SPD on education

The SPD wants to expand research funding, especially for basic research in key industries and green technology. Universities are to keep receiving public funding, and academic careers are to become more predictable.

The SPD wants to give more money to research. Researchers should get funding more easily. Universities keep getting money from the state. Jobs in science should be more secure. Ideas should turn into products faster.

Applying for and running research programs is to involve less red tape. The path from idea to market is to be supported through incubators, startup centers and regional clusters. The research tax credit is to be extended to larger companies as far as state aid law allows. In the EU, the SPD backs a strong tenth research framework program. The Deutsche Agentur für Transfer und Innovation (German Agency for Transfer and Innovation) is to be fully established; predictable career paths are also meant to advance gender equality.

The SPD wants to continue the vocational training guarantee and hold companies more responsible for training, for example through levies. It names a right to further training and a fresh career start at every stage of life as its goal.

Every young person should be able to get vocational training. Companies should train more people. Where too few are trained, companies should pay into a shared fund. Everyone should have a right to further training.

Career guidance is to start earlier in schools and be coordinated with the Federal Employment Agency. Youth employment agencies are to be strengthened. The SPD backs levies or funds, for example by industry, where too little training takes place. The platform promises support for further training and career changes and points to the transformation subsidy and the Qualifizierungsgeld (training allowance). Job profiles are to be updated so that employees can keep up with new developments throughout their working lives.

The SPD wants a binding agreement with all states on a staffing drive for daycare centers and schools. It adds mandatory checks of children's development, a Startchancen (equal start) program for daycare centers, a continued Digitalpakt for schools and the all-day care entitlement.

Daycare centers and schools need more staff. The SPD wants a firm agreement on this with all states. Children should be tested and supported early. Daycare centers in poorer areas should get more money.

The drive is to include more training places, paid training for childcare workers, teams with mixed professions, career changers and more near-full-time work. Each child's development is to be assessed by age four at the latest and at school entry, with binding support offered where needed. A federally funded Startchancen program is planned for daycare centers in disadvantaged areas, and the one for schools is to grow. The Digitalpakt for schools is to continue, and the all-day care entitlement starting in 2026 is to be honored. Providers are to get incentives for modern buildings, and diversity is to be reflected in curricula, textbooks and the teaching professions.

The SPD wants to adjust BAföG (student aid) regularly to living costs, make more students eligible and gradually turn it back into a full grant. The minimum pay for trainees is also to rise.

BAföG is money from the state for students. The SPD wants more students to get it. It should rise with prices. Later, students should not have to pay anything back. Trainees should get more pay.

The platform cites the higher living costs young people face as the reason. In the long run, BAföG is to depend less on parents' income. Applications are to be processed faster through digitization and simpler rules. The federal Junges Wohnen (youth housing) program is to get more money to create affordable housing for trainees and students. Dual study programs are to receive more support and be covered by the protections of the Vocational Training Act.