"We lack the courage to embrace the digital era" - if Germany wants to be and remain at the top when it comes to educating children, then the German Education and Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) believes that the school system must change significantly.

At the DLD digital conference in Munich, she described what she felt was lacking and traced historical lines: First, Humboldt promoted holistic training for everyone, with the "result remaining below ambition", then as a result of industrialization the core goal of education consisted in graduates being able to complete the tasks assigned to them as efficiently as possible.

Now the requirements are different, the digital economy places more value on "trial & error", experimentation, "learning success can no longer be defined as reproducing knowledge," she said.

The technological transformation leads to the fact that the half-life of knowledge is reduced and everyone has to learn new things constantly and presumably faster.

We have to reinvent ourselves every ten years, said the minister.

She regretted that Germany still had fundamental difficulties when it came to digital learning - the pandemic had also highlighted this again.

In the future, better platforms should be available to schools and teachers should be better trained to use them in a targeted manner.

"Mental and bureaucratic hurdles" have to be overcome for this.

Stark-Watzinger also asked for a little patience.

"We can't change our country overnight and just flip a switch."

"Bridge to the world of tomorrow"

She also emphasized that it is unacceptable that women, the elderly and the poor are on average less well trained in digital skills, as studies show.

"Training is the bridge to the world of tomorrow." And good training includes more than good career opportunities, it also includes contributing to society and culture and being able to take charge of one's own life.

In light of recent technological developments and breakthroughs, she also admitted that she chooses a different education now than she once did.

"I am an economist - if I could vote again today, I would become a scientist."

The equipment with modern hardware and software is important.

In the end, however, the decisive factor for good teaching is how committed the teacher is and how the subject is conveyed, said Felix Ohswald, founder and head of GoStudent, a tutoring platform, which is currently the most valuable Austrian start-up, but has long been in other countries are expanding with their offers.

"Handing out electronic equipment to students doesn't automatically make lessons better, but it does make teachers more engaged."

Ohswald: Teachers have to earn more

He advocated drastically increasing teachers' salaries and making them competitive with the income professionals earn in the private sector - which he believes is currently not the case.

At the same time, he warned that the entry hurdles in the teaching profession should also be increased enormously in view of the responsibility and task that this profession means.

"Just studying to become a teacher is not enough to be a good teacher."

He also emphasized how important it is to be physically present in the classroom together with other children - in order to learn social interaction, which is often forgotten or underestimated.

And he would also like to change the view on tutoring.

This is often taken as an indication that the school has failed.

"But that's not a good view." If a teacher has to take care of 25 or 30 children, then many children simply need support, and this for two reasons: Because they are either overwhelmed, or because they are underchallenged and would like to understand more deeply what is covered in class.

He announces that GoStudent will invest in hybrid structures in the coming months.

Finally, Michael John Gorman, founder of the Biotopia Natural History Museum, named the most important skill that is not only needed by students today: A compass that leads through the information landscape and the many content offers.

And he emphasized another distinction: "For a long time we focused on what content we should teach the children - maybe we can turn it around: What are their needs and how can we bring the natural sciences there."

For his part, Stefan Vilsmeier, founder and CEO of the medical technology company Brainlab, advocated using technology more widely in education and, for example, using mobile devices such as smartphones much more extensively, which most people have.

This is the only way to scale learning offers faster and easier across national borders.

He also expressly advocated using more sophisticated virtual environments for this, because they often made it possible to train or learn special skills that are hardly possible in reality.