SPD on education

The SPD wants to attract more skilled staff for daycare centers and social professions. Training is to be free of school fees, recognition internships paid everywhere, and educators paid statewide under the public-sector collective agreement.

The SPD wants more trained staff for daycare centers. Training should no longer cost school fees. Internships during training should be paid. All educators should be paid by the union wage scale. This applies to all providers.

The public-sector agreement TVöD is to apply across all providers to even out pay gaps between municipal and independent centers. Also planned are more degree programs, an institute for quality in early childhood education, continuing training, and part-time study options for experienced educators. The SPD keeps the rule that qualified staff must be employed, while opening paths for career changers with further training. Statewide monitoring is to record staffing needs regularly. A master plan is to secure skilled workers for daycare, nursing care, and child and youth services.

The SPD wants school social work offered according to need in all Thuringian municipalities and its quality strengthened. The amount of state funding is to be fixed by law and adjusted annually so that youth welfare offices and independent providers can plan.

Schools all over Thuringia should have social workers. The state should pay a fixed amount for this. The amount should be written into a law. It should rise every year. This helps offices and providers plan better.

The annual adjustment is to follow public-sector pay increases and the price index. School social workers are also to be deployed according to need at vocational schools. The SPD calls school social work a youth policy success that it wants to continue.

The SPD wants to continue moving toward an inclusive school system in which children with and without disabilities learn together. To that end, schools are to receive staff, space and equipment, and all teachers are to receive relevant training.

Children with and without disabilities should learn together. Schools need more staff and suitable rooms for this. All teachers should get training on it. Teams from different professions should work at schools.

According to the platform, adequate staffing and material resources for schools are a precondition for successful inclusion. The goal is to have multiprofessional teams at schools. The SPD regards the Thüringer Gemeinschaftsschule (TGS, a comprehensive-type community school) as the school type where inclusion works best; spatial requirements are to be developed for it. Technical aids are also to be used, for example for people with sensory disabilities.

The SPD wants to include sexual orientation and gender identity as a topic in Thuringia's curriculum and have suitable teaching materials developed. Education professionals are to receive mandatory training on this.

Schools should talk about different ways of loving and living. The SPD wants to write this into the curriculum. There should be suitable teaching material. Teachers and child care workers should get required training on it.

In the SPD's view, teaching acceptance and tolerance starts in day care, school and youth clubs, and these topics should no longer be taboo there. The party wants to support school outreach projects on diversity, protection from discrimination and health counseling. Mandatory modules on different ways of life are to be introduced in the training and continuing education of education professions. This is meant to strengthen so-called rainbow competence in schools, day care centers and youth facilities.

The SPD wants to amend Thuringia's educational leave law so that all employees can take Bildungsurlaub (paid educational leave), no matter how large their company is. Apprentices are to get the full five days. The party bases this on the idea of lifelong learning.

Educational leave is time off work for learning. The SPD wants it for all workers. The size of the company should not matter. Apprentices should get the full 5 days. Companies should get money for training their staff.

The party will examine whether the entitlement can be saved up over two years. Recognition of courses offered by nonprofit providers is to be made simpler. In addition, the SPD wants to secure suitable further training options and expand counseling services. Company investment in skills and further training is to be subsidized. The party sees this as a tool against the shortage of skilled workers.

The SPD wants children to learn together from first grade on, without changing schools where possible. Merging schools into Gemeinschaftsschulen (community schools) is to become the general principle. The platform sees this as the path to a socially fair school system.

The SPD wants one school for all children. Children should learn together for a long time, starting in first grade. They should not have to change schools if possible. For this, schools should merge into community schools.

Mergers of elementary schools, Regelschulen (lower secondary schools), special needs schools and Gymnasien (academic high schools) are to be supported. The platform regards a community school covering only grades 5 to 10 as merely a renamed Regelschule. Binding legal requirements with transition periods of no more than five years are planned. The SPD also names as its top priority that classes actually take place and that the teacher shortage is tackled with new solutions.

