SSW on education

The SSW wants to give Frisian the same legal status as other school languages and expand teaching in North Frisia and on Helgoland. Frisian teachers are to get a job guarantee and a bonus, and teaching materials are to be free. The party argues that the Frisian ethnic group runs no schools of its own.

The SSW wants more Frisian in schools and kindergartens. Frisian should be a normal school subject. Teachers of Frisian should be sure to get a job. Learning materials should be free.

On Sylt and Föhr, on Helgoland and in the north of the North Frisian mainland, Frisian is to be offered in every grade and in kindergartens. In elementary schools it is to be a regular subject, not an extracurricular club. Graduates of teacher training with a Frisian certificate are to be offered a teaching traineeship in North Frisia or on Helgoland and then access to a permanent post, plus a bonus like the one for teachers in less popular regions. Free, regularly updated materials are to exist for every grade and language variety, including digitally. A new institution in North Frisia is to produce materials and train teachers in the language, paid for from the state budget.

The SSW wants public schools in the border region and the Fehmarnbelt region to teach Danish or Frisian from the first year of school. In the party's view, multilingualism opens up opportunities for young people and strengthens the local economy.

Children in the border region should learn Danish or Frisian from first grade. This also applies to the Fehmarnbelt region. Vocational schools should offer these languages too. The SSW says more languages mean more chances.

The demand covers public schools in the border region and around the Fehmarnbelt. At vocational schools, both languages are to have a permanent place. The SSW justifies this with better opportunities for young people and a stronger business location in the border region.

The SSW wants to expand all-day programs and vacation care and significantly raise state subsidies for all-day schools. According to the platform, this promotes equal opportunity and makes work and family easier to combine.

The SSW wants more afternoon care. All schoolchildren under 12 should get an offer. There should also be care during school vacations. The state should pay more money for this.

Families with elementary school children are to have access to qualified care during vacations; a statewide plan is to be drawn up with municipal and independent providers. Opening hours are to follow parents' working hours more closely. Whether programs are optional or mandatory is to be decided with school authorities and parents according to local need. Lessons and activities offered by sports clubs and music schools, for example, are to be linked through binding plans. Minority schools are to be included in the all-day expansion.

The SSW wants to cut families' costs for learning materials, digital devices and school transportation as far as possible. According to the platform, education should not depend on parents' income.

The SSW wants school to cost families little. Books and materials should be free where possible. This also applies to tablets and laptops. The school bus should become free for older students too.

The SSW counts digital devices as learning materials and sees co-payments and rental fees as barriers. The state is to give more money for digital education. School transportation is to be free in the long run for upper secondary students as well, and counties are to include independent schools. These schools, especially those of the Danish minority, are to benefit equally from higher education spending. The existing school structure of comprehensive schools, Gymnasien and vocational schools is to stay; parent and student representation and complaint structures are to be strengthened.

The SSW wants to achieve inclusion in schools through teams made up of different professions, while keeping special-needs centers (Förderzentren) where needed. Schools facing particular challenges are to get more staff.

The SSW wants all children to learn well together. Different experts should work together at schools. Special-needs centers should stay. Parents should have a choice. Schools with extra tasks should get more staff.

Teachers, school social workers, assistants, support aides and school psychologists are to work closely together, backed by training from the state institute IQSH. Special-needs centers are to be kept according to need, because the SSW holds that mainstream schooling is not right for every child with special needs. Schools with heavy inclusion or integration duties, or in disadvantaged areas, are to receive extra staff. Compulsory schooling is to apply by law to children in residential care whose second residence is registered in another state, and the state is to evaluate inclusion quality on an ongoing basis. The program also calls for a school construction fund for buildings suited to inclusion and all-day schooling, and for more federal funding of school construction.

The SSW wants more money for vocational education and an overall plan that standardizes qualifications and eases transitions. Youth career agencies (Jugendberufsagenturen) are to exist permanently across the whole state.

The SSW wants to spend more money on job training. There should be one plan for all job training. Young people should get help when they move from school to work. Youth career agencies should exist everywhere for this.

The state institute for vocational education (SHIBB) is to be placed under the education ministry. An overall plan is to cover dual training, other programs at vocational schools, continuing education and the school-to-work transition. Local sites and staff are to get suitable conditions. The SSW also wants to expand vocational training across the German-Danish border to keep skilled workers in the region.

