Grüne on education

The Greens want to renew the promise of upward mobility and rely on good education starting in daycare. Vocational training is to be strengthened and the Meister (master craftsman) qualification put on equal footing with a master's degree.

The Greens want good education for all children. It should start in daycare. People who work hard should get ahead in life. A master craftsman's training should count as much as a university degree.

The platform calls good education the best economic and social policy and acknowledges that it costs money. No talent should be lost, and daycare is seen as the first turning point. Young people are to be supported on their way into training, university or starting a business. The platform also stresses a sense of duty and willingness to perform: those who make an effort should benefit.

The Greens want to conclude a new higher education funding agreement with a high level of core funding in the next legislative term. This is meant to let universities decide independently and set their own priorities.

The Greens want to keep giving universities a lot of money. There will be a new agreement for this. Universities should decide for themselves how to use the money. Buildings should be renovated.

The platform points to around 23 billion euros going to universities over the next five years. The renovation drive for university buildings that has already begun is to be expanded, with full accessibility built in from the start where possible. The universities of applied sciences are to get more funds and better equipment for their research. Universities of excellence, universities of applied sciences and the Duale Hochschule are to be strengthened on an equal footing.

The Greens want to abolish the tuition fees that foreign students pay in Baden-Württemberg. The plan is tied to the goal of education that is open to everyone.

Students from other countries pay fees in Baden-Württemberg. The Greens want to end these fees. Studying should be open to everyone.

The fees for students from abroad are to be dropped. The platform mentions the abolition alongside the planned new higher education funding agreement. The guiding idea is education that is accessible to all people.

The Greens want to actively recruit top researchers from abroad whose academic freedom is at risk in their home countries. The platform justifies this with the pressure that authoritarian forces worldwide put on teaching and research.

In some countries researchers cannot work freely. The Greens want to bring such researchers to Baden-Württemberg. The state should help them with this. Their families should get support too.

The new state agency for skilled-worker immigration is to provide support. Central contact points at the innovation campus sites are to be added. Attractive conditions such as job prospects for partners and childcare are meant to make the move easier.

The Greens want to expand teams of different professions in daycare centers (Kitas), make the state's early-education framework more binding and improve the staff-to-child ratio. More training routes for early-childhood educators are meant to secure reliable opening hours.

The Greens want better daycare centers. More experts should work there, for example for language and social work. Each staff member should care for fewer children. There should be more training for daycare workers. Then daycare centers can stay open reliably.

Additional specialists for language, social work and inclusion are meant to relieve educators. Regional inclusion advisory services are to be rolled out statewide, and special-needs preschool groups are to open up inclusively. The Orientierungsplan (early-education framework) is to be applied in a more binding way, and the Greens advocate a child-based staff-to-child ratio. To keep opening hours reliable, the paid practice-integrated training (PiA) and the lateral-entry program "Direkteinstieg Kita" are to grow, and childminders should be able to qualify as educators. Municipalities are to get help in making access to a daycare place simpler and less bureaucratic.

The Greens want to continue the early language support program SprachFit and add support for basic math skills. The state's reading strategy is also to be stepped up, because too few children meet the standards in reading, writing and arithmetic.

Many children cannot read, write and do math well enough. The Greens want to keep the SprachFit program. It helps children learn German. Early help with math should be added. Children should also practice reading more.

SprachFit has been running since the 2025/2026 school year and includes mandatory language training in the last daycare year, "junior classes" after daycare, and two extra support lessons each in first and second grade. The program is to continue and be extended to early math skills. Language learning in everyday daycare and school life is to be supplemented by intensive add-on offerings where needed. The Greens also want to build on models that include and value children's home languages.

The Greens want to extend the "Startchancen-Programm BW" to additional schools and daycare centers in socially difficult areas. A social index is meant to ensure that extra money reaches the places where need is greatest.

Some schools and daycare centers have a harder job. They get extra money from a program. The Greens want more schools and daycare centers to get this money. A social index shows where help is needed most.

The program targets institutions in socially challenging settings. Funds are to be distributed according to a newly developed social index, which is to keep guiding the allocation of resources. According to the Greens, programs such as "Rückenwind" and the Startchancen program have made it possible to start building teams of different professions at schools.