The SPD wants to give schools more decisions of their own and a lump-sum budget. The regional school offices are to get more staff and powers, and the state school advisory council is to receive its own right of initiative.

The SPD wants schools to decide more on their own. Each school gets a fixed budget. The regional school offices get more staff and more rights. The state school council may start its own proposals. This council advises the ministry.

The school budget would go to schools as a lump sum that they manage themselves. Specialist staff positions would move from the education ministry to the school offices, which are meant to become the main regional contact for school quality, recruitment, career changers and digitalization. The state school advisory council could require the ministry to present a solution to a problem within a set deadline. Its work would be published in full, and the state parliament's education committee would regularly ask it for a statement.

The SPD wants to hire administrative assistants at every school so that principals and teachers can focus on teaching. In addition, an annual working-time model is to define which tasks belong to the teaching profession.

Teachers should do less office work. The SPD wants to hire office staff at every school. They handle things like forms and statistics. A new working-time model should make clear what belongs to a teacher's job.

The assistants would handle applications and reports, statistics, budgets and accounts, and the organization of events and class trips. Recurring bureaucratic tasks would move to central service units at the school offices. In the medium term, the SPD wants to examine whether more administrative staff can be used in schools. Following the example of Austria, Switzerland and Denmark, an annual working-time model would set not only teaching hours but also total weekly working time and the scope of teachers' duties.

The SPD wants to create a single teaching qualification for lower and upper secondary level so that teachers can work at different school types. To tackle the teacher shortage, the program also provides for a hiring guarantee, civil-servant status for students in shortage subjects and continued use of career changers.

Thuringia does not have enough teachers. The SPD wants to change teacher training. Teachers should be able to work at several types of school. Trainee teachers who pass their exams get a job for sure. Students of shortage subjects get paid by the state during their studies.

The new qualification would allow teachers to work at Gymnasien, Regelschulen, Gemeinschaftsschulen and Gesamtschulen. Trainee teachers would be guaranteed a position after passing their exams, and the fee for recognizing equivalent degrees would be dropped. Students in shortage subjects would become revocable civil servants from the start of their studies, combined with more practical phases in schools. Career changers would be trained before teaching, supported on the job and could gain civil-servant status after passing a teaching exam. Universities would be supported in teacher education, especially in science and mathematics.

The SPD wants lessons to start no earlier than 9 a.m. It bases this on young people's biorhythm and also wants to shorten class periods.

The SPD wants school to start no earlier than 9 a.m. It says young people learn worse early in the morning. Class periods should also be shorter. They should last 45 to 60 minutes at most.

According to the program, learning ability is much lower when lessons begin at 7:30 a.m. and some students have already had a long trip to school. The SPD considers unbroken 90-minute blocks too long for students' concentration. In its all-day school concept, periods would last 45 to a maximum of 60 minutes.

The SPD wants to replace grades up to 4th grade with individual assessments and development talks. It also wants the law to state that the school is responsible for each child's learning success.

There should be no more grades up to 4th grade. Instead there are written assessments and talks. The SPD says grades put needless pressure on young children. The school should be responsible for each child's learning success.

In the SPD's view, number grades create needless pressure on the youngest pupils instead of showing their skills and what they have learned. The focus should be on children's strengths, interests and needs rather than their deficits. The school's responsibility for learning success and suitable learning offers would be written into the school regulations or the school act. The program says the previous emphasis on students' own responsibility has not proven itself.

The SPD wants to establish all-day schools across Thuringia, with lessons, leisure and support alternating throughout the day. Teams of teachers and other educational specialists are to work at all schools.

The SPD wants all-day schools across Thuringia. Lessons, free time and support should alternate during the day. After-school care alone is not enough for the SPD. Other specialists should work at every school alongside teachers.

If a school conference decides on an all-day concept, the state would provide staff, rooms and materials or support municipalities in doing so. Building guidelines for renovation and new construction would be adapted to all-day schooling. A staffing formula using social indicators would create teams of teachers, special-needs educators, teachers of German as a second language, teaching assistants and school social workers. Schools facing high social challenges would get the best resources. The SPD also backs longer joint learning and wants to promote cooperation among small schools.

