Absurd punishment
Mother threatens to report for listening to homeschooling
© Fabio Principe / Shutterstock
A mother from Salzburg wanted to help her child with homeschooling – and listened to the lessons. The Education Directorate then threatened her with a complaint.
Homeschooling pushes some children (and parents) to their limits. There are many reasons for this: Working and learning together in the smallest of spaces. Poor internet connections. Poorly digitized learning content. Conflicting conferences of mom and child. Lockdown-experienced families would probably think of a number of other nerve-wracking factors at this point. But be punished for jumping in as a teacher yourself? That sounds absurd to most parents – after all, they would like much more to quit the teaching job as soon as possible.
Punishment and charges for attending homeschooling threatened
A mother from Salzburg has now been threatened with such a punishment. As the woman reported to RTL, she wanted to help her 15-year-old daughter with homeschooling. When she realized that the girl couldn't keep up, she emailed the class head asking them to attend class. This was followed by the first surprise – she was denied participation.
When the woman wanted to lodge a complaint with the Salzburg Education Directorate, they actually threatened with punishment – not to the school, but to the mother personally. Because apparently she shouldn't have listened to the homeschooling at all: "Then I was made aware that I was making myself liable to prosecution and that I was going to be reported to the criminal authorities and reported," said the woman in the RTL interview.
Parents may only take part in children's lessons in exceptional cases
When asked, the Education Directorate is said to have only confirmed that it had explained the legal situation to the mother and that no fine had been imposed. But what should the woman be punished for anyway? In fact, there is a regulation throughout Germany that parents are only allowed to take part in children's lessons in special cases. However, some mums and dads would be happy to have a little rest right now – it's just difficult or even impossible to overhear in the home office and schooling.
The lockdown is likely to be an exception. According to RTL, some federal states have already published special learning regulations for distance learning, such as North Rhine-Westphalia, where parents are allowed to "watch" their children while homeschooling. When in doubt: ask the school. After all, we are all currently dependent on mutual support.