The Greens want to make financial education a fixed part of schooling. Young people should learn to handle topics such as taxes, insurance and retirement provision regardless of their family background.

The Greens want students to learn more about money at school. They should also learn about taxes and insurance. This should help everyone. It should not depend on what their parents know.

The platform justifies the plan by saying all young people should be able to take part successfully in economic life, whatever means their parents have. The content is to cover handling money as well as taxes, insurance and provision for the future. Financial education is to be anchored in schools.

The Greens want to gear teacher education more toward classroom practice and expand the dual teacher-training degree. The Referendariat (post-degree practical training) is to become easier to plan, including through new exam formats and pay over the summer break.

The Greens want better training for teachers. Students should practice in schools earlier. After university, new teachers do a practical training phase. It may get two start dates a year. Trainees who finish in summer keep getting paid during the break.

New university places and simpler lateral and direct entry are meant to secure teaching supply, with capacity adjusted flexibly to demand. The dual master's degree for teachers is to be evaluated soon and expanded, practice projects such as "Lehr:Werkstatt" strengthened, and more pedagogy built into training for Gymnasium teachers. For the Referendariat, a second mid-year start date is under review, along with new exam formats and support programs. Trainee teachers who finish at the end of the school year are to keep being paid over the summer. More students are to be attracted to lower-secondary teaching and special education.

The Greens want to keep investing in all-day school programs and support municipalities with construction so that the legal entitlement for primary school children from September 2029 can be met. They favor a binding model with lessons and breaks spread across the day that is free for parents.

From September 2029, primary school children have a right to all-day care. The Greens want more all-day schools. The state gives towns money for this. Children do their homework at school. There should be quiet rooms and a warm lunch.

The state is to remain a reliable partner for municipalities and school authorities and keep funding investment. Heads of all-day schools are to gradually receive administrative staff, starting with primary schools, and lunchtime organization is to improve. A quality framework for the binding all-day model, in which homework is done at school, will be supported. Plans include fixed quiet rooms, a warm and healthy lunch, and closer cooperation among teachers, educational staff and outside partners.

The Greens want to merge existing student files into one unified education record and give each child an education ID. The aim is to keep information on support needs from getting lost when children change institutions and to allow data-based quality checks of schools.

The Greens want one education file for each child. Each child gets a personal number, the education ID. New teachers then know what help a child needs. The data also show how well schools work.

Children are to be supported continuously from nursery through the move into training or university, with information on support needs passed on without gaps. The education ID is to be compatible nationwide, and municipalities will be involved. Cooperation between daycare centers and primary schools is to be strengthened. In addition, the Kompass 4 procedure, which is meant to help with the choice of secondary school type, is to be evaluated.

The Greens want all children to receive a free, balanced lunch at school, beginning with the schools in the Startchancen program. Children with allergies or food intolerances are to be catered for safely and allowed to eat their own food in the cafeteria.

The Greens want a free lunch for all school children. It starts at schools that get special support. The food should be healthy. Some children cannot eat certain foods. They may bring their own food to the cafeteria.

The platform argues that good education must not depend on a family's money. The rollout is to begin at all Startchancen schools. For children and young people with intolerances, celiac disease, allergies or autoimmune conditions, nurseries, daycare centers and schools are to create the conditions for safe meals. They are to have the right to eat food brought from home in the cafeteria so they are not excluded from shared mealtimes.

The Greens want to offer ethics step by step in every grade as a complement to religious education. Islamic religious education is to continue in cooperation with universities, and the joint classes run by the two major churches are to receive more support.

The Greens want ethics classes in all grades. This should come step by step. It is also for children who do not take religion class. Islamic religion class should continue. Protestant and Catholic children should have religion class together more often.

Ethics is meant to give all children a class on questions such as peace, justice and living together, including those who do not attend religious education; models for closer cooperation between ethics and denominational classes are supported. Citing the Basic Law, the Greens advocate continuing Islamic religious education in cooperation with universities. It is meant to give Muslim children well-founded religious education and teach maturity and tolerance. Jointly taught Protestant-Catholic religious education is to be promoted more strongly.

