SPD on education

The SPD wants to guarantee a training place to everyone looking for an apprenticeship. The dual vocational training system is to be strengthened, including through better career guidance and stronger vocational training centers.

Anyone looking for an apprenticeship should get a place. The SPD wants to guarantee this. Schools should prepare students better for jobs. Vocational schools should get stronger. People who need help to finish should get it.

Besides the guarantee, the SPD plans help for young people who need support in completing their qualification. Companies that take part in levy-financed training are to receive more support. Better guidance is meant to ease the move from school to work. Trainers are to be prepared for digital teaching methods, and youth career agencies are to be strengthened statewide.

The SPD wants to give education investment top priority and set up a dedicated education fund for it. It also wants to lift the constitutional ban on cooperation so the federal government can help pay for education.

The SPD wants to spend more money on education. There should be a special fund for it. The federal government should be allowed to help pay for schools. Today the constitution mostly forbids that.

The fund, called Zukunftsvermögen Bildung, is to finance additional education spending. The SPD argues that every euro put into education pays off several times over. In its view, better quality, fee-free education, and a right to all-day school places cannot be achieved without federal money and lasting relief for municipalities. The cooperation ban limits federal co-funding of schools.

The SPD wants to keep expanding compulsory all-day schools so families can choose between voluntary and compulsory all-day models. By 2030, additional all-day offerings are to be created according to need.

The SPD wants more all-day schools. Children there have lessons and care in the afternoon too. Families should be able to choose the type they want. There should be more offerings by 2030.

The rules for setting up compulsory all-day schools are to be adjusted. By 2026, all schools with extra needs are to get more educational support from multi-professional teams. According to the program, the number of students in all-day schooling has increased fivefold since 2012. In the SPD's view, a legal right to all-day places requires federal money.

The SPD wants to launch a school building program for municipalities, hire more staff, and reduce class sizes. Schools are to get more autonomy and students more say, and staff are to be allocated more closely according to local burdens.

The SPD wants modern school buildings and equipment. There should be more teachers and smaller classes. Children should have more time to learn. Schools with many problems get more help. Students should have more say.

The state is to support municipalities, which run the schools, with its own building program. More learning time is planned across the whole school career. Criteria and indices are to be developed for assigning teachers and other professionals so that schools under particular strain get relief. The SPD backs school development that is sensitive to discrimination. Schools and daycare centers are to develop into family centers.

The SPD wants Saarland to spend more per student compared with other German states. All educational tracks, from comprehensive schools to academic high schools and vocational schools, are to be equipped on an equal footing.

The SPD wants to spend more money on schools. Saarland should do better compared with other German states. All types of schools should be equally well equipped.

The platform treats general and vocational education as equally valuable. The SPD sees remaining gaps in staffing and working conditions between school types and wants to close them. Education should be worth at least as much to Saarland as to other states. The state is therefore meant to move up in the national ranking of spending per student.

The SPD wants to allow no more than 25 children per class in elementary schools and aims for even smaller classes over time. Principals are to get dedicated time for leadership duties.

An elementary school class should have at most 25 children. Later, classes should get even smaller. Principals should get more time for running their school.

The platform sees elementary schools as small systems that need extra support. In addition to the cap of 25 children, elementary school principals are to receive fixed leadership time. Schools are also to be given gradual relief in terms of time. That time is meant for digitalization, individual support, and school development together with parents and multi-professional teams.

The SPD wants to ease the burden on Gemeinschaftsschulen (comprehensive schools) and launch a quality drive there. Teachers at all secondary schools are to be put on equal footing in promotion, teaching load, and pay.

The SPD wants to strengthen comprehensive schools. Teachers there should have the same conditions as at academic high schools. Learning groups should be smaller.

According to the platform, comprehensive schools carry most of the work on individual support, inclusion, and integration. The SPD wants to give them lasting relief and create more posts with special responsibilities and promotion prospects. The quality drive includes smaller learning groups, two teachers per class, and cooperation among different professions.

The SPD wants academic high schools (Gymnasien) to return to a nine-year path to the Abitur diploma, known as G9. In the platform's view, the eight-year model does not serve many students well.

At academic high schools, the path to the diploma should take nine years again. Today it takes eight years. The SPD says eight years is too short for many. Schools should use the time for better support.

