SPD on education

The SPD wants paid training for early childhood educators to become the standard route and wants to shorten the training where this is possible without lowering quality. This is meant to help municipalities find skilled staff for daycare centers.

Daycare centers need more skilled staff. The SPD wants trainees for this job to get paid during training. That should become the normal way. The training should also get shorter where possible. The quality should stay the same.

Municipalities would continue to receive state support in recruiting skilled staff. Shortening the training period is meant to let new staff start working in daycare centers sooner. The SPD also wants to build on the existing recruitment campaign for the profession.

The SPD wants to grow the daycare language network from 350 to 1,000 centers and track each child's language development. Daycare centers with particular needs are to get more staff and more social work through the Sozialraumbudget (a needs-based funding pot).

Children should learn to speak well early on. Today the state funds special language staff in 350 daycare centers. The SPD wants to raise that to 1,000 centers. Centers with many children in difficult situations should get more money and staff. Social work in daycare should also grow.

The Sozialraumbudget, through which the state supports daycare centers, children and families with particular needs, is to be developed further. This comes with funds for additional daycare staff and an expansion of daycare social work. Since 2025, parents have had to register children for school at age four and a half, and language skills are assessed at that point. Building on this, the SPD wants to follow each child's language development using research-based, field-tested methods and tailor support individually.

The SPD wants daycare centers and elementary schools to cooperate more closely so that children in their last daycare year move on to school well prepared. The Startchancen program for schools in difficult circumstances is to get stronger support and be widened.

Moving from daycare to elementary school is a big step. The SPD wants daycare centers and schools to work together more closely. Children should learn reading, writing and math well from the start. Schools with special problems should get more help.

The start of school is to focus on reading, writing, math and targeted language support. The SPD wants to continue programs such as “First Class” to create more time for working with the children. The Startchancen program is aimed at schools facing particular challenges; the SPD wants to back its rollout strongly and extend it into the surrounding education landscape. The stated goal is greater educational equity in the state.

The SPD wants to provide all textbooks and workbooks free of charge to every child. Families are to save up to 2,500 euros so that parents' income does not affect educational opportunities.

Textbooks and workbooks cost families money. The SPD wants all children to get them for free. Families should save up to 2,500 euros this way. No child should have worse chances because the parents have little money.

The free provision would cover all textbooks and workbooks and would not depend on parents' income. The program puts the relief for families at up to 2,500 euros. The stated reason is that no talent should fail because of financial obstacles.

The SPD wants to strengthen school teams made up of teachers, social workers, psychologists and support staff and to create more Familiengrundschulzentren (family centers at elementary schools). Schools are to be linked more closely with their communities, and every child should be able to learn to swim.

Different experts should work together at schools. These include teachers, social workers and psychologists. The SPD wants more family centers at elementary schools. There, families get advice and help in one place. Every child should also be able to learn to swim.

Family centers at elementary schools bundle advice, support and assistance for parents and work with clubs and out-of-school programs. The SPD wants to connect schools more closely with their village or town, for example through recreational sports and afternoon and vacation programs, and sees school development as part of local social planning. Teachers are meant to gain backing from other professionals this way. For swimming lessons, more school swimming networks modeled on Ludwigshafen and Trier are to be set up.

The SPD wants high-quality all-day programs to become the standard across the state and plans more all-day schools where lessons and other activities alternate. Schools are to get more money, qualified teaching staff throughout the day and less burdened principals.

The SPD wants more and better all-day schools. Children also learn there in the afternoon. The schools should get more money for this. Well-trained staff should be there all day. School principals should have less office work.

In so-called rhythmized all-day schools, lessons and other activities alternate across the day. The SPD points to the nationwide legal entitlement to all-day care for elementary school children. The extra money is meant to fund time for review, programs for high achievers, and activities in music, sports and math and with outside partners. All-day schools would also get more help with administrative tasks.

The SPD is counting on computer science as a compulsory subject, a free AI platform for all schools and trained teachers. It also wants to protect children and teenagers better from online risks and draw up a state strategy for media literacy at every age.

All students should take computer science. Schools should be able to use a free platform for artificial intelligence. Teachers should learn how to work with it. Children should be safe online. The SPD also wants a plan for media skills for all age groups.

The state program “Medienkompetenz macht Schule” (media literacy in schools) is to be developed further. Artificial intelligence is meant to make learning more individual, both for catching up and for supporting gifted students. Students are to learn responsible use of devices, including smartphones. The SPD wants to step up education and prevention on disinformation, cyberbullying, cybergrooming and online radicalization and give schools, parents and professionals guidelines. The education portal and the digital equipment of students and teachers are to keep growing.

The SPD wants to support schools of all types in adopting new ways of learning and teaching through the “Schule der Zukunft” (school of the future) initiative and give principals more leeway. Teachers are to be relieved through less red tape and digital tools, and small elementary schools through regional networks.

Schools should be able to try new ways of learning. Principals should be able to decide more on their own. Teachers should have less paperwork. That leaves more time for the children. Small elementary schools should share staff for office work and social work.

