What do the parties say on education?

The AfD wants an education system that is politically neutral and built on performance. Schools should also teach practical knowledge about the economy, social insurance and investing. Universities should attract top talent and make Germany a leader in innovation.

The AfD wants schools that focus on performance. Schools should be politically neutral. Children should also learn about money and the economy there. Universities should attract the best people. This should lead to new ideas in Germany.

The AfD wants to preserve the tiered school system with its different school types and raise requirements at all schools. In the platform's view, apprentices and first-year students lack basic knowledge despite better grades. A preschool year is meant to prepare children who are behind for regular lessons.

Germany has different types of schools. The AfD wants to keep it that way. Schools should ask more of students. Classes should get smaller. There should be a preschool for children who still need help before school starts.

The AfD wants to relax compulsory school attendance and replace it with a duty to be educated. It argues that the state no longer adequately secures children's right to education. Students' well-being is to be the guiding concern.

Today all children must go to a school. The AfD wants to relax this rule. Children would still have to learn, but not always in a school. The AfD says the state no longer does enough for education.

The AfD wants to keep special-needs schools (Förderschulen) and make them the usual place of learning again for children with special educational needs. According to the platform, inclusion should proceed only with a sense of proportion. It says special schools offer support that regular schools cannot provide.

Special schools are for children who need extra help. The AfD wants to keep these schools. Children with special needs should usually go there. The AfD says they get more help there than in other schools.

The AfD demands that teachers stay politically neutral and that schools be free of political advocacy. Students should form their own political views and be able to voice them without fear of disadvantages.

The AfD wants teachers not to recommend any party at school. They should also not call on students to join protests. Students should be able to say what they think. No one should treat them badly for it.

The AfD wants schools to have modern IT but to use digital tools only where they make sense and ease the workload. The primary school years should largely do without digital devices because that is where reading, writing and arithmetic are learned.

Schools should have good computers. But the AfD does not want tablets everywhere in class. In the first four school years, children should learn mostly without digital devices. That is when they learn to read, write and do math. Online classes should be avoided if possible.

The AfD wants to raise the standing of vocational education and strengthen vocational schools. In its view, the drive for ever higher shares of students earning the Abitur (university entrance diploma) endangers the supply of trainees in skilled trades.

The AfD wants to strengthen job training. Vocational schools should matter more. The party says too many young people aim for university. So companies cannot find enough trainees.

The AfD rejects Islamic religious instruction in schools and wants no faith-based exemptions for Muslim students. Children with a migration background should first take mandatory German classes until they can follow regular lessons. The party says this is how it wants to prevent parallel societies.

The AfD wants no Islamic classes in schools. Muslim students should get no exceptions. For example, they should take part in swimming lessons. Children with weak German should learn German first.

The AfD considers the Bologna reform a failure and wants to bring back the earlier Diplom and Magister degrees. In its view, the Europe-wide alignment of degree programs has made university studies too school-like and curtailed academic freedom.

The AfD wants the old Diplom and Magister degrees back. Today most students earn a bachelor's or master's degree. The party says university has become too much like school. It wants to change that.

The AfD wants to give universities more guaranteed core funding so that they depend less on external grants. Research and teaching should remain independent of political, economic and financial interests.

The AfD wants to give universities more fixed money. Then researchers need to seek less outside money. They have more time for research and teaching. Universities should be allowed to pick their own students.

The BSW wants to end the ban on federal-state cooperation in education and introduce a nationwide education framework law. All-day schools and after-school care would be expanded, and children would learn together for longer. Educational opportunity should not depend on family background.

The BSW wants the federal government and states to work together on schools. A law should create the same rules for all states. There should be more all-day schools. Children should learn together for longer.

The BSW wants to keep phones and tablets out of class at least through elementary school. A social media law modeled on Australia's is meant to protect children. The federal government would pay for every child's first year in a sports club.

The BSW wants no phones and tablets in elementary school. A law should protect children from social media. Australia has such a law. The federal government should pay for the first year in a sports club.

The BSW wants to guarantee every young person a vocational training place and to raise the standing of vocational education. A vocational training pact is meant to modernize vocational schools.

