Teacher shortage “real threat” to educational quality

The most important news in the BRIGITTE ticker

What moves the world? What moves the BRIGITTE editors? In this ticker we summarize the most important news for you in January.

January 18, 2023

The lack of staff is the biggest problem in schools

The lack of teaching staff is currently the biggest problem in schools. This is the result of a representative Forsa survey commissioned by the Robert Bosch Foundation. For the first time since 2019, head teachers and not teachers were surveyed for the “German School Barometer”. 67 percent of those surveyed agreed that the lack of staff was the greatest challenge – and even 80 percent at schools in socially difficult situations.

“There is no quick and, above all, no easy solution to the shortage of teachers,” said Dagmar Wolf from the Robert Bosch Foundation. The problem begins with the training of the teachers, and the course itself is repeatedly criticized. In addition, the bureaucratic effort needed to be reduced in order to employ support specialists. For example, administrative staff, pedagogical assistants or foreign teachers could provide short-term relief.

Anja Besinger-Stolze, board member of the GEW education union, sees the blame for the federal states. They would have simply missed planning and coordinating the generational change in the schools. This is a “real threat” to educational quality.

January 16, 2023

Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht resigns

Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has now asked Chancellor Olaf Scholz for her dismissal, several news portals report. Some media had already reported on a possible resignation last Friday. According to media information, this decision had already been made last year. Christine Lambrecht has recently been repeatedly criticized. Most recently, she was sharply attacked in a New Year’s video because of her choice of words.

Does parity stay? The ministerial seats were currently distributed equally. Lambrecht resigns, who will follow her? Greens leader Omid Nouripour explicitly advocated maintaining parity in the federal cabinet even after his resignation. “There is an overall promise of parity in the cabinet,” he told RTL/n-tv. “And we as Greens believe that parity is always important.”

January 11, 2023

The bad word of the year

The nonsense of the year 2022 is “climate terrorists,” which the language-critical “nonsense” campaign in Marburg has now announced. This word was used to describe the numerous activists who use different means to fight the climate and want to avoid further environmental pollution. With the addition “terrorists”, the word provides a purely negative association, discrediting the work of climate activists and turning them into criminals. Non-violent protest forms of civil disobedience and democratic resistance are placed in the context of violence and hostility to the state, the jury of the “unword” action complains.

The problem is that using the term shifts the focus of the debate. The activists make legitimate demands based on political promises, but are placed in a criminal corner. This also applies to the current eviction in Lützerath. Currently, police officers have started to clear the lignite site. However, the local activists refuse to leave and are now surrounded by the officers. The local climate activists were repeatedly referred to as “terrorists” on social media. Terms similar to “ecoterrorism” and “climate RAF” were also used.

January 10, 2023

Legalize containers?

In Germany alone, eleven million tons of food are thrown away every year. That’s 78 kilograms of food per ton per capita. In order to send a signal against food waste, Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) and Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir (Greens) are advocating that so-called containers should only be punished in rare cases. With containers, discarded food – mostly from supermarket containers – is saved. These are foods that have just expired, fruit and vegetables with light spots, or foods with broken packaging.

In a letter to the justice ministers and senators, the two ministers advertised support for a proposal from Hamburg in 2021. This provides for a change in the criminal and fine procedure, which does not require a change in the law at federal level. Taking food out of containers is currently considered theft and entering the area where the garbage cans are is considered trespassing (Sections 242 and 123 of the Criminal Code). In the new proposal, only damage to property – for example, priing open a gate – should be prosecuted. So if you climbed a low wall, you would get away with it.

The push to legalize containers already existed in 2019. Hamburg’s former Justice Senator, Till Steffen (Greens), took up the issue and submitted an application to the Justice Ministers’ Conference in May 2019. At that time he was rejected. The reasons: containers are inhumane and hygienically problematic. It is also difficult to assess the unresolved issue of liability if someone eats spoiled food and falls ill.

January 5, 2023

Now yes! Compulsory testing for travelers from China

Now yes! For travelers from China to Germany, a corona test obligation will come into force “in the short term”, said Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach on Thursday. The reason is the massive corona wave in China. Travelers from China require at least one negative rapid antigen test when traveling to Germany. Since the entry regulation must first be rewritten, the new regulation will probably apply from next week. In addition to the antigen test before departure, random tests would be carried out in Germany to detect corona variants. “In addition, there will be additional waste water controls for trips to China,” the statement said.

On Wednesday, the EU states had agreed on a recommendation in this regard. “It’s a good decision. Europe has found a common answer to the pandemic situation in China,” said Lauterbach, according to a statement from the house. Other EU countries are also following suit. In Sweden, a negative test must be presented from next Saturday – this regulation initially applies for three weeks. Mandatory testing will also be introduced in Belgium and Greece.

New virus variant from the USA

In the USA, a new corona subvariant of omicron is currently spreading, especially in the northeast: XBB.1.5. According to estimates by the US health authority CDC, the new variant accounted for around 40.5 percent of all new infections in the USA in the week before the turn of the year. So far, the mutation has been detected in 29 countries. Meanwhile also increasingly in Europe.

XBB.1.5 was discovered back in October. The World Health Organization is monitoring the spread. It is said to be the “most contagious subvariant discovered so far,” according to Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO’s program to combat the corona pandemic. Although hospital admissions would increase, this is due to the overall sharp increase in the number of infections. So far there is no evidence that XBB.1.5 causes more severe diseases than other virus variants.

Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach says he is concerned about the rapid spread in the USA: “Hopefully we can get through the winter before such a variant can spread to us.” The infection process is closely monitored in Germany.

January 3, 2023

Tempo 30 in inner cities as the standard speed

As soon as a yellow town sign appears, the speed limit on the streets is usually 50 – but that could change. The “Livable Cities” initiative, co-founded by Augsburg, Ulm and Freiburg, for more 30 km/h in city centers is getting more and more supporters. Other initiative cities are Aachen, Hanover, Leipzig and Münster. On average, one more municipality is added to the project every working day, reports an employee of the initiative in Leipzig. 360 cities, communities and districts are now supporting the plan to implement more 30 km/h in inner cities.

So far, according to the road traffic regulations, it has only been possible to set up a 30 km/h zone if there is a specific risk – such as a daycare center. If the initiative has its way, however, 30 km/h should be the rule in the future and no longer the exception. The political debates are currently still a long way off. At least the Federal Environment Agency had recently recommended “introducing a 30 km/h speed limit throughout Germany as the local standard speed”. A study has shown that this would result in “enormous noise reductions” for the population.

January 2, 2023

Not even artificial snow can save the ski holiday

Walks through the snow in a T-shirt instead of on skis: In Switzerland, temperatures of up to 20 degrees spoil fun on the slopes. Because there is not much snow to be seen at the moment. The holidaymakers are forced to go for walks or mountain bikes, and there is even a lot going on on the summer toboggan run. The weather doesn’t take into account the fact that it’s the beginning of January and people want to go on winter vacation.

In the central Swiss holiday region of Sattel-Hochstuckli, skiing was only possible on two days this season, and that was only thanks to artificial snow. But even for this it is currently too warm – with the high temperatures, the artificial snow cannot be made at all. Winters with little snow have always existed, but due to climate change they will become more frequent – especially in ski areas below 2,000 meters, according to the Tagesschau.

Even more news

That was the news in December 2022.

Sources used: tagesschau.de, spiegel.de, rnd.de, zeit.de, ing.de, bosch-stiftung.de

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