Philologists' Association: Digital equipment in schools still deficient

According to a survey of teachers, there are still deficits with regard to the digital equipment in schools.

In a survey by the German Association of Philologists, almost 50 percent stated that they teach at schools where the WiFi is not optimally usable for teaching.

62.5 percent cannot rely on a professional IT supervisor for their work at their school.

Just under 23 percent said they were being looked after by a professional administrator.

The newspapers of the Funke media group had reported about it first.

“For those politically responsible, this is a sign of poverty after a pandemic of more than 20 months.

The schools have to be equipped with less bureaucracy, faster and better, ”said Susanne Lin-Klitzing, the federal chairwoman of the philologists' association, which represents the grammar school teachers.

In October and November, almost 7,000 teachers at grammar schools and schools leading to the Abitur were surveyed throughout Germany.

A positive result of the survey is that 69 percent of the high school teachers surveyed can now work in their schools with suitable and data protection-compliant learning platforms.

This was not yet the case for 13.8 percent of those surveyed.

Karliczek calls for arrangements for distance teaching

Meanwhile, in view of the tense Corona situation, the acting Federal Minister of Education Anja Karliczek (CDU) has called for steps to be taken for so-called distance learning.

Everything must currently be tried to maintain face-to-face instruction under strict hygiene regulations, "if this can be justified epidemiologically in the individual regions," she told the dpa news agency.

But you can also see that some schools are closed again and that alternate classes are taking place in some cases.

"The provisions for distance teaching should therefore now be strengthened."

Karliczek commented on the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court on school closings published on Tuesday.

The judges had decided that central measures of the so-called federal emergency brake, which applied from the end of April to the end of June - including the closings of schools - were at least permissible at the time.

The court also recognized for the first time a “right of children and adolescents vis-à-vis the state to school education”.

Karliczek said the judges had the right to school education and to minimum standards of educational offers very clearly.

"This resolution clearly obliges the state, and in particular the federal states, to step up efforts to ensure a good school education for our children."