SPD on education

The SPD wants all non-academic training programs in the social sector to be paid, at least at the national average level. Trainees employed by the state should also be guaranteed a job afterward.

People who train for a social job should get paid for it. The pay should be at least the German average. Trainees working for the state should be sure of a job afterward.

The platform sees this as the next step after training fees in nursing and therapy professions were dropped, which it credits to the SPD. In the medium term, all training occupations are to come under the Berufsbildungsgesetz (Vocational Training Act). The guaranteed job with the state is meant to give young people planning security. Training pay is also meant to make it easier for career changers to enter social and health professions.

The SPD wants to make it easier for employees to take up further training. It plans an information campaign on Bildungsurlaub (paid educational leave) and will examine doubling the number of leave days.

Workers should find it easier to learn new things. There is educational leave for this. These are days off for learning. The SPD wants to inform people better about it. It will also check whether to double the number of days.

Training providers are to be recognized more easily. The campaign is meant to inform employees, employers and course organizers about the options and the entitlement. Trainees should also be allowed to use their educational leave to prepare for exams.

The SPD wants to set up a separate ministry for universities, research and technology transfer. It also wants to invest heavily in research and its transfer into companies and make universities more international.

The SPD wants a new ministry just for universities and research. The state should put much more money into research. There should be more degree programs in English. Students from abroad should learn how they can stay.

The platform justifies heavy investment in research and transfer by saying Schleswig-Holstein would otherwise remain the western German state with the lowest wages. More English-language programs are planned, especially in STEM subjects, also to address the skills shortage. An information campaign and individual advising are to tell international students about long-term prospects for staying. The right to award doctorates is to be eased for research-strong fields at universities of applied sciences, and the doctoral college is to be evaluated. The SPD also supports tenure-track professorships, diversity and research on gender-specific questions.

The SPD wants clear career paths and secure working conditions for academic staff below the rank of professor. Positions after the doctorate should generally be permanent, and positions for research staff should be planned as full-time jobs.

Many researchers at universities only have temporary jobs. The SPD wants to change this. After the doctorate there should be permanent jobs. Positions should be planned as full-time. Universities need more money for this.

Qualification positions for a doctorate or habilitation and positions for teaching are to be separated more clearly. The former remain fixed-term with a small teaching load; teaching positions are to do without fixed terms that lack a specific reason and leave time for conferences in the research field. According to the platform, permanent positions only work if universities are funded accordingly. The SPD wants to discuss a department structure with universities and create better conditions for doctoral candidates.

The SPD wants to raise core funding for universities so that good teaching does not depend on winning third-party grants. In addition, an open science strategy is to make research results accessible to everyone.

Universities should get more steady money from the state. Good teaching should not depend on outside money. Everyone should be able to read research results. The SPD wants to make a plan for this.

The platform stresses the role of the universities in Kiel and Flensburg in training teachers. The "Schleswig-Holstein Open Science" strategy is to follow Hamburg's example, be funded permanently and be networked across northern Germany. Projects across disciplines and universities and projects with civil society are to be supported. Real-world labs and experimental spaces are to strengthen research and transfer; cross-state facilities such as the European XFEL are to be promoted jointly with Hamburg.

The SPD wants to substantially increase spending on civic education and media education. In its view, this helps prevent radicalization, everyday racism and other forms of exclusion.

The SPD wants to spend more money on civic education. People should also learn to handle media better. The SPD says this helps against hate and exclusion. The programs should reach everyone.

The platform describes education and hands-on experience as the best way to prevent exclusion, group-based hostility and radicalization. The programs are meant to reach all genders, social classes and age groups. In educational institutions, the digital skills of children from disadvantaged families are also to be specifically supported.

The SPD wants to stop pupils from being moved down to a lower school type as a rule, including after sixth grade. It also wants a voluntary entitlement to ten instead of nine years of schooling and more all-day schools. The aim is to break the link between social background and educational success.

Some children are made to leave their school for a lower type of school. The SPD wants to ban this in almost all cases. Pupils should be allowed to stay in school for ten years. There should be more all-day schools.

The SPD holds that children are entitled to develop without disruptive changes of class or school. Forced transfers to a lower school type are therefore to be prohibited as a rule, and learning paths are to be shaped in an encouraging way together with everyone involved. The voluntary entitlement to a tenth year of schooling is to be granted without red tape and give young people in difficult circumstances longer access to support. All-day schools are to be expanded and resources directed to schools with special needs. The SPD wants to shape school policy through dialogue and, where possible, consensus.

The SPD wants the state to offer all school operators a central package for digital equipment, including operation and maintenance. Pupils from eighth grade on should receive or be able to obtain a digital device, and teachers should be freed from looking after the technology.

Not all schools have good technology. The SPD wants the state to help all schools with this. From grade 8, pupils should get a device such as a tablet. Teachers should no longer have to take care of the technology.