The platform describes the shortening to eight years as imposed by the CDU and calls for a fundamental solution. The extra time is to be used for measures that improve quality and individual support. Students at academic high schools are also to get more choice of subjects and more room to build a profile for college or a career.

The SPD wants to support vocational schools and the dual apprenticeship system and set up a Center for Transformation. Career guidance is to be expanded at all general schools because the party sees apprenticeships and university study as equally valuable.

The SPD wants to strengthen vocational schools and apprenticeships. A new center should help with this. All schools should give better information about jobs. For the SPD, an apprenticeship is worth as much as a university degree.

The platform justifies the plan with structural change, which is altering job profiles and the skills required. The new center is to work with vocational schools on three goals: better training, upskilling of workers, and opening up to new occupational fields. Young people should be able to find the path that suits them at every school.

The SPD wants to keep developing daycare centers and schools into inclusive institutions. Multi-professional teams are to be deployed, and regional support structures for mainstream schools further developed.

Children with and without disabilities should learn together. This is called inclusion. The SPD wants to equip daycare centers and schools better for this. Experts from different professions should work together.

According to the platform, inclusive work means different professions acting as a team. Schools are to be equipped to meet their particular support needs. The fit of school social work and integration assistance for young people with special needs is to be reviewed. The Inclusion Competence Center advises students, teachers, and parents, complemented by regional support for mainstream schools.

The SPD wants to strengthen participation in schools and give school social workers an equal say. Education on democracy and human rights is to be expanded, as is the "Gesunde Schule Saarland" (Healthy School Saarland) program.

More people should have a say in schools. That includes school social workers. Children should learn early what democracy and human rights mean. The SPD also wants to promote health in schools.

The platform sees the school participation law as a tool for developing schools and teaching. Schools are to be supported on the way to greater autonomy. In response to xenophobic and racist attacks, programs on human rights and tolerance are meant to strengthen democracy; curricula are to deepen civic education and education for sustainable development. On health, the plan includes prevention, subsidized lunches, support for teachers, and a pilot project with health professionals.

Starting in the 2022/23 school year, the SPD wants to give all students from third grade up, as well as apprentices, tablets and digital textbooks. Computer science is to become a mandatory subject from seventh grade.

All students from third grade up should get a tablet. Apprentices get one too. They also get digital textbooks. From seventh grade, computer science should be a required subject.

The platform's motto is that no school bag should be without a tablet. Good digital equipment and fast internet are to be standard for every school. From 2022/23, the statewide media lending system is to cover both printed books and digital content such as adaptive learning systems. Saarland intends to train the computer science teachers it needs itself. A unified digital school administration system is meant to reduce teachers' administrative workload.

The SPD wants to include media education in the curricula of all subjects and grades and make it a mandatory part of initial and ongoing training for educators. Schools are to get technical support and fast internet.

Children should learn how to use media in all subjects. Teachers and daycare staff should learn this in their training too. Schools get help with technology. They should have fast internet.

Basic media education is to become mandatory, in cooperation with the university, teacher training seminars, and the state institute for pedagogy and media, for staff in daycare, schools, and out-of-school settings. The competence centers for maintenance and support (KOMSA) are to be expanded together with the counties. Projects such as "Medienscouts Saar," "Medienkompass," and "Calliope" will continue to be funded. Municipalities are to be supported in implementing the Digitalpakt (federal school digitalization program) from the application stage on.

The SPD wants to make adult basic education, such as reading and writing, a priority in the coming years. In civic education, new learning formats are to be funded that help people respond to far-right slogans.

Many adults cannot read well. The SPD wants to help them better. This should be an important topic in the coming years. People should also learn how to answer far-right slogans.

According to the platform, one in seven people cannot read a text with understanding. A basic education pact and eleven basic education centers already exist and are meant to provide support close to home. The SPD also counts cultural, musical, and health education as basic education. The new civic education formats are to be developed in and outside schools and aimed especially at young people.

The SPD wants to give universities predictable and sufficient core funding instead of letting austerity drive planning. A broad range of subjects and enough study places are to be maintained.

Universities should get enough money. They should be able to plan with it safely. The SPD does not want to cut spending on universities. There should be many different subjects to study.