The BSW wants every young person to get a training place. Vocational schools should become more modern. Schools should prepare students better for work. Skilled trades should get more respect.

The BSW rejects appearances by the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) in schools and wants more peace education, civic education and democracy education instead. Universities and research institutions are to adopt civil clauses.

The BSW wants no army advertising in schools. Students should learn more about peace and democracy. Companies should not advertise in schools either. Universities should do research only for civilian purposes.

The BSW wants support teams to take non-teaching tasks off teachers' hands. In addition, more teachers and childcare workers are to be trained, and teacher training is to become more practical.

Teachers should be able to focus on teaching. Other experts should take over some tasks. For example social workers and IT staff. There should also be more teachers and childcare workers.

The BSW wants the federal government to share in the basic funding and construction of universities. It also calls for a BAföG (student aid) reform, an end to chains of fixed-term contracts and protection of academic freedom.

The federal government should give universities more money. Students should get enough BAföG. BAföG is state money for studying. University staff should get permanent jobs. They should be able to speak their minds freely.

The BSW wants an investment program to renovate and expand local facilities for children, young people and families. It justifies this with a long-standing backlog in repairs and investment.

The BSW wants to spend a lot of money on children and education. The money should go to cities and towns. Many buildings for children there are old or broken. Poor areas should get money first.

The CDU and the CSU want government and business together to spend 3.5 percent of economic output on research and development by 2030. More startups should emerge from top-level research and grow into global market leaders.

The CDU and the CSU want more money for research. Government and companies should spend more on it by 2030. More new companies should come out of research. Ocean research should also get stronger.

The CDU and the CSU want every child to speak German when starting school. To this end, the developmental level of all three- to four-year-olds is to be assessed, and children who need support are to be required to attend a preschool program.

The CDU and the CSU want every child to know German before school. Experts should test all children at age three or four. Children with problems must then attend a program before school. The program Sprach-Kitas (language daycare) should start again.

The CDU and the CSU want the quality of schooling not to depend on where a child lives. They rely on binding comparative tests, an Abitur (university entrance diploma) that is comparable across Germany, and more all-day programs at elementary schools.

The CDU and the CSU want equally good schools across Germany. Students should take similar tests everywhere. The Abitur diploma should be worth the same everywhere. Elementary school children should get more all-day programs.

The CDU and the CSU want to launch a second DigitalPakt (digital pact) for schools and create a nationwide register of educational pathways, starting with an ID number for every student. The effects of early social media use are to be assessed scientifically, followed by a package of measures.

The CDU and the CSU want to make schools more digital. There should be a new program for this. Every student should get a number. This helps researchers study how students move through school. The parties also want to check how social media harms children.

The CDU and the CSU regard vocational and academic education as equal in value and want to lay that down in binding form. In addition, dual vocational training, career guidance in schools and paths to a vocational qualification for low-skilled people are to be strengthened.

The CDU and the CSU say job training and university are worth the same. This should be written in a treaty between the federal government and the states. Vocational schools should get better. All schools should help with choosing a job. People without a qualification should be able to earn one step by step.

The CDU and the CSU want to promote top-level research through competition and further develop the Excellence Strategy. Mid-level academic staff at universities are to be strengthened and research cooperation with Israel deepened.

The CDU and the CSU want to support very good research. Universities should compete for this. Applications should need less paperwork. Young researchers should get better chances. Germany should do more research with Israel.

The CDU and the CSU want to expand strategic security research and remove restrictions on military research. The platform calls this research existentially important for Germany.

The CDU and the CSU want more research on security. Researchers should also be allowed to do research for the military. Today there are limits on that. These limits should go.

The CDU and the CSU want BAföG (state student aid) and scholarships to cover living costs, and want applications to be fully digital. BAföG recipients are to be allowed to earn more on the side, and the student loan is to get a fixed interest rate.

BAföG is money from the state for students. It should be enough to live on. People should be able to apply fully online. People who get BAföG should be allowed to earn more on the side. Scholarships should also go up.