The platform describes the state of digitalization in schools as very uneven and sees this as a source of educational inequality. Together with the public IT provider Dataport, the state is to offer equipment, operation and maintenance. Schools should provide teaching materials without red tape. The SPD wants to use funds from the federal government's announced Digitalpakt 2.0. Teachers are to be prepared for digital teaching through continuing education and updated content in university and practical training. A cloud with ready-made lesson units, tests and exams is meant to ease lesson planning.

The SPD wants enough teachers so that lessons are rarely canceled even when staff are sick or on class trips. The long-term use of substitutes without teacher training is to end, and fixed-term contracts are to become the exception.

The SPD wants more teachers than the timetable needs. Then fewer lessons are canceled. Untrained substitute teachers should no longer work for long periods. Teachers should get permanent contracts.

Staffing above the calculated need is meant to largely absorb absences due to illness, class trips and other reasons. The platform criticizes that many substitute teachers without proper training currently teach on a long-term basis and wants to end this quickly. Fixed-term contracts for teachers are to be reduced to a minimum. For recurring substitution needs, the SPD wants solutions based on permanent positions.

The SPD wants to relaunch a school construction fund to renovate and modernize school buildings together with school operators. This includes a funding program for schoolyards and cafeterias and new room concepts from the #SchuleDerZukunftSH project.

Many school buildings are old and run-down. The SPD wants to provide money for school construction. Schoolyards and cafeterias should get better too. Schools should be nice places to learn and spend time.

The platform sees a large need for renovation in many school buildings. With the #SchuleDerZukunftSH project, the SPD wants to have building ideas developed that make modern learning and inclusion easier, such as accessible learning landscapes instead of long corridors lined with classrooms. Buildings should encourage activity, offer places to retreat and meet aesthetic standards. The education ministry is to have expertise and contact persons for school construction. The building drive includes a program for renovated schoolyards and new cafeterias.

The SPD wants to overhaul university studies, practical training and continuing education for teachers. Continuing education is to be mandatory more often and attended by whole teaching staffs because, according to the platform, the current format has little effect.

Teachers should be trained better. The SPD wants to review their studies and the training after that. Further training should be required more often. Many teachers at a school should attend it together.

The university part of teacher training is to be reviewed together with the universities. The SPD wants to improve the practical training phase with the state institute IQSH, in terms of both staffing and content. The platform cites studies showing that today's continuing education for teachers has little effect. Qualification in German as a second language is to be anchored more firmly in studies and continuing education. The 'Teach First' project is also to be expanded in cooperation with the state's universities.

The SPD wants to reduce the costs parents face when their children attend school. School transport costs are to be eliminated statewide until the intended diploma is reached, and a new study is to track how school costs have developed.

School costs parents a lot of money. The SPD wants to lower these costs. Getting to school should be free for pupils. A new study should show how much parents pay.

According to the platform, the last study found costs of 1,000 euros per year; since then, spending on digital devices has been added. The SPD wants to commission a new study. Together with the federal government, school operators and schools, ways are to be found to reduce the burden. Travel costs to school are to be dropped across the state until the intended diploma is reached.

The SPD wants to continue the Perspektivschulen program (extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas) and equip such schools better based on a social index. School social work should be available at every school to an adequate extent, especially in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Some schools face very hard conditions. The SPD wants to give these schools more money and staff. Smaller classes should be possible there. Every school should have school social work.

A social index is to determine which schools get extra money and staff. Perspektivschulen should be able to apply for smaller classes and receive support for teams from different professions; the effects will be evaluated scientifically. School principals are to be relieved through extra positions for finances, partnerships and organization. School social work is to be funded so that it can take place everywhere, with an hours budget for team coordination. An office is planned to support pupil and parent representatives.

The SPD wants to move elementary school teachers into civil-service pay grade A13 as quickly as possible. It justifies this with the upcoming entitlement to all-day care in elementary school and the need to pay staff appropriately.

Elementary school teachers should earn more. The SPD wants to move them to pay grade A13. This should happen quickly. The SPD says: work at elementary schools is growing.

A13 is a pay grade for civil servants. The SPD wants the raise to happen as fast as possible. The platform cites the upcoming legal entitlement to all-day care for elementary-age children as the reason. As a first step toward easing workloads, the SPD also plans a pool of hours for homeroom teachers and teachers under particular strain, and wants to discuss this with the unions.

The SPD wants the principle 'only yes means yes' to be taught from daycare onward and included in textbooks. Schools are to cooperate with specialist counseling centers on sex education and develop plans against violence to protect children and young people from abuse.

Children should learn early: only yes means yes. Nobody may touch them against their will. This should also be in school books. Teachers should get training on it. Schools should have plans against violence.

The principle is to be taught as early as daycare as protection against unwanted touching and assaults, and included in official learning materials. Teachers are to learn how to teach it actively during their training or through mandatory continuing education. According to the platform, cooperation with specialist counseling centers should also protect young people from abuse, cybergrooming and so-called loverboy methods. Workshops on dealing with diversity are planned in teacher training to reduce stereotypes. A training drive is to help schools develop prevention and intervention plans with outside support.

The SPD wants to prepare elementary schools for the legal entitlement to all-day schooling starting in 2026, increase the number of compulsory all-day schools, and make all-day programs at elementary schools free. Healthy meals and reliable childcare during school vacations are to be added. The platform justifies this with fairness in education and helping parents combine family and work.