The SPD wants to equip schools with gigabit connections and digital technology and extend free learning materials to digital devices. Digital education is to be anchored in teacher training and in the curricula.

The SPD wants fast internet at all schools. Digital devices should be free for students, like textbooks. Teachers should learn more about digital teaching. Lessons should deal more often with social media.

The gigabit connections and digital equipment are to be delivered together with the federal government. Digital education would be part of every phase of teacher training, and the related in-service training would be expanded. Dealing with social media and young people's digital resilience would become an explicit teaching goal. The Thuringian school cloud would be expanded and made accessible to people with disabilities.

The SPD rejects cuts to civics classes and wants to expand the subject. It cites the rise of right-wing and far-right forces as the reason and wants all curricula geared toward promoting democracy.

The SPD wants more civics classes in schools. It rejects cuts. In civics, children learn how democracy works. All other subjects should also strengthen democracy.

The program calls civics the central subject of democratic education in schools. Political education should not be limited to a single subject, however. For that reason, the curricula of all subjects are to be designed so that they promote democracy.

The SPD wants to restructure the school conference so that students make up half of its members. Student representatives are also to get voting rights in class and subject conferences.

Students should have more say. They should get half the seats in the school conference. The school conference decides on important school matters. Students should also be allowed to vote in other conferences.

According to the program, students have so far rarely been involved in matters affecting the whole school. The school conference would be upgraded along the lines of Berlin's model and vote on important school matters. Schools that want to make learning more democratic would receive money and advice from the state, for example for projects such as AULA.

The SPD wants to subsidize affordable housing for apprentices, modernize training facilities and keep vocational school sites across the state. The transition from school to training is to be eased through more counseling and new school formats.

Apprentices should get affordable housing. Vocational schools should stay close by. The SPD is against bundling training in a few places. Young people should get more help when starting an apprenticeship.

Plans include dormitory places and apprentice apartments across the state as well as funding for training facilities. The SPD rejects further centralization of training, even when classes shrink, and vocational schools should be reachable within a reasonable travel time. Counseling and support for companies and applicants would grow; production schools would be piloted and, if successful, introduced statewide. A campaign for dual vocational training would be run with the chambers, and craft-oriented high schools (Handwerkergymnasien) in all chamber districts would be examined.

The SPD wants to push at the federal level for stronger BAföG (federal student aid) so that studying does not depend on parents' income. In Thuringia, BAföG applications are to be processed within three months.

BAföG is money from the state for students. The SPD wants more BAföG. It wants to push for this at the federal level. Applications should be finished within three months. More people from families without a degree should be able to study.

The SPD backs regularly rising aid rates and allowances, higher age limits and the closing of funding gaps. A full loan is meant to help students whose parents earn just above the income limits. The student services organization would be supported in clearing the application backlog; anyone filing a follow-up application at least two months before expiry should receive funding without interruption. Initiatives such as "Arbeiterkind" would continue to be supported to help underrepresented groups study.

The SPD wants to scrap the fees charged to long-term students at Thuringian universities. Students who exceed the standard period of study should neither be removed from enrollment nor denied a dormitory place for that reason.

People who study for a long time must pay fees in Thuringia. The SPD wants to end these fees. The SPD says many students have to work on the side. Students who need longer should keep their place. They should also be allowed to live in a dorm.

In the SPD's view, finishing within the standard period is often only possible for those who, thanks to well-off parents, do not need to work on the side. It also leaves little room for civic, athletic, cultural or social engagement. Exceeding the standard period of study should no longer be grounds for removal from enrollment or for refusing a dormitory place.

The SPD wants to give universities base funding that rises with costs and to increase the student services organization's funding every year. At the federal level it backs a social pact for higher education that secures housing and low cafeteria prices.