In “Schulfamilien-Netzwerke” (school family networks), small elementary schools in particular would share administrative staff, social work and teaching resources. School supervision is to be strengthened and promote knowledge transfer between schools. Teaching and school development are to rely more strongly and bindingly on collected data, with individual support for weaker and stronger students alike and targeted support for top performers. The state wants to fund modern learning spaces and up-to-date equipment. More health programs and additional training and support services are also planned for teachers.

The SPD wants to introduce children to math, computer science, natural sciences and technology more strongly as early as daycare and elementary school. This is meant to open career paths, secure skilled workers and strengthen the state's capacity for innovation.

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. The SPD wants to get children excited about it early. This should start in daycare and elementary school. Staff and teachers get suitable training. Girls and boys should have equal chances.

The state's STEM strategy is to be carried out together with schools, universities, businesses and out-of-school partners. Daycare staff and teachers would receive tailored training. The SPD wants to keep reducing gender differences and stereotypes in these subjects.

The SPD stands by parents' unrestricted right to choose and regards mainstream schools, Schwerpunktschulen (mainstream schools with an inclusion focus) and special-needs schools together as the basis of inclusive education. Schools and daycare centers should also be safe spaces with no room for exclusion, bullying or violence.

Parents should still choose freely which school their child with special needs attends. There are three kinds of schools for this. Special-needs schools will stay. Schools and daycare centers should be free of barriers. No one should be excluded or bullied there.

Support and counseling centers are to be strengthened and multi-professional teams expanded. The SPD understands accessibility in structural, educational and building terms, starting in daycare. The program regards diversity of language, origin, gender, physical condition and sexual or gender identity as a benefit. Schools and daycare centers would get education and counseling services on awareness and prevention as well as help with protection plans, backed by school supervision, the state youth office, the state teaching institute and school psychology.

The SPD wants to conclude a democracy pact for daycare centers and schools and introduce a dedicated “democracy time” at secondary schools. Students are to get more rights to participate, and more money is to go to civic education.

Children and teenagers should learn about democracy in daycare and school. The SPD wants to make a democracy pact for this. Secondary schools should have a fixed democracy time. Students should have more say. There should be more money for civic education.

Annual democracy days and compulsory remembrance work are planned. The network of Europaschulen (schools with a European profile) is to be developed further, and encounters with neighboring European countries are meant to strengthen exchange. The democracy pact is to promote media education, democracy education and participation. Democratic values, civic education and sustainable behavior are to be taught from daycare through the upper grades.

The SPD wants all young people to find a next step into vocational training or qualification after school. To that end, support programs, career guidance and vocational schools are to be strengthened; comprehensive schools would be allowed to run six parallel classes per grade where needed.

After school, every young person should know what comes next. The SPD wants to expand programs that help students graduate. Schools should inform students about jobs early. Vocational schools should be strengthened. Comprehensive schools should be allowed to grow where needed.

The program “Keiner ohne Abschluss” (no one without a diploma) and the transition coach are to be expanded and guide young people toward a diploma, an apprenticeship or a qualification. Early, individual career guidance is planned for all school types, complemented by civic and economic education. The SPD commits to the equal standing of all school types and of university study and vocational training. Six parallel classes per grade at comprehensive schools would be possible where demand persists and the school development plan allows it. Digital learning formats are meant to make access to occupations less dependent on where someone lives.

The SPD wants to pay elementary school teachers at the A13 civil-service salary grade. It also plans to keep hiring many new teachers every year and to adapt teacher training to new forms of teaching.

The SPD wants to pay elementary school teachers more. They should move up to pay grade A13. The state should keep hiring many new teachers. Teacher training should also become more modern.

The platform points out that more than 1,000 teachers have been hired each year recently and wants to stay on that path. Training capacity is to grow as needed, switching between school types is to become easier, and the recruitment campaign for the profession will continue. Teachers are to get digital substitute-lesson modules with ready-made lesson plans as well as blended learning tools. Teacher training is to focus more on digital education, pedagogical support and independent learning. The SPD also wants to expand practical continuing education for teachers.

The SPD wants to tie the school supervisory authority more closely to the education ministry while giving it a stronger regional focus. The aim is faster and better-tailored support for schools.

The school supervisory office checks and advises schools. The SPD wants to reorganize it. It should work more closely with the education ministry. And it should be closer to the schools in each region.

The platform justifies the change with shifts in society that show up in schools. Staff of the school authority are to work in fixed regional networks with clear responsibilities and shared goals. Supervision is to focus on advising schools, easing their workload and helping them develop.

The SPD wants to make vocational training more attractive and give closer support to young people who need more help. At the federal level it is pushing for a permanent integration subsidy meant to encourage companies to train disadvantaged young people.

The SPD wants more young people to finish job training. Those who need help should get advice and support. Companies should get money when they train disadvantaged young people. The SPD wants to push for this at the federal level.