The Greens want school success to depend less on the family home. To that end, practice work is to take place more in class, in-school learning support is to be expanded, and primary schools can become contact points for families.

Not all parents can help with homework. The Greens want children to practice more in class. Teachers help them there. There should be more learning support at school. Primary schools can also become a meeting place for families.

Practice and consolidation tasks are to become more a part of lessons so that teachers can give targeted support; according to the platform, this reduces school stress and the burden on families. In-school support such as "Lernen mit Rückenwind" is to be expanded further. Primary schools can act as family centers, forming a network of support for families in the neighborhood. Cooperation with parents, clubs and other partners is initially being supported at the Startchancen schools.

The Greens want an action plan to make more inclusive schooling possible and improve the conditions for it. As many children with special educational needs as possible are to earn a general school diploma, and parents are to be able to choose between inclusive and special-education settings.

The Greens want children with and without disabilities to learn together more often. They are making a plan for this. Schools get more staff and money for it. Parents can still choose: a shared school or a special school. Children who are sick for a long time should be able to join online.

The action plan includes regional budgets, fair staffing, targeted initial and further training, and school assistance newly coordinated with municipalities. The Greens want to draw on successful practice and education research. The Annelie-Wellensiek-Zentrum, where people with disabilities train teachers, is to receive continued funding and be expanded. School renovations are to remove physical barriers. Children with long-term illnesses are to be able to take part in school life online for periods of time.

The Greens want to give schools more room to decide for themselves and to free principals and teachers from administrative work. An innovation budget, school networks and a new approach to exams are meant to raise teaching quality.

The Greens want schools to decide more on their own. Teachers and principals should have less office work. More office staff will help. Schools get money for new ideas. Exams should become more modern.

School networks are to spread successful quality concepts, and school supervisors are to act more as advisers. More administrative staff and training are to strengthen principals; the expansion of multiprofessional teams with teaching assistants, school social work and learning support continues. Payments such as money for trips or class funds are to be handled digitally and cashless where possible. In class, skills such as collaboration, creativity and critical thinking, project-based learning and thoughtful use of artificial intelligence are to be promoted. New exam formats are to give more weight to process-oriented work and also help neurodivergent people; health literacy and differentiated physical education are added.

The Greens want to further expand democracy and media education in schools and give students more say. The new compulsory subject "Informatik und Medienbildung" (computer science and media literacy) is to be consolidated and teach everyone about artificial intelligence.

The Greens want students to learn more about democracy and media. Students should have more say at school. They learn to check news. They also learn how artificial intelligence works. Well-trained teachers are needed for this.

Students are to take part in school development, for example; youth forums, democracy workshops and projects with clubs and companies are meant to make participation tangible. For the compulsory subject in place since 2025/2026, curricula are to be built and qualified teachers recruited, including through a new route into teaching for media educators. The cross-cutting guiding themes of the curricula are to be evaluated ten years after their introduction and made more binding. Multigenerational programs are to promote exchange between young and old.

The Greens want every student to visit a memorial site for Nazi crimes at least once during their school years. Funding for such trips is to be expanded and simplified in order to strengthen the culture of remembrance and counter antisemitism.

The Greens want every student to visit a memorial site once. These places remember the crimes of the Nazis. Schools will get money for this more easily. The Greens want to act against hatred of Jews and other groups.

The platform opposes antisemitism and group-based hostility in every form. Existing funding options for memorial site trips are to be expanded and simplified. Schools are to be able to use them in the future without extra red tape.

The Greens want to keep supporting municipalities in renovating and modernizing schools and add an "innovation component" for modern room concepts to the state's school construction funding. Sports and swimming facilities are to get more support, and applications are to become simpler.

The Greens want to renovate and modernize schools. The state gives towns money for this. There is extra money for new room ideas. School gyms and swimming pools also get more money. Applications should become easier.

