SPD on education

The SPD wants to invest in education. It plans funding for a third staff member in daycare groups, a right to all-day schooling, free digital learning materials and higher pay for teachers.

The SPD wants to spend more money on education. Daycare groups should get a third staff member. All school children should have a right to all-day school. Digital learning materials should be free. All teachers should get better pay.

The program announces funding for several measures: a third staff member in daycare groups, a right to all-day school, free digital learning materials and additional skilled staff. All teachers are to be paid at civil-service grade A13 or the equivalent salary group E13. The education system is to be improved step by step. The SPD says parents, students and teachers should face less strain in the process.

The SPD favors a right to vocational training and wants to expand youth employment agencies so that all school leavers are reached. School-based training is to become free of charge, and more young people are to take up dual training, including in the skilled trades.

Every young person should be able to get job training. Special advice offices should help everyone after school. Training at schools should cost nothing. Schools should tell students more about training in companies. Skilled trades should get more money for training.

The Jugendberufsagenturen (youth employment agencies) are to better coordinate the services of the federal employment agency, the state and municipalities. All general schools are to promote dual training alongside university study, and teachers are to be linked more closely with companies that train. For the skilled trades, the SPD wants to continue bonuses for passing the master craftsman exam and raise funding for the trades' training centers. Qualifying immigrants for work in trade businesses is to remain financially supported. According to the program, education should be free from daycare through university.

The SPD favors a right to continuing education and wants a training strategy for Lower Saxony that responds to economic transformation. Vocational schools are to become continuing education centers as well, and university places in computer science and robotics are to be expanded.

The world of work is changing a lot. So people should be able to keep learning in their jobs. The SPD wants a right to this. Vocational schools should also offer courses for working people. There should be more university places for computer science.

Vocational school programs are to be linked with in-company training so that knowledge reaches businesses more easily. Universities are also to take part in vocational continuing education. The SPD wants to expand university places in computer science, communication sciences and robotics and make them internationally visible. It also backs a high-tech skills drive in the Wolfsburg/Braunschweig region. Workers and companies are to get help with retraining and qualification so that the transformation succeeds without unemployment.

The SPD wants to offer every child a nursery and daycare spot close to home and expand capacity according to need. Quality is to improve mainly through a third staff member in each group. The platform treats daycare centers as educational institutions that create equal starting chances.

The SPD wants more spots in nurseries and daycare. Every child should get a spot close to home. Each group should have a third staff member. Daycare centers should also stay open longer.

Plans include longer care hours and turning centers into all-day daycare. The third staff member is to be rolled out everywhere under a phased plan. Teams made up of different professions are to be expanded because, according to the platform, they especially help children who need extra support. New buildings should meet the space requirements for accessibility. The SPD also wants to develop daycare centers into family centers, strengthen professional advisory services, and support projects in areas such as language skills, exercise, music and democracy education.

The SPD wants to recruit more daycare staff through a "Niedersachsenplan 2.0" and increase the number of training places. Daycare work is to be opened to other professions and career changers, and staff are to be recruited from abroad.

Daycare centers lack trained staff. The SPD wants to train more people. People from other jobs should also be able to work in daycare. More men should work there. Staff should also come from other countries.

The plan includes additional training schools, which should become easier to set up in agreement with the providers. Working conditions in social professions are to improve, including more non-contact hours for preparation. Bureaucratic hurdles for career changers are to be removed. Campaigns in general schools are to promote social professions, with a focus on getting more men into daycare. The SPD wants to support programs that recruit staff from other countries.

The SPD wants to improve conditions for inclusion at all types of schools and bring more special-education and social-work staff into schools. According to the platform, the goal is more participation and fairer educational opportunities for all children.

The SPD wants all children to be able to learn together. This is called inclusion. More specialists should come to schools for this. Children who need support should get more help.

Teams made up of different professions are to share responsibility for supporting all children. School aides are to become a fixed part of schools and work more effectively through pooled arrangements; those switching to one classroom assistant per class are to get support and face no disadvantages. The regional advisory centers for inclusive schooling (RZI), including mobile services, are to be expanded statewide, and Tagesbildungsstätten (day education centers for children with disabilities) are to be able to become schools step by step. The SPD also wants to continue the post-pandemic catch-up program "Startklar," widen the "Zukunftsschule" pilot project and relaunch the "Schule PLUS" program.

The SPD wants to develop elementary schools into all-day schools according to parents' needs, meeting the legal entitlement that takes effect in 2026. At the same time, reading, writing and math in elementary school are to be strengthened.

The SPD wants more all-day elementary schools. No child has to attend one. But every child should get a spot if the parents want it. Children should also learn to read, write and do math better.

