BSW on education

The BSW wants no Bundeswehr recruiting in Saxony's schools and rejects military or civil defense classes. The state's cooperation agreement with the Bundeswehr is to end. At universities, the party backs the civil clause movement, which wants military research made public.

The German army should not recruit young people in Saxony's schools. There should be no military classes. Saxony has an agreement with the army on this. The BSW wants to end that agreement. Universities should disclose when they do research for the military.

The platform speaks of a creeping militarization of schools. It says the Bundeswehr has its own information centers that are sufficient for its purposes. The party supports the civil clause movement's goal of creating transparency when Saxon universities take on military research contracts. A civil clause is a commitment by a university to do research only for civilian purposes.

The BSW wants binding language tests for all children from age three. Where deficits are found, attending daycare or preschool would become mandatory. The party argues that German is the language of instruction and that regular teaching is impossible without language skills.

Children should take a language test at age 3. Those who speak poor German must go to daycare or preschool. This should cost parents nothing. German stays the language used in class.

According to the platform, 13 percent of students in Saxony come from non-German-speaking backgrounds, and in some elementary classes more than half speak no German. German is to remain the language of instruction, along with Sorbian in the Sorbian area. The tests are meant to show early which support a child needs, and that support would be binding. Mandatory measures such as daycare or a preschool year would be free for families. Language integration is meant to contribute to integration overall.

The BSW wants to ban smartphones and tablets from lessons in the lower grades and focus elementary school on reading, writing and arithmetic. In the party's view, digital learning tools hinder learning. In higher grades, a media literacy subject would teach how to handle digital media.

The BSW wants to ban phones and tablets in class. This should apply up to grade 6, and in elementary school in any case. Children there should mainly learn reading, writing and math. Older students should get a subject about digital media.

The ban would ideally run through grade 6 and cover at least elementary school. Public money would go to sound buildings and school administration rather than to digitizing lessons, with printed textbooks and the teacher's knowledge at the center. The platform cites studies and points to Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark, which it says have halted school digitization. For secondary schools, the BSW also plans a special program to address the shortage of digital devices and to build media literacy.

The BSW wants to set up teams of other professionals in schools to take non-teaching tasks off teachers' hands. This is meant to let teachers focus on teaching and to end canceled lessons. Training for teaching staff would become more practice-oriented.

Teachers should mainly teach again. Other experts should come into schools to help. These include social workers, psychologists and IT staff. Every school should have at least one social worker.

The platform cites a study by the GEW Saxony teachers' union saying teachers spend only a third of their working time teaching. Multi-professional teams of educators, social workers, psychologists, administrative staff and IT officers would handle organization, counseling, contact with parents and equipment. Every school in Saxony would get at least one school social worker. For future teachers, the BSW plans dual training or dual study programs with practical elements from the start, intended to reduce the number who leave the profession.

The BSW wants to give Oberschulen (non-academic secondary schools) and comprehensive community schools more money and staff and raise the standing of their diplomas. In the medium and long term, children would learn together for longer. Clearer admission criteria for the Gymnasium (academic-track school) are meant to prevent overcrowding.

The BSW wants to strengthen non-academic secondary schools and community schools. They should get more money and more staff. Later, children should learn together for longer. There should be clearer rules for getting into the academic-track school.

The BSW believes the school-track recommendation after fourth grade comes too early for many children; it names longer joint schooling or flexible later transfers as alternatives. Oberschulen and community schools would become more practice-oriented and prepare children with manual talents for work and life. Well-equipped Oberschulen are meant to ease parental pressure toward the Gymnasium. In the medium term, the party favors a statewide three-year vocational training program combined with the Abitur (university entrance diploma). Especially gifted children would receive intensive support.

The BSW wants grades to be the standard for assessing performance at all schools in Saxony. Curricula would again be built around clear, binding content rather than competencies alone. In addition, career orientation in schools would be organized centrally.

All schools in Saxony should give grades. Curricula should set out clear content. Students should no longer be able to drop subjects like history. Schools should organize internships at companies.