School buildings are to be functional, safe, health-promoting and adapted to climate impacts, with spaces for cooperative and inclusive learning, retreat and creativity. Renovations are to remove barriers and ensure good ventilation in classrooms. Schoolyards that encourage physical activity are to be open to the public outside school hours. School authorities are to face less red tape when applying. Public libraries are to become meeting places that are also open in the evenings and on weekends.

The Greens want the state to cover one third of the cost of school social work and to raise its subsidies accordingly. Because mental strain among children and teenagers has increased, school psychology services are also to be expanded with additional positions.

More and more children and teenagers have mental health problems. The Greens want more school psychologists. The state should also pay more for school social work. It should cover one third of the cost. Schools get help against bullying and violence.

State subsidies for school social work are to rise and be adjusted quickly when costs grow so that the share stays stable. School psychology is to receive additional, permanently funded positions and offer preventive group sessions at schools. Training and psychological supervision for teachers dealing with students under strain will be expanded. Schools are to be supported in implementing anti-bullying and anti-violence concepts and evidence-based programs for coping with stress.

The Greens want to place primary school teachers in pay grade A13 (civil servants) or E13 (employees) in the future. They argue that primary school lays the foundation for the rest of a child's education.

The Greens want primary school teachers to earn more. They should move to pay grade A13 or E13. Primary school is very important for all children. Teachers should still be able to work part-time.

A13 is a civil-service pay grade and E13 the corresponding grade for salaried employees. Besides the higher grade, continuous training is meant to strengthen professionalism. Flexible work models such as part-time are to remain available so that job and family stay compatible. Teachers are also to get more room for teamwork.

The Greens want Gemeinschaftsschulen (comprehensive-style community schools) to offer their own university-track upper level in as many places as possible. The platform argues that this school type keeps the path to a university entrance qualification open for a long time and supports both strong and weaker students.

The Greens want more upper levels at community schools. An upper level leads to the Abitur, the diploma for university. This should be available almost everywhere in the state. That keeps the path to university open longer.

The platform notes that the Greens introduced the Gemeinschaftsschule in 2012. Besides stand-alone upper levels, the party backs pilot projects for a digital-hybrid upper level and for joint upper levels shared by general and vocational Gymnasien. Where neither is feasible, cooperation with vocational Gymnasien is to be strengthened.

The Greens want the state parliament to set up an inquiry commission (Enquete-Kommission) on the future school landscape. The dialogue is to be based on scientific evidence and build on the school reforms that took effect in the 2025/2026 school year.

The Greens want a commission in the state parliament. It will talk about the future of schools. Many groups will take part. Research will be the basis.

The commission is to address education quality, equal opportunity and a school structure that is stable in the long run and easier to understand. Students, parents, researchers, teachers, school authorities, business and civil society are to be involved. The platform frames the plan as part of its approach of listening to citizens.

The Greens want teaching positions and funds to be distributed across all school types by uniform, transparent criteria. The school's tasks, class sizes and the social makeup of its students are to be the deciding factors.

The Greens want to share money and staff more fairly among schools. Schools with harder conditions should get more. The rules should be clear to everyone. Principals should decide more on their own.

The platform promises sufficient teaching coverage at every school. It points to pilot projects in several counties whose experience is to be built on. Staffing budgets and flexible local staffing strategies are meant to give principals more leeway.

The Greens want to support immigrant children and teenagers in preparatory classes so that they reach at least language level B1 before starting vocational training. Learning workshops are to be created for young people for whom regular school tracks are not a good fit.

The Greens want to help young immigrants learn German. They should speak German well before job training starts. There will be more preparatory classes. New learning workshops combine language, math and hands-on work.

The preparatory classes known as VKL and VABO are to be expanded with qualified staff to ease the move into regular classes. Young people who arrive in Germany as teenagers are to be tested on language level, subject knowledge and potential. Learning workshops would combine intensive language teaching, basic math and craft projects with individual support. The strongest participants are to be prepared for the external school-leaving exam so they can enter training without an extra preparatory year.

The Greens want to keep and strengthen training-preparation programs at vocational schools and to establish youth employment agencies permanently across the state. The aim is to reach young people without a training place early and reduce youth unemployment.