Funding for the expansion is to be secured together with the federal government. The platform sees all-day schooling as a way to help parents combine family and work and to reduce educational disadvantage. Quality is to rise through projects on health, nutrition, sports, culture, violence prevention and democracy education, and local groups such as youth associations as well as youth welfare services are to be more involved. For basic skills, the plan calls for more support and added lesson hours so that all children meet the national minimum standards in German and math by the end of fourth grade.

The SPD wants to give every student a personal tablet and aims for free digital learning materials. It justifies this with equal opportunity: not every family can afford a device.

The SPD wants to give every student a tablet. In grades 1 and 2, children use devices owned by the school. From grade 3, every child gets their own device. This should give all children the same chances.

Free digital learning materials are to cover both devices and content. The state plans to lease the tablets from an outside provider that also handles maintenance, and to replace them after several years. For content, the Niedersächsische Bildungscloud (the state's education cloud) is to be expanded, and broadband for schools is to receive further funding. Computer science is to become a subject at all secondary schools. As a guiding principle, the platform says technology must serve teaching.

The SPD wants to expand democracy and peace education at all schools and give students more say. Student councils are to be possible as early as elementary school, and every school is to get its own democracy budget.

The SPD wants children to have more say at school. Even elementary school students should be able to elect representatives. Every school should get money for democracy projects. The students decide how to use this money.

Besides democracy and peace education, education for sustainable development as well as cultural and civic education are to get more room. International school partnerships are to grow, "Demokratieschulen" and "Demokratielernorte" (democracy schools and learning sites) are to continue, and projects such as "Schule ohne Rassismus – Schule mit Courage" and "Europaschulen" are to be strengthened. Rules for elementary schools and for schools focused on intellectual disabilities are to change so that class representative elections can be mandatory. The SPD also plans more project work for social learning and mentoring programs meant especially to benefit children from poorer families.

The SPD wants to give all school types equal status and make it easier to found Gesamtschulen (comprehensive schools). In its view, the comprehensive school is an equal part of the regular public school system and supports all children best.

The SPD wants to treat all types of schools equally. It should be easier to start new comprehensive schools. In a comprehensive school, children with different goals learn together. The SPD thinks this school is especially good for all children.

The comprehensive school in its various forms is to count as a regular school with equal standing. Beyond that, the SPD wants schools to have fewer narrow rules and more freedom and flexibility in their work. The platform argues that different paths can also lead to good results.

The SPD wants to launch a pact for vocational education and an investment package for digital equipment at vocational schools. It regards vocational and academic education as equal in value and wants to prepare schools for a digitized working world.

The SPD wants to strengthen vocational schools. They should get money for modern digital technology. This includes 3D printers and robots, for example. For the SPD, job training is worth just as much as a college degree.

Vocational schools are to be kept, especially in rural areas, as schools that bundle several fields. Together with the partners in the alliance for dual training, they are to become regional competence centers. The system is also to become more inclusive so that all young people have access to vocational education. The platform lists learning management systems, open educational resources, robotics and Industry 4.0 applications as part of the digital equipment.

The SPD wants to pay all teachers at grade A13 or E13 regardless of school type and raise salaries step by step to get there. It argues that all teachers are equally important for students' success.

Teachers at different types of schools earn different amounts. The SPD wants to change that. All teachers should get the same pay grade. It is called A13 or E13. Pay should rise step by step.

Pay differences between school types are to end. The platform names the adjustment already made for elementary school principals as the first step. At the same time, the SPD wants to keep hiring significantly more teachers and noticeably improve working conditions.

The SPD wants to fundamentally reform teacher training, ease teachers' workload through a new working-time regulation and simplify career changes into teaching. This is meant to make the state a more attractive employer and secure enough staff.

The SPD wants to redesign how teachers are trained. College programs should include more hands-on practice. Teachers should have a lighter workload. People from other jobs should be able to become teachers more easily.

Bachelor's and master's programs are to put more weight on practice and pedagogy, anchor inclusion more firmly, and offer study places according to need. Scholarships are planned for shortage subjects, especially in science, technology, engineering and math. School principals are to be trained before taking office, at a principals' academy attached to the state institute NLQ. Based on the findings of the working-time commission, a new working-time regulation is to bring relief step by step and set aside more time for teamwork. For career changers, the SPD plans easier admission, better recognition of degrees as well as work and volunteer experience, and more on-the-job qualification.

The SPD wants to bring additional educational specialists into schools. Special-needs teaching and school social work are to be available at every school. Teachers are also expected to take part in regular training.

The SPD wants more specialists in schools. These include social workers and special-needs teachers. Teachers should take one training course every year. Other school staff should get better working conditions.

According to the platform, special-needs education, school social work, and other educational specialists belong at every school. Training opportunities for teachers are to be expanded, along with the expectation that every teacher attends at least one course per school year. For educational support staff, the SPD aims for more permanent contracts. It also wants to support their further training toward vocational qualifications.