Universities should get enough money from the state. The money should rise with costs. The student services organization should also get more money each year. It runs dorms and cafeterias. This should keep housing and food cheap for students.

Base funding would follow science-related cost increases and include a strategy supplement for further development. Universities should be able to operate free from economic interests and state paternalism. University social work modeled on Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences would be extended to all universities. Further plans include upgrading teaching with quality assurance involving students, more internationalization including guiding foreign students into the regional job market, and expanding dual study programs up to master's level.

The SPD wants to guarantee the core funding of Thuringia's universities until at least 2030 and raise it every year. In addition, a renovation program for university buildings is to be set up.

The SPD wants to give universities secure money until at least 2030. The money should grow a little every year. University buildings should also be repaired. There should be a plan for this until 2030.

Each year, universities would receive compensation for cost increases specific to the science sector plus an additional one percent; the SPD refers to recommendations by the German Science Council. The framework agreements between the state and the universities are to continue. More money is planned for digital literature licenses, media equipment, software and staff training. A systematic program for maintaining and energy-retrofitting buildings is to be drawn up by 2030 and carried out step by step. The state would provide land free of charge or through a ground lease for a symbolic fee. Spin-offs are also to become faster, universities are to get help winning excellence clusters, and the digitalization strategy is to be updated in 2025.

The SPD wants more permanent employment at universities and more predictable careers for early-career researchers. It also wants a higher share of women among professors and in university leadership.

The SPD wants better jobs at universities. People who do a lasting task should get a permanent job. Young researchers should be able to plan their careers better. More women should become professors or lead universities.

Permanent tasks should as a rule be done by staff on permanent contracts. The number of professorships is to rise moderately, and more of them are to be advertised as tenure-track positions, meaning with a prospect of a permanent professorship. Qualification positions should cover at least two-thirds of a full post and run for an adequate period. People funded through Thuringia's graduate funding program would get a full staff position under the public-sector pay agreement of the states instead of a scholarship. Permanent positions alongside the professorship with a focus on teaching are to be examined. For the share of women, the SPD considers binding target ranges necessary.

The SPD wants to strengthen applied research at universities of applied sciences. Research-strong areas or alliances of several institutions are to be allowed to award doctorates themselves, provided they meet high quality standards.

The SPD wants to strengthen research at universities of applied sciences. Some areas there do a lot of research. These areas should be allowed to award doctorates. They must ensure high quality to do so.

According to the SPD, universities of applied sciences should not turn into small universities in the process. Only research-strong areas or cross-institution alliances would get the right to award doctorates. In addition, cooperative doctorates, meaning joint procedures between universities of applied sciences and universities, are to be expanded and made possible under favorable conditions.

The SPD wants to strengthen adult education as the fourth pillar of the education system. Basic education courses are to be available everywhere in the state and be accessible, and catching up on a school diploma is to remain free of charge.

The SPD wants to strengthen learning for adults. There should be reading and writing courses everywhere in Thuringia. People who catch up on a school diploma should not have to pay. There should also be more courses for older people.

Literacy initiatives are to be continued and stepped up. Municipal and independent providers of adult education centers (Volkshochschulen), residential adult education centers and other institutions are to keep receiving adequate support so that adult education opens up to new forms of learning. Special educational offerings for older people are to be developed and expanded. The program argues that lifelong learning enables participation from childhood into old age.

The SPD wants to give sports and physical activity more weight in daycare centers, schools and youth facilities. Existing projects are to be merged into a broader state program promoting exercise for children and young people.

Children should move more in daycare and at school. The SPD wants a state program for this. Daycare teachers should learn more about exercise. Sports teachers should also get better training for it.

Sports and motor development are to play a larger role in the training of daycare teachers and in everyday daycare work. Extra sports offerings at schools and in after-school care are supported. Training for sports teachers and coaches is to be tailored more closely to specific age groups. The program “Bewegte Kinder = gesündere Kinder” and the “Bewegungscoach” project are to be folded into a state program. It is meant to help daycare centers and schools with regular movement checks, individual support and everyday exercise offerings.