Some young people do not find a training place. The Greens want to help them more. There should be youth job agencies everywhere in the state. Different offices and youth services work together there.

Youth employment agencies are partnerships of employment agencies, job centers, municipalities and youth welfare services. Individual guidance on choosing and starting a career is also to be offered at general schools. The part-time training network, which mainly serves single parents and people with health limitations, is to be strengthened, and assisted training made better known. For students without a next step, data from the Bildungs-ID (education ID) could be shared with job centers.

The Greens want to lengthen the obligation to attend vocational school. For young people without a training contract it would apply until the end of their twelfth year of schooling.

The Greens want young people to attend vocational school longer. Those without job training must go until their twelfth school year. Apprentices must go until about age 21.

For young people without a training contract, the obligation would run until they complete twelve years of school attendance. Those in an apprenticeship would remain subject to it until the end of the school year in which they turn 21. The plan is tied to the goal of having more young people achieve a qualification.

The Greens want to launch a state-funded training initiative that relieves smaller businesses and finances vocational training on a shared basis. They also want more affordable dormitory places and apprentice service organizations, to put vocational and academic education on a more equal footing.

The Greens want to strengthen job training. The state will pay for this. Small businesses should carry less of the burden. Apprentices should get more low-cost dorm places.

Career guidance is to be developed further together with schools and business. For shortage occupations in trades, industry, childcare and elder care, mentoring and introduction programs in schools are to be stepped up and project schools funded. The "Junges Wohnen" (young housing) program is meant to support young people, and the number of dormitory places is to rise substantially. Apprentice service organizations would cooperate with companies, chambers and vocational schools; vocational schools are also to get up-to-date equipment.

The Greens want to raise state subsidies to the Studierendenwerke (student services organizations) and tie them permanently to price trends. This is meant to secure low-cost housing, cafeteria meals and counseling despite higher living costs.

Studying has become more expensive. The Greens want to give student services more money. That keeps housing and meals cheap for students. Student aid applications should be processed faster.

Indexing the subsidies over the long term is meant to provide planning certainty and offset inflation. Student services are also to expand psychological counseling and BAföG (student aid) processing. Dormitory capacity is to grow; the platform says 1,300 units are currently being built. The Jugendticket BW (youth transit pass) is to be extended to all students and apprentices, cafeterias are to serve food that is as regional and healthy as possible, and student aid processing is to be sped up through digitalization and simpler federal rules.

The Greens want to establish a statewide student congress that brings together students, university leaders, student services and politicians. The platform also commits to the Verfasste Studierendenschaft (statutory student body) as a representative organ.

The Greens want a congress for students. Students will talk there with universities and politicians. Randomly chosen students will also take part. Students should keep their say at universities.

Besides student representatives, randomly selected students are to take part in the congress. Its results are to feed into cooperative measures spanning several universities. The statutory student body is to remain as the legally recognized representation of all enrolled students.

The Greens aim to raise base funding for general continuing education to the level of comparable large German states. Volkshochschulen (adult education centers) and church-run providers should thus be able to keep courses affordable for everyone.

Adult education centers offer courses for everyone. The Greens want to give them more money. That keeps courses affordable. Advice on further education should also stay for good.

The platform calls adult education centers and church-run providers central pillars of continuing education and of integration and German courses. The state network for continuing-education counseling is to be funded permanently and anchored in law. The reasoning given is the contribution continuing education makes to integration and social cohesion.

The Greens want more young people to experience Europe through cross-border exchange, vocational training and study. Erasmus+ is to become better known, cross-border apprenticeships are to increase and university networks such as EUCOR are to grow.

Young people should get to know Europe better. More trainees should do part of their training in a neighboring country. The Erasmus+ program should become better known. Universities should work more closely with universities across Europe. Schools should teach more about Europe.

Targeted outreach is to make Erasmus+ better known among trainees, students, teachers and administrative staff. Town twinning is to be intensified and Europaschulen (Europe-focused schools) better networked. The EUCOR university network is to grow, and the state wants to increase funding for participation in European University Alliances and enable joint "European Degrees." The micro-project fund for German-French encounters is to continue. European policy content is to be taught in greater depth in schools.