AfD on education

The AfD wants early childhood education to follow what it considers proven principles and rejects open concepts in daycare centers. Daycare centers are to be free of ideology and politics and prepare children for school with firm rules. Early offerings in science, skilled trades, fire safety and language are also to be expanded.

The AfD wants fixed routines and fixed caregivers in daycare centers. It rejects open concepts. Children should learn clear rules and limits. They should be well prepared for school. There should be more activities on technology, trades and language.

The platform names a structured daily routine, fixed caregivers and age-appropriate support as the core of daycare work. The goals are school readiness, enjoyment of learning, willingness to make an effort and considerate behavior among children, combined with loving and consistent guidance. The "Haus der kleinen Forscher" (Little Scientists' House) program is to be expanded to interest children in STEM subjects and skilled trades. In the preschool year, fire safety education with local fire departments is to be strengthened, partly to recruit future firefighters. Language education and related training for daycare staff are to receive more support because, according to the platform, a third of children starting school have language deficits.

The AfD wants a school system that is tiered by ability but still allows movement between tracks. Students would learn together through grade 8, and Oberschulen (non-academic secondary schools) would become Technical Oberschulen. Fixed grade requirements would govern the move to Gymnasium.

The AfD wants to keep different types of schools. All children should learn together until grade 8. The Oberschule should become a Technical Oberschule. Only students with very good grades may move to Gymnasium.

From grade 7, core subjects would be taught in separate groups by performance level. Moving to Gymnasium after grade 8 would require an average of at least 1.5 in the core subjects. The Technical Oberschulen would work more closely with trades and regional businesses. In primary school, the primer-based reading method and a standard cursive script would be uniform goals, so that children write joined-up handwriting by grade 3. The AfD rejects lowering standards to raise the share of Abitur graduates and wants to defend the state's authority over education.

The AfD wants to strengthen dual vocational training and vocational schools. In its view, the push for more university-track graduates and weak performance by school leavers endanger the supply of trainees. Schools would teach more economics and career orientation.

The AfD wants to strengthen job training. It says many companies cannot find good trainees. Schools should teach more about business and jobs. Trainees should get more dormitory places.

General schools would cover more economic topics, and Gymnasien would also offer practical career orientation. Oberschulen would cooperate with companies and the chambers of industry and commerce. The AfD wants more dormitory places for trainees near vocational schools. Partial state funding and social-work support for underage vocational students are to be examined.

The AfD wants to keep Förderschulen (special-needs schools). In its view, children with special needs receive support there that regular schools cannot provide. Inclusion should proceed only with a sense of proportion.

The AfD wants to keep special-needs schools. It says children with disabilities get the best help there. Teaching everyone together should happen only in moderation. It should not burden teachers or other children.

According to the AfD, Germany has long met the United Nations requirement to guarantee disabled children access to education. Inclusion should give the affected children a sense of achievement. It should not overburden teachers and childcare workers or slow down classmates' progress.

The AfD wants to end the "sex education of diversity" in schools, which it calls early sexualization. It wants age-appropriate sex education based on biology instead. Parents would get a legal right to have a say or to veto.

The AfD rejects lessons about sexual diversity. It wants sex education based only on biology. The state should stop paying for such projects. Parents should have a say in sex education.

According to the platform, this teaching crosses children's boundaries of modesty, interferes with their development and unsettles their sexual identity. Public funding for such projects would be cut immediately. The AfD opposes attempts to replace the traditional image of the family.

The AfD considers the Bologna reform a failure and wants to bring back Diplom and Magister degree programs. It says the reform made university studies school-like, created bureaucracy and curtailed academic freedom.

The AfD wants the old Diplom and Magister degrees back. It says the Bologna reform has failed. That is the Europe-wide switch to bachelor's and master's degrees. German should remain the language at universities.

The modular structure of studies and the accreditation of degree programs would be scrapped. Only universities would be allowed to award doctorates. German would be kept as the language of teaching and scholarship. The platform argues that the many new programs make degrees harder to compare and make it harder to switch universities.

The AfD wants to give universities more base funding so they depend less on third-party grants. Universities would be allowed to select their own students. Certain students from outside the European Economic Area would pay tuition.

Universities should get more fixed money from the state. This way they depend less on outside funders. Universities should be allowed to pick applicants with tests. Some students from abroad should pay fees.

Researchers should spend their time on research rather than grant applications, and funders should not narrow the choice of topics. Universities would be allowed to use aptitude tests and entrance exams. Political targets for student numbers, completion rates and quotas would be dropped. Tuition would apply to students from outside the European Economic Area who do not work in Saxony after graduating. The AfD rejects civil clauses that rule out military research; it also wants inventions better protected by patents and commercialized preferably in Saxony.

The AfD wants to train teachers at a dedicated Pädagogische Hochschule (teacher training college) again, without the Referendariat. The degree would combine theory and practice from the start. The aim is teacher training planned according to need.

The AfD wants to found a separate college for teachers again. The Referendariat should be dropped. That is the practical phase after university. Students should practice in schools from the start.

The Diplom-Pädagoge degree would return for all school types. Aptitude tests and selection procedures for new students are meant to reduce dropouts. Regular mandatory placements at all school types are planned, and later students would assist with lessons. The AfD wants to look into paying them for this. Training for primary school teachers would be geared more closely to the needs of that school type.