineeship did not adequately prepare them for the teaching profession, as the practical relevance was insufficient.