From 2026, elementary school children have a right to all-day school. The SPD wants to get schools ready for this. All-day programs at elementary schools should be free. There should be healthy food. Schools should also look after children during vacations.

The entitlement is to start in 2026 with first grade and then grow year by year. Programs are to be developed together with clubs, cultural institutions, fire departments and the THW (federal disaster relief agency); every school is to get extra relief hours for coordination. A state government task force is to provide guidelines, model contracts and financing concepts. The plan includes a healthy breakfast and a warm, regional, affordable lunch that meets the standards of the German Nutrition Society. A statewide dialogue on all-day school quality is to involve municipalities, parents, students, teachers, youth services and associations.

The SPD wants to make career guidance mandatory from 7th grade and set up youth employment agencies (Jugendberufsagenturen) in every county and independent city. The hands-on program "Produktives Lernen" is also to be available in all regions. According to the platform, the goal is that no young person ends up without a diploma, vocational training or a degree.

Students should learn more about jobs starting in 7th grade. This should be required. There should be youth job agencies everywhere in the state. They help young people find job training. No young person should be left without training.

Guidance is to come through more internships, career counseling, ambassadors from the chambers of commerce and trades, and the economics and politics class. For the youth employment agencies, the SPD plans statewide standards, more publicity and a stronger presence in the upper grades of all school types; young people are to help shape their further development. "Produktives Lernen" in grades 8 and 9 combines three days in a company with two days in school and is to be offered at comprehensive schools across the state.

The SPD wants to introduce statewide planning for vocational schools and keep existing programs in place until it is ready. In occupations short of trainees, the state is to make small classes possible. The platform counts vocational education in all parts of the state as a basic public service.

The SPD wants a plan for all vocational schools in the state. Until the plan is ready, all programs should stay. The state should also pay for small classes. This way, vocational schools stay within reach.

Schools would no longer have to pay for small classes out of their own budgets. The goal of full teaching coverage also applies to vocational schools and Regional Vocational Training Centers (RBZ). The SPD wants to reverse the split between general and vocational education within the state government and the assignment of the Institute for Vocational Education (SHIBB) to the economics ministry. The conversion of vocational schools into RBZ is to continue, along with better digital equipment and staff training. The Trave Campus in Lübeck is to be built with state help.

The SPD wants to rebuild the state's continuing education law into a continuing education funding law and make the right to further training usable in practice. Employees are to be able to gain new skills while still in their jobs. According to the platform, this should keep people in work even during structural change.

People should be able to learn all their lives. The SPD wants to improve the law on further training. People should get training while they still have a job. This way they will have work later, too.

The reform is to be worked out in dialogue with adult education centers, universities, vocational schools and business. The rules on time off for training are to be reviewed and rewritten with the unions, along with binding funding standards. Priorities are sector-specific training, digital learning, basic education and literacy, and education after working life. Free digital learning materials (OER) are to be funded and spread through adult education centers. Funding and certification of vocational training programs are to be tied to good working conditions for instructors.

The SPD wants to set up an innovation fund for digital and flexible forms of study, such as part-time, distance and work-study programs. At the same time, it plans to invest in the university as a place to meet, because in the platform's view digital teaching does not replace in-person study.

During the Covid period, students learned a lot online. The SPD wants to keep and support good digital offers. There should be a fund for this. A fund is a pot of money. But the university should also stay a place to meet.

The experience of the pandemic is to be evaluated with an open outcome and mainly in qualitative terms. Students with little money are to get the devices they need for free, and there are to be quiet workspaces for online classes. The student services organization and the universities are to get the necessary funds. A digital platform for exchange among all students and teaching staff across universities is also planned. The SPD wants to support efficient structures such as shared service centers and shared infrastructure.

The SPD wants to charge no tuition fees up to the master's degree and keep the master's open to everyone in principle. Where needed, capacity in master's programs is to grow. Student counseling is also to get more staff.

Studying should stay free. This applies up to the master's degree. Everyone should be able to do a master's after the bachelor's. There should be enough places for that. There should also be more counseling for students.

In the SPD's view, the master's remains the degree that should be open to all, even though many graduates start work with a bachelor's. Psychosocial student counseling in particular is to be strengthened. The "Studienstarthilfe" program (start-up aid for new students) is to keep growing.

The SPD wants to abolish attendance requirements in all courses and make degree programs less school-like. This is to include more electives, fewer module exams and a required option for penalty-free exam attempts.

Students should no longer have to attend every class. There should be fewer exams. Students should be able to choose more for themselves. They should also be able to try an exam once without risk. This is called a free attempt.

Signing up for exams and courses is to become easier: with the option to withdraw from term papers too, rules published early, and no first-come-first-served allocation. Credits are to be recognized more easily when students switch between universities and universities of applied sciences or between institutions. All groups are to be represented in university bodies; in the SPD's view, management should serve rather than dominate. Teacher training degrees are to prepare students for dealing with pupils' mental health problems.