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Ties Rabe during a school visit in December: The senator takes his hat off after a good 13 years in office

Photo: Marcus Brandt / dpa

Hamburg's Senator for Education, Ties Rabe (SPD), is resigning with immediate effect for health reasons. According to information from the dpa news agency, the 63-year-old's successor will be the former deputy SPD parliamentary group chairwoman Ksenija Bekeris. In the early evening, Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD), Rabe and Bekeris want to make a statement.

The former grammar school teacher has been responsible for education policy in the Hanseatic city since 2011, making him the longest-serving of Germany's ministers of education. Rabe is regarded as a strategist who thinks long-term and pursues his goals with consistency – even in the face of resistance, for example from the teaching profession.

Role model for other federal states

During his term of office, he trimmed Hamburg's school system for performance, which is reflected in a meteoric rise in various school performance studies. In 2011, for example, Hamburg's ninth graders ranked in the bottom third of the table in the IQB education trend – they now reach top positions, behind the eternal best in class from Saxony and Bavaria. The former cellar child is now considered a role model for many other federal states.

Rabe, for example, vehemently pushed ahead with the expansion of the all-day program in Hamburg. With success: 99 percent of all primary schools in the Hanseatic city are all-day schools. Nationwide, this is a lonely top value.

Rabe, for example, introduced the "four-and-a-half-year-old interview procedure". In this test, which is mandatory for all Hamburg children, it should be noticed one and a half years before school enrolment whether a child needs additional support – for example, because he or she does not yet speak German well enough or has health problems. If deficits are identified, mandatory support in pre-school follows. Education experts have been calling for this early check-up for all children in Germany for years. Hamburg is the only state that has so far used it consistently and comprehensively.

Testing & Measurement

Rabe has also always relied on testing and measuring in other areas. For example, all schools in the Hanseatic city receive regular visits from the school inspectorate. The reports are public and can be viewed by everyone. A school social index, which is regularly updated, provides information on the composition of the student body at individual schools. Schools with a high proportion of disadvantaged children will receive additional teachers.

At the same time, Hamburg is the only federal state that does not employ its teachers according to the deputation model, but has set a weekly working time for teachers. Those who teach correction-intensive subjects such as English or German are credited with working time. The model is considered unique in Germany – and exemplary in its fairness.

Vacancies at the KMK

However, Hamburg also has the highest proportion of part-time teachers. More than half of the city's teachers do not work full-time. This is the highest value nationwide, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday. The increase in working hours is considered an important lever in the fight against the shortage of teachers.

With Rabe's resignation, the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) has lost a central figure. As the so-called coordinator of the A-states, Rabe represented the SPD-led federal states in the KMK. The CDU states are also losing their coordinator. The also long-serving Minister of Culture of Hesse, Alexander Lorz, is to take over the Ministry of Finance in the new Hessian cabinet, which is to be sworn in on Thursday.

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