The SPD wants to make Lower Saxony a state for science and research. Universities are to keep planning security and get more professorships and modernized buildings. Research and business are to be linked more closely at the regional level.

The SPD wants to strengthen the state's universities. There should be more professors. The buildings should be modernized. Universities should be able to plan with certainty. Research and companies should work together more closely.

The planning guarantee given through 2023 under the university development contract is to be extended. Plans include digital access to higher education from anywhere in the state, keeping student numbers high at over 210,000, and more academic training in health, teaching, and nursing. Regional innovation spaces linking universities, society, and business are to be created; the Digital Agency and the ZDIN center are to continue permanently. The German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies in Hanover is to become a national center. International ties, top-level research, and a wide range of subjects are to be supported, for instance in the "Quantum Valley Lower Saxony" alliance, which aims for a quantum computer by 2025.

The SPD wants to improve working conditions in academia. Fixed-term contracts without objective justification are to drop significantly, student employees are to get a collective agreement, and mandatory internships are to be paid at the minimum wage.

Many people at universities only have temporary contracts. The SPD wants far fewer of these. Students who work at a university should get a collective wage agreement. Required internships should be paid the minimum wage.

The next university development contract is to include agreements that allow for predictable careers, good working conditions, and career paths other than a professorship. Universities are to be required to demonstrably lower their share of fixed-term staff. For student employees, the SPD seeks a nationwide collective agreement; if that fails, one is to be negotiated at the state level. Support for early-career researchers is to be realigned with gender equality in mind.

The SPD wants to abolish the fees charged to long-term students. It argues that many students have to work on the side and therefore take longer to finish their degrees.

People who study for a very long time must pay fees in Lower Saxony. The SPD wants to end these fees. Many students have to work on the side. So they need more time to finish.

According to the platform, students with side jobs have less time to study, which makes their degrees take longer. Ending the fees is meant to let everyone complete the degree they chose. The plan is linked to the goal of keeping student numbers in the state high.

The SPD wants to raise the number of clusters of excellence in Lower Saxony beyond the current six and expand further research areas. It argues that each cluster can give rise to a new industry of the future in the state.

The SPD wants more top research in Lower Saxony. It wants more clusters of excellence. These are large research groups at universities. The SPD hopes new industries will grow from them.

Areas to be expanded include research on alternative energy systems, climate impacts, sustainable resource use, biodiversity, biomedicine and biotechnology. The state is to take a leading role in big data and artificial intelligence, and topics such as migration, democracy, social cohesion and education are also to be studied. The L3S research center in Hanover is to receive permanent funding and the Center for Digital Innovations Lower Saxony is to be enlarged. The SPD wants to develop new approaches for knowledge transfer between research partners.

The SPD wants to renovate all of the state's universities and invest in buildings, staff and digital equipment. This is to be financed through a university development company. In addition, an innovation fund is to support flexible and digital forms of study.

The SPD wants to renovate all universities in the state. It wants to spend money on buildings, staff and digital technology. A new company is to pay for this. A fund is to support new ways of studying, such as distance learning.

The new buildings of Hannover Medical School and University Medical Center Göttingen are to become nationally outstanding projects, alongside renovation across the state. The SPD sees universities as factors that make a location attractive. Part-time, distance and work-study programs and the combination of study and family time are to be kept and expanded. An innovation fund is planned for this, as part of a comprehensive digitalization strategy.

The SPD wants to make access to higher education fairer, because by its account children of academics are far more likely to study. Universities of applied sciences are to receive the unrestricted right to award doctorates, and students from non-EU countries are to get a tolerated residence status for the duration of their studies.

The SPD wants more people to be able to study. Children from families without degrees should have good chances too. Universities of applied sciences should be allowed to award doctorates. Students from far-away countries should be allowed to stay while they study.

According to the program, children of academics are about six times as likely to start a degree as young people from families with little formal education. Student service organizations are to get support for student housing, child care and psychosocial help. The SPD sees universities of applied sciences as easier to access and therefore wants to upgrade them. Across the state, regional university partnerships with adult education and digital teaching are to widen what is on offer.

The SPD wants to secure adult and continuing education permanently and recognize it as the fourth pillar of the education system. The adult education law is to be adapted to digital formats, and the state agency for civic education is to be strengthened.

People learn all their lives. The SPD wants secure funding for adult education. The law on it should fit digital courses. The state agency for civic education should grow.

The increased funding for lifelong learning is to be made permanent. The Digital Campus Niedersachsen is to become a regular state program for adult education. Civic education offerings are to be digital, easy to use and accessible. The state agency for civic education is to grow as a specialist and network hub for participation, especially in political media literacy.