The program names affordable housing and reliable transportation for trainees as good conditions. School social work, counseling and coaching are meant to help from the start through graduation, and the Jugendberufsagenturen (youth employment agencies) are to be supported. There are to be more assisted training programs and training at an individual pace. The SPD also relies on early career guidance in all school types, flexible paths between training and university, and digitally equipped vocational schools.

The SPD wants to keep funding Volkshochschulen (adult education centers) and recognized training providers reliably and support their digitalization. Within five years, the number of training hours is to rise to one million, and basic education offers are to grow.

Adult education centers offer courses for everyone. The SPD wants to keep giving them enough money. There should be more digital courses, but also courses close to home. People should be able to catch up on reading, writing or a school diploma.

According to the program, more than 764,000 training hours were completed in 2023. Bildungszeit (educational leave) under the 2025 law, which also allows time off for volunteers, is to become better known. Digital learning formats will be expanded while local courses remain, also to counter loneliness. Political adult education and democracy education are to be strengthened. Literacy courses, second-chance school diplomas, language courses and digital skills will be expanded, with more focus on people whose native language is not German.

The SPD wants to safeguard the freedom of research and teaching, which it sees as increasingly under pressure. Researchers who face hostility or threats are to get more help, and science communication is to be strengthened.

Research and teaching are free in Germany. The SPD says researchers are attacked more often. So they should get more help. Science should explain its work better. That way people should trust it more.

The platform cites Article 5 of the Basic Law. It describes researchers being met with hostility and their findings being called into question. The SPD wants to expand support services for those affected and strengthen democratic structures at universities. Open science communication is meant to make knowledge understandable and seek dialogue with the public.

The SPD wants to give universities more responsibility over their own finances while investing in buildings, teaching spaces and digital infrastructure. The money is to come from the special investment fund (Sondervermögen).

Universities should decide more about their own money. The SPD also wants to invest in new buildings. The buildings should be good for the climate. Teaching rooms and data centers should become more modern too. The money comes from a special state fund.

Building on reliable base funding, lump-sum budgets and new financing structures are meant to give universities more room to act. Money from the special fund is to go into climate-friendly buildings, and construction procedures are to be sped up. Teaching rooms are to be equipped with modern technology as pilot projects, and data centers and digital networks renewed. The SPD wants to support digital teaching formats, quality programs, teaching awards and exchange platforms. Student services organizations are to be strengthened financially and organizationally.

The SPD wants studying in Rhineland-Palatinate to stay tuition-free and independent of income or life circumstances. Dual, part-time and digital degree programs are to be expanded, and BAföG (federal student aid) is to be developed further.

Studying in Rhineland-Palatinate should cost no fees. It should stay that way. There should be more programs for people who also work. Studying online should get easier too. Students with disabilities should face fewer obstacles. The SPD wants better student aid.

The platform points to the abolition of fees for second degrees, already carried out, and calls education a right. About 18 percent of degree programs in the state have restricted admission, and people without the Abitur can also study. Accessibility is to be improved for students with a disability or chronic illness. On BAföG, which is federal law, the SPD says it will push for a reform that better matches students' needs.

The SPD wants to make academic careers more predictable and create additional permanent positions alongside professorships. Women in academia are to continue receiving targeted support.

People working in science often have only temporary contracts. The SPD wants to create more permanent jobs. Careers should be easier to plan. Women should get special support. Family and work should fit together better.

The plan includes clear development paths and different kinds of permanent posts as a complement to the professorship. The target agreements for good work in academia are to be standardized. Equality programs, family-friendly structures and modern work models are meant to make it easier to combine family and career. The SPD also says it will stand up for the concerns of student and research assistants.

The SPD wants to fund research priorities in biotechnology, life sciences, artificial intelligence and quantum computing with dedicated programs from the special investment fund. Results are to reach practical use faster through innovation platforms, start-ups and university spin-offs.

The SPD wants to give certain research extra support. This includes biotechnology and artificial intelligence. The money comes from a special state fund. Research ideas should turn into new companies and products faster. A large research center should come to the state.

Research alliances are to connect universities, colleges and non-university institutes. The SPD backs bringing a large-scale research center for aging and health research to the state. Regional innovation platforms, new innovation centers and access to venture capital are meant to make founding companies easier. Through the biotechnology roadmap, research, start-ups and transfer are to be funded, and the biotechnology academy developed further to attract skilled workers. In AI, the SPD wants to fund top research in centers and set ethical guidelines; the social sciences are also to keep receiving support.

The SPD wants to introduce Islamic religious education as a regular school subject. It is to be taught by teachers employed by the state and supervised by state school authorities.

The SPD wants Islamic religious classes in schools. They should become a normal school subject. The teachers work for the state. The state supervises the classes.

The basis is the state's agreements with four Islamic religious communities and the experience from a pilot project. The classes are to be faith-based, meaning taught from the perspective of the religion. For teacher training, the platform points to the chair of Islamic theology at the University of Koblenz. The SPD also wants to promote equal participation of Islamic religious communities and deepen dialogue with them.