The platform criticizes that some non-state schools question grading and sees this as a lack of shared standards. Framework curricula would be organized by knowledge, skills and competencies. The BSW considers today's curricula too abstract and wants to end the option of dropping history. For career choice, it plans an integrated orientation program with organized company internships so that this no longer depends on the initiative of individual students or teachers.

The BSW wants to permanently secure all existing schools in Saxony and reopen former sites where needed. To that end, the school law would allow smaller classes. A dedicated program would fix deficits in buildings and equipment.

The BSW does not want any more schools in Saxony to close. Old schools should be able to reopen. Classes should be allowed to be smaller. The state should pay to fix run-down school buildings.

According to the platform, politicians have responded to people leaving rural regions with school closures for 20 years, meaning long trips for children. The minimum number of students needed to form a class would be lowered; the BSW says smaller classes improve learning and make rural schools more attractive to teachers. The party sees the pay bonus for young rural teachers as only a first step. Dedicated funds would be provided for school buildings and equipment.

The BSW wants to keep special-needs schools and support centers. It considers inclusion in mainstream schools sensible but limited, and wants those schools to get more staff and materials for it.

The BSW wants to keep special-needs schools. Some children need extra help with learning. They should still be able to go there. Regular schools should get more staff for these children.

According to the platform, the needs of children with special learning requirements are often overlooked in Saxony. The extra care currently falls on teachers. Mainstream schools would therefore get more staff and material resources for joint learning. Special-needs schools and support centers would continue to exist alongside them.

The BSW wants to give Saxony's universities more money and staff and decouple funding from student numbers. Locations outside Dresden and Leipzig would also be strengthened. More dormitory places with lower rents would be created for students.

Universities in Saxony should get more money and staff. The money should no longer depend on the number of students. There should be more student dorms. Rents there should go down.

Additional positions would be written into the new funding agreement. Enrollment and graduation numbers would no longer serve as a funding metric because universities cannot control them. The funding ratio between universities of applied sciences and traditional universities would be reviewed, and the new Duale Hochschule Sachsen would get support. Other plans include less red tape, help with bids under the Excellence Strategy and academic continuing education for small and mid-sized companies. According to the platform, getting a degree should not depend on parents' income.

The BSW wants early-career researchers in Saxony to be able to plan their careers with more security. It calls for full-time contracts covered by collective agreements with terms of at least one year, plus a collective agreement for student employees.

The BSW wants better jobs at universities. Young researchers should get contracts under a union pay deal. These contracts should run for at least one year. Students who work for the university should get a pay deal too.

Part-time work for early-career researchers should happen only at their own request, and fixed-term contracts should become less common. Universities of applied sciences should get permanent assistant positions like regular universities, to strengthen research by their professors, whose teaching load the program puts at 30 percent higher. Teaching staff with special duties (LfbA) should be graded by law according to performance and qualification and thus paid better. Internships during studies should be paid and covered by social insurance. Student services organizations should get support to build affordable housing, especially for students with disabilities or children.

The BSW wants to turn the Hochschulrat (university council) into a purely advisory body. Decision-making powers such as taking part in electing university leadership should return to the academic senates.

Universities have a council. Outside experts sit on it too. The BSW wants this council to only give advice. The university senate should make the decisions again.

The program argues that science, research and teaching take place inside the university. The rector's office should only be able to set up, close or substantially change degree programs with the senate's consent, rather than merely consulting it. The same consent requirement should apply between the rector's office and the faculty council when the subject focus of professorships is defined.

The BSW wants a fundamental reform of teacher training, making it a dual degree with practical experience from the start. The program points to the ongoing teacher shortage and a course of study it sees as too focused on specialist knowledge.

The BSW wants to change how teachers are trained. Students should get practice in schools from the start. The degree should ask for less expert knowledge. It should produce good teachers, not researchers.

The program cites mathematics and the natural sciences as examples, where studies are said to aim too much at highly specialized knowledge and to overlook talented young people with an aptitude for teaching. Saxony should lead the way with a teaching degree that produces teachers with excellent subject and teaching skills rather than future academics. Courses should be tied to practice from the first semester.