AfD on education

The AfD demands strict political neutrality from teachers, daycare staff and social workers and wants to keep the Beutelsbach Consensus without reinterpretation. Institutions it considers harmful to the community should no longer get tax and financial advantages.

Teachers and daycare staff should be politically neutral. Students should be able to state their opinion without fear. The AfD wants to strengthen the Beutelsbach Consensus for this. That is a rule against political influence in class. Some institutions should lose their tax benefits.

The platform opposes what it calls left-wing agitation against families, such as calls for a birth strike or criticism of abortion opponents. Public broadcasters should highlight the value of the family more within their programming mandate. In school, students should be able to voice political views without fearing sanctions from teachers or classmates. The exchange of facts and reasoned opinions in class should be possible at all times. Work with children and young people should serve the development of a self-determined personality.

The AfD backs a performance-oriented, permeable system of different school types. Admission to the Gymnasium (academic high school) would be decided by uniform statewide entrance exams, and the practice-oriented Mittelstufenschule would be expanded.

The AfD wants to keep different types of schools. Performance should matter more again. Anyone who wants to go to the Gymnasium should take an exam. The exam should be the same across Hesse. The practice-oriented middle school should become more important.

The system includes elementary school, Realschule, Mittelstufenschule, Gymnasium, special-needs school and vocational school. The platform calls for enough qualified teachers, full teaching materials and small groups of similar ability. Standards should be measured against Europe's best performers. The Abitur should again prove readiness for university, and the lower and intermediate diplomas should prepare students for dual vocational training. The AfD criticizes falling standards, inflated grades and low state spending on education.

The AfD opposes closing special-needs schools and considers them the best place for children with disabilities or learning impairments. Inclusion in regular schools should happen only where the degree of impairment and the conditions make success likely.

Special-needs schools are schools for children with disabilities. The AfD wants to keep these schools. It says children get the best help there. Only some children should go to regular classes. The conditions must be good for that.

The platform suspects cost-cutting behind school closures. Special-needs teachers can do their work better in specialized schools than in mixed regular classes, it says. The AfD calls teaching these children in regular schools primarily ideologically driven. It argues this leads to poorer support for the children concerned, lower learning outcomes for the whole class and overburdened teachers. Special-needs schools also offer better rooms and equipment.

The AfD wants to make teaching in Hesse more attractive: more practice during training, faster hiring, permanent instead of temporary contracts and relief from administrative work. Teachers should also be able to impose effective sanctions quickly on disruptive students.

Hesse does not have enough teachers. The AfD wants to make the job more attractive. Teachers should get permanent contracts. The state should not let them go during school breaks. Assistants should take over office work. Teachers should be able to punish disruptive students faster.

The standard length of all teacher-training degrees would be set uniformly at ten semesters, with more practical content and paid mandatory internships. Application procedures would become shorter and less bureaucratic, alongside high-quality routes for career changers and more discretion for schools in filling posts. Fee-based contracts would turn into regular employment after one year at the latest. School administrative assistants would relieve teachers. The AfD wants to adjust school law to allow sanctions in agreement with school leadership.

The AfD wants parents to choose freely between all-day care at school and care at home. All-day care should be free and of high educational quality; parents who look after their children themselves should receive financial compensation.

Parents should choose for themselves: all-day care at school or at home. Care at school should be free and good. Parents who care for their children at home should get money. The state should set aside enough money for this.

The choice should not depend on income in any type of school. The platform calls for enough qualified school staff and demanding cultural, artistic and sports programs that involve parents and clubs. Good all-day care has so far been the exception in Hesse, it says. In the AfD's view, schools must not be mere places to park children.

The AfD wants to change Hesse's sex education curriculum in force since 2016. Instead of acceptance of different lifestyles and sexual orientations, the goal should be tolerance and respect, and the note that lessons do not depend on parental consent should be removed.

Hesse has a curriculum for sex education. The AfD wants to change it. The word acceptance should be removed. Tolerance and respect should take its place. Parents should have more say. The topic should be handled with restraint in class.

According to the platform, the curriculum replaces the value system of marriage, parenthood and family with a concept of sexual diversity and violates the Beutelsbach Consensus. The earlier 2007 curriculum aimed only at tolerance and respect, it says. In the AfD's view, the statement that sex education is binding for all and possible without parental consent violates the parental right under Article 6 of the Basic Law. Sex education should be a joint effort of home and school.

The AfD wants no faith-based Islamic instruction in Hessian schools because it believes this hinders integration. Instead there should be Christian religious instruction as a required elective and non-denominational ethics classes.

The AfD does not want Islam classes that teach the faith in schools. It says they harm integration. There should be Christian religion classes. Students who do not want that go to ethics class. Mosque associations should have no influence in schools.

The platform opposes political and religious influence by Islamic associations such as Ahmadiyya or DITIB in schools. Christian religious instruction should allow a choice of denomination where student numbers permit. The AfD regards ethics classes as a legally sufficient offer for all religious communities. Which form is offered at secondary schools should be decided by the schools together with parents.