Saarland University is to remain a full-range university; the platform also names the htw (University of Applied Sciences) and the academies of fine arts and of music. The SPD wants to promote science communication, open science, and citizen science, and make universities more accessible and international. The higher education portfolio is to carry more weight within the government. Joint, digitally supported courses with universities in the Greater Region and international partners are to be made permanent.

The SPD wants to create permanent, adequately paid positions for ongoing tasks in research and teaching. Students are to have a stronger role in committee decisions, and student assistants are to be covered by the staff representation law.

Many researchers only have temporary contracts. The SPD wants more permanent jobs at universities. Students should have more of a say. Student assistants should get more rights and union contracts.

According to the platform, mid-level academic staff often carry the main burden of supervising students. Besides the traditional habilitation, other career paths are to be strengthened, such as tenure-track professorships and senior lecturer posts. The SPD supports an independent right for htw Saar to award doctorates and a legally independent cross-university doctoral college. For student and research assistants, it wants to work toward collective bargaining agreements.

The SPD wants to create affordable housing for students and make studying more flexible, for example through part-time and work-compatible degree programs. People from families without university experience are to get easier access to higher education.

Students should find cheap housing. Studying should fit better with family and work. Part-time programs help with that. People who are the first in their family to study should get more help.

Because some students have children or care for relatives, course schedules and exam deadlines are to become more flexible. Dorms are to get high-performance Wi-Fi so online teaching is usable for everyone. Psychological counseling for students and university staff is to be expanded, and campus dining made more diverse and sustainable. University access via vocational training and distance-learning formats is to be made easier, with more advising at the start of studies.

The SPD rejects tuition fees and wants to expand BAföG (federal student aid). More students are to be eligible, and aid should no longer depend on parents' income.

Studying should cost nothing. The SPD is against tuition fees. More students should get BAföG. BAföG is money from the government for studying. It should no longer depend on parents' income.

The platform regards tuition fees as an outdated tool that blocks broad sections of the population from good education. To widen the group of recipients, the standard period of study is to be aligned with the actual average length of study. Beyond that, the SPD advocates student aid that is independent of parental income.

The SPD wants to continue the cooperation between the state's two arts colleges and secure their funding. New subjects are to be considered, and the music college's site is to be renovated.

Saarland has two arts colleges. They should work together more closely. The SPD wants to give them enough money. It will look at new subjects such as acting. The music college will be renovated.

The cooperation is to rest on adequate funding through the state's higher education development planning, with students at the center. The colleges are to work jointly, especially in research, on topics such as inclusion, sustainability and industrial heritage. The SPD will examine whether documentary film or acting could be added as subjects. A building complex in the city center is to be prepared for the Hochschule für Musik Saar so that its site can be renovated. In the long term, concentrating the college on a few locations is under consideration.

The SPD wants to expand education for sustainable development, for example through school and daycare gardens, nutrition education and stronger school camps. Citizen projects from the sustainability strategy and municipalities are to receive financial support.

Children should learn more about nature and the environment. Schools and daycare centers will get gardens. School camps will get more staff. There will be free vacation programs about the environment. Citizens' ideas for sustainability will get money.

Projects with conservation groups and nutrition education are to be a fixed part of what is offered; the school fruit program will continue to be supported. As nature experience centers, the platform names Spohns Haus, the school camp in Oberthal and the BiberBurg Berschweiler, which are to be well staffed. Environmental vacation programs are to be free and open to all children and young people. The flagship projects submitted by citizens under the sustainability strategy are to be supported and funded. Municipalities are to get help on their way to more sustainability, including for pilot projects.

The SPD wants to promote French and English more strongly in Saarland, from daycare to programs for older people. Exchanges, school partnerships and study trips in the Greater Region are to receive more funding. Vocational qualifications are to be mutually recognized and the University of the Greater Region expanded.

The SPD wants more people to learn French and English. Students and teachers should visit the neighboring country more often. Job qualifications should count on both sides of the border. The shared university should grow. Workers would get more days of educational leave.

Language support is to reach vocational training, childminders, daycare centers, schools and seniors. The number of educational leave days for working people is to rise. The state administration is also to engage in more exchange, and partners such as the European Academy of Otzenhausen and the Maison de Robert Schuman are to be more involved. Shared curriculum content and a cross-border journeyman's certificate are planned. The University of the Greater Region is to offer more bi- and trinational degree programs, and degrees earned within the network are to be labeled as such.