The SSW wants to cut teachers' required teaching hours and relieve them through other professionals in schools. Open positions are to be filled with fully trained teachers.

Teachers have more tasks today than before. The SSW wants them to teach fewer hours. Other experts should help at schools. There should be more places to study teaching.

Schools are to get more compensatory hours, for example for homeroom teachers and grading time. Support aides, assistants, school social workers and school psychologists are to back up teachers more. To fill vacancies with trained staff, the SSW wants more university places for teaching degrees and more places in the practical training phase. The program justifies this with the growing demands placed on teachers.

The SSW wants to make continuing education an equal pillar of the education system and draw more people into it. Grants for Volkshochschulen (adult education centers) and education facilities are to rise regularly.

The SSW wants more adults to keep learning. Courses should be affordable for people with little money. Adult education centers should get more money. This money should go up regularly.

Access is to become easier above all for people with low qualifications or educational disadvantages, and course fees are to reflect low incomes. The program calls for enough adult education centers run by full-time staff. The continuing education act is to be reformed to secure basic provision and the quality of courses. The guiding idea is lifelong learning.

The SSW wants to keep raising universities' core funding from 2022 and develop all locations in a balanced way. Universities are to complement each other in their profiles and become more international.

The SSW wants to give universities more money. All universities in the state should benefit. The universities should work well together. They should also work more with Denmark.

University programs are to be coordinated through dialogue. Courses in minority and regional languages are to be secured permanently. The SSW wants to fund internationalization, especially with Denmark and the Baltic Sea region. The cross-border degree programs in Flensburg are to be strengthened.

The SSW wants more permanent positions at universities and collective agreements for student employees. The program bases this on what it sees as the precarious situation of early-career researchers.

Many people at universities only have temporary contracts. The SSW wants more permanent jobs. Students who work at a university should get a collective agreement. A collective agreement sets pay and hours for many workers.

Permanent tasks are to be covered by permanent positions, and contracts are to run for the longest possible term. Employment contracts are to include clear job descriptions, and career paths are to become more transparent. The teaching load regulation is to be changed to put special-duty lecturers on equal footing with professors and to pay adjunct lecturers more. Employees are also to get more say in decisions.

The SSW wants BAföG (federal student aid) to be paid regardless of parental income so that all students are supported equally. It also wants considerably more housing for students and trainees.

BAföG is money from the state for students. Today it depends on what the parents earn. The SSW wants to change that. All students should be able to get BAföG. There should also be more student housing.

Student aid is no longer to be tied to the family's financial situation. The SSW also wants to ease the housing market by expanding dormitories in the state. Both students and trainees are to benefit. The program links this to the goal of fair chances in education.

The SSW wants schools to teach democracy more strongly and wants knowledge about Germany's four national minorities anchored nationwide in all areas of education. Education for sustainable development and STEM subjects are also to get more support.

The SSW wants students to learn more about democracy. People all over Germany should learn about the four national minorities. There should be teaching materials for this. Math, computer science, science and technology should also get more support.

Democratically organized schools are to be strengthened, and programs of the state commissioner for civic education made permanent. Teaching materials on national minorities usable across subjects are to be developed, and a nationwide platform is to distribute them. The national action plan on education for sustainable development is to be implemented across all education sectors. STEM support is to be gender-equitable, and the STEM action plan is to be extended.

The SSW wants better and permanent funding for arts and cultural education and wants it established as a field of its own in educational institutions. An overall "Education and Culture" strategy is meant to make projects sustainable.

Cultural education means learning theater, music, art and dance, for example. The SSW wants to spend more money on it. Schools and cultural programs should work together more. People of every age should be able to take part.

The strategy includes regular exchange between cultural workers and educational institutions, training for volunteers and quality targets. Cooperation between cultural youth education and schools is to grow, especially at all-day schools. Alongside volunteers, the SSW considers paid staff necessary to ensure professionalism. The Freiwilliges Soziales Jahr Kultur (voluntary year in the cultural sector) should get better financial terms and more recognition, including from universities. Political youth education is to be supported and, in the medium term, equipped for hybrid events.