The AfD wants to strengthen career preparation in all types of schools. A redesigned crafts and work-studies class would be offered everywhere, and more company internships than today would become standard.

Students should be better prepared for working life. All schools should offer crafts and work-studies classes. Students should do internships at companies more often. Schools should work closely with trades and industry.

The platform rejects purely classroom-based career preparation and training. Manual skills and technical, design-oriented thinking are needed for the move into training and university, it says. Regular schools should cooperate closely with training workshops and vocational institutions. According to the platform there are currently two mandatory internships; regular internships in all tracks would be added.

The AfD wants to keep and expand the dual vocational training system and opposes reducing the number of vocational school sites. Master craftsman courses should be free if graduates then work in Hesse. The master craftsman bonus should rise from 1,000 to 4,000 euros.

The AfD wants to strengthen training in companies and vocational schools. Vocational schools should not close. Training to become a master craftsman should cost nothing. In return, people must then work in Hesse. The bonus for new masters should rise to 4,000 euros.

The platform opposes the planned concentration of specializations at fewer vocational schools, so that trainees keep short commutes and companies stay in the region. The AfD sees unequal treatment in the fact that university study is free while master craftsman training costs money. According to the platform, Hesse's 1,000-euro bonus is at the low end among the states and should be raised to 4,000 euros as a first step. To counter the teacher shortage at vocational schools, a qualification program should let master craftsmen and industrial foremen obtain a teaching license.

The AfD wants better digital equipment in schools: Wi-Fi in every classroom, uniform tablets from grade 5 at no extra cost, and computer science as a required subject in secondary schools. In elementary school, traditional teaching of reading, writing and arithmetic should remain the focus.

The AfD wants more technology in schools. Every classroom should have fast Wi-Fi. Students from grade 5 should get a tablet without paying for it. Computer science should become a required subject. In elementary school, children should mainly learn reading, writing and math.

The tablets would be provided under the free learning materials rule and be the same for everyone, as would teachers' computers and software; this is meant to simplify teaching and maintenance. Computer science classes should cover basic programming, software skills and critical media literacy. The "Schulportal Hessen" (the state's school portal) should be expanded to offer digital textbooks, learning programs and free, privacy-compliant tools for video conferencing and text and image editing. In elementary schools, digital learning programs may only play a supporting role under the platform.

The AfD wants aptitude tests before admission at universities in Hesse, in order to prevent what it sees as over-academization and to reduce dropout rates. At the same time, university autonomy should be strengthened and the "Diplom-Ingenieur" degree should be available again.

The AfD wants tests before people start university. Only those who pass may study the subject. This should mean fewer students drop out. Universities should decide about their own work. The Diplom-Ingenieur degree should still exist.

The tests would be based on merit; the platform justifies them with the need for successful graduates, especially in STEM subjects. Students in natural sciences, engineering and medicine should receive particular support. The AfD considers BAföG (student aid), a mix of grant and loan, suitable for steering choices of study and career. Political influence on universities should be reduced, and the Hessian university for public management and security, which reports to the interior ministry, should not be recognized as an academic university.

The AfD wants to introduce tuition fees for students from countries outside the EU. It argues that many Chinese students, for example, take their knowledge home after graduating, so that Hesse is training its own competition.

The AfD wants to charge money for studying. This should apply to students from countries outside the EU. The AfD says many go back home after their studies. The money should go to the universities in Hesse.

The revenue would go entirely to Hesse's universities. According to the platform, this would allow better training for students who stay in Germany after graduating. The AfD also sees this as a contribution against the skilled labor shortage and against economic pressure from China.

The AfD wants to end what it sees as a one-sided preference for university study and boost the reputation of non-academic training. Dual vocational training should be valued as highly as a university degree. The party points to shortages of tradespeople and care workers.

There are not enough tradespeople and care workers. The AfD says politics focuses too much on university. Job training in a company should count just as much. The AfD wants to strengthen the skilled trades.

The platform points to demographic change, which it says shifts staffing needs between industries. The share of young people starting university was at record highs for years. Policymakers should create good conditions so small trade businesses can earn stable income; these businesses struggle with material shortages, staff shortages, succession problems, and energy costs. They should also point out that, in the AfD's view, some theoretical degree programs do not lead to suitable job prospects.

The AfD wants to keep schools and kindergartens in rural communities wherever possible and to question rules such as class sizes. Other services should be offered on a mobile basis, and hospitals would be replaced by local medical centers.

The AfD wants to keep schools and kindergartens in villages. Classes may be very small for this. Banks, shops, and libraries should travel to the people. Small centers for emergencies should replace hospitals.

According to the platform, the future of rural areas depends on local schools and kindergartens. Financial services, grocery deliveries, and libraries should come to residents in mobile form. Because the AfD sees rural hospitals as underused, medical centers would handle emergencies and otherwise refer patients to specialized clinics. The platform also suggests moving government offices or university departments to rural areas.