The FDP wants uniform quality standards for daycare centers (Kitas) across Germany. These include staffing ratios based on actual need, less red tape, and teams drawn from several professions. The aim is reliable hours and high-quality care.

The FDP wants the same rules for all daycare centers in Germany. There should be enough staff for the children. Daycare centers should have less paperwork. Parents should be able to rely on the opening hours.

The FDP wants every preschool-age child nationwide to take a mandatory language test. Children would only start school once their German is good enough to follow lessons. Where needed, language support would be compulsory.

All children should take a language test before school. The test should be required. Children should start school only when they know enough German. Children who need help must take part in language support.

The FDP wants to fundamentally modernize initial and continuing training for childcare staff in order to tackle the shortage of skilled workers in daycare. Training would no longer cost tuition and would be adequately paid.

Daycare centers do not have enough trained staff. The FDP wants to renew the training for childcare workers. The training should cost nothing. Trainees should get paid.

The FDP calls for a fundamental reform of education federalism with uniform standards and a stronger federal role. The Kultusministerkonferenz (the states' conference of education ministers) would be abolished as a decision-making body and replaced by a federal education council. Uniform final exams are meant to make school diplomas comparable nationwide.

Today the states mostly decide about schools. The FDP wants the federal government to have more say. There should be the same rules for all of Germany. The final school exam should be the same everywhere. A new council should replace the meeting of state ministers.

The FDP calls for renovating Germany's school buildings and modernizing their technology through a Digitalpakt 2.0. At the same time, schools would get more decision-making power and a budget of their own.

Many school buildings are in bad shape. The FDP wants them repaired. Schools should get better technology. Every school should get its own money. With it, the school can decide more on its own.

The FDP wants to introduce economics and computer science as school subjects nationwide and update curricula. Teacher training would become a dual program combining study and practice, and teachers would be paid based on performance. Visits to memorial sites would be mandatory for students.

The FDP wants new school subjects: economics and computer science. Future teachers should get more practice during their studies. Good teachers should earn more. Students should have to visit a Holocaust memorial site.

The FDP wants to attract more young people to vocational training. Its plans include a career orientation year, expanded scholarships and Aufstiegs-BAföG (aid for advanced vocational training), and an exchange service for trainees.

The FDP wants more young people to do vocational training. There should be a year for trying out jobs. There should be more scholarships for trainees. Trainees should find it easier to go abroad.

The FDP sees learning as a lifelong process and wants to support continuing education. A new Lebenschancen-BAföG (life chances grant) would cover training costs, and a personal Freiraumkonto account would allow saving for it free of taxes and social contributions.

People should be able to learn all their lives. The FDP wants a new kind of financial aid for this. It is called Lebenschancen-BAföG. People should also be able to save for training without paying taxes on it.

The FDP wants the choice of degree not to depend on a student's family background and would therefore make BAföG (student aid) independent of parental income. Tax-free education savings and more stays abroad through Erasmus would be added.

Today student aid depends on the parents' money. The FDP wants to change that. All students should be able to get help. Parents and grandparents should save for education without paying taxes. School students should also go abroad with Erasmus.

The FDP wants to strengthen the whole research chain, from basic science to application in companies. A research freedom act would ease fusion research, genetic engineering and stem cell research. Germany is also to become one of the world's leading locations for artificial intelligence.

The FDP wants to strengthen research in Germany. A new law should give researchers more freedom. This covers nuclear fusion and genetic engineering, for example. Companies should pay less tax when they do research. Germany should be a leader in artificial intelligence.

The Free Voters want to put vocational and academic education on an equal legal footing and make first-time training free of charge as a rule. A continuing education drive is meant to counter the shortage of skilled workers.

The Free Voters say an apprenticeship is worth as much as a university degree. They want this written into law. A person's first training should cost nothing. Adults should also get more help to keep learning.

The Free Voters want to support children individually but reject lowering performance requirements. Education is to remain a matter for the states, with the federal government helping, including financially. Every child should have the same opportunities regardless of background, and the school system should allow students to move up.

The Free Voters want to support every child well. But school standards should not go down. The states should stay in charge of schools. The federal government should help them with money. All children should have the same chances.

