"As early as May, the framework for the supply of teachers in the next school year should actually be in place," says Berlin's Education Senator Astrid-Sabine Busse (SPD), who comes from practice and ran a focal elementary school in Neukölln herself until last summer.

The latest forecast for teacher supply from the education senate will spread terror in the schools: According to calculations by the Berlin school authorities, there will probably be a shortage of 920 teachers in the coming year.

In view of the already tense situation with many lateral entrants in primary school and a high proportion of teachers without traditional pedagogical training, the education administration has every reason to look for a way out at an early stage.

Heike Schmoll

Political correspondent in Berlin, responsible for “Bildungswelten”.

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According to information from the school authorities, 2536 teachers are currently undergoing part-time training, i.e. career changers who are doing further training;

that is 7.4 percent of the active teachers in Berlin.

Until last year, Berlin was the only country that did not employ civil servants for teachers, so many teachers living in Berlin went to Hamburg or Brandenburg.

In the meantime, Berlin is also becoming a civil servant and is now waiving the waiting period for civil servants, which was previously eight months.

The provision of teachers will become one of the most urgent problems for all federal states in the coming years.

Even Bavaria is now reporting a shortage of teachers.

Depending on the calculation, 26,000 teachers will be missing in the years 2025/26.

However, this is an optimistic forecast by the Conference of Ministers of Education.

The education researcher Klaus Klemm is more likely to expect a lack of 40,000 teachers.

The Initiative New Social Market Economy INSM sees a shortage of 35,000 teachers nationwide, but already in 2035/36 by 76,000.

After all, the INSM has attested the Berlin elementary schools a third place in the student-teacher ratio.

Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg are in last place here.

Refugee children from Ukraine well integrated in Berlin

Senator Busse says that the 3,000 refugee children from the Ukraine were integrated into the schools in the capital without any problems and points out that the number of pupils has grown the most in Berlin.

The timetable is also covered.

“The regular lessons are not in danger”, but there is already a problem with the additional teaching hours.

Full-time teachers from the age of 58 can claim an age reduction in Berlin, i.e. they teach one hour less, from the age of 61 it is even two hours less.

Overall, age reductions apply to a total of 350 full-time employees.

The senator defends the age-reduction, arguing that keeping teachers with fewer hours in the system is better than losing them into retirement altogether.