The Free Voters want to tackle staff shortages in daycare centers and schools. Recruitment programs, paid and better-paid training, and more attractive working conditions for teachers are meant to help. Training and university studies are to be tied more closely to practice.

Daycare centers and schools lack trained staff. The Free Voters want to win more people for these jobs. All training should be paid. Teachers should have less paperwork. Students should get practical experience early.

The Free Voters want closer support for children with a harder start. The platform provides for education guides, early language support for children from immigrant families, programs to close learning gaps from the COVID period, and social work at all schools. Special-needs schools and daycare centers are to be kept and expanded.

Some children have a harder time at school. The Free Voters want to help them more. Education guides should support children and parents. Children from immigrant families should learn German early. All schools should have social workers.

The Free Voters want to use artificial intelligence in the classroom and upgrade schools both physically and digitally. At the same time, curricula are to teach media literacy and critical thinking, since the party views the digital world's influence on young people with concern.

The Free Voters want to use AI in class. AI means artificial intelligence, computer programs that learn. Schools should get better buildings and technology. Students should learn to check information. They should use digital media responsibly.

The Free Voters support expanding all-day schools but want to review the timeline for the legal entitlement to all-day care in elementary school. The platform cites the strained finances of many municipalities as the reason.

From August 2026, elementary school children gradually get a right to all-day care. The Free Voters like all-day schools. But many cities and towns have little money. So the party wants to check the timeline again.

The Free Voters want BAföG (federal student aid) to be paid regardless of parents' income and want to simplify the application. The scholarship system is also to be opened to more students. The aim is for all students to get the financial support they need.

BAföG is money from the state for students. Today it depends on what the parents earn. The Free Voters want to change that. Applying should be easier. More students should be able to get a scholarship.

The Free Voters want more reliable career paths for academics below the rank of professor. The platform criticizes that most of them are on fixed-term contracts and sees this as harmful to Germany as a research location.

Many researchers at universities only have temporary contracts. The Free Voters want to change that. Researchers should be able to plan their careers better. The party says insecure jobs hurt research in Germany.

The Free Voters want to introduce so-called Bildungsjoker. These are vouchers that parents can use to pay for tutoring, music and sports classes or other educational offerings for their children. The goal is more equal opportunity regardless of social background.

The Free Voters want to introduce an education voucher. Parents get this voucher. They can use it to pay for tutoring, for example. Music and sports classes are also possible. This should give all children the same chances.

The Free Voters call for more and regular physical education that must not be the first thing canceled when staff are short. Schools would cooperate with sports clubs and get suitable rooms.

Schools should offer more PE classes. Classes should not be canceled so often. This also goes for swimming. Schools should work together with sports clubs.

The Greens want to strengthen daycare centers, schools and universities. They are meant to give all children and young people a good start in life.

The Greens want to improve daycare, schools and universities. Everyone should get a good chance in life. Education is very important for that.

The Greens want government and business together to spend clearly more than 3.5 percent of economic output on research and development. Support would go to basic research, applied research and the transfer into market-ready products. The platform sees innovation as decisive for the economy and for climate protection.

The Greens want more money for research. The state and companies together should spend more than today. Researchers should be able to test new technology more easily. Ideas should turn into products faster.

The Greens want to start a "Zukunftsinvestitionsprogramm Bildung" (future investment program for education) together with states and municipalities. It is meant to modernize school buildings, add staff and reach more schools beyond the existing Startchancen program.

The Greens want to invest a lot of money in schools. School buildings should be modern and without barriers. There should be more helpers at schools, such as social workers. Children should learn to read, write and do math well. They should also learn to use computers.

The Greens want to scrap the Kooperationsverbot, the constitutional rule that largely keeps the federal government from co-funding schools on a lasting basis. Education money should also be distributed more according to actual need.

Today the federal government can give schools money only within limits. This rule is called the cooperation ban. The Greens want to end it. Education money should go where it is needed most.

The Greens want continuous language support from daycare through vocational training and want integration to be a standard task of the education system. All children should be able to attend regular schools regardless of their language skills.

All children should learn German well. Support should start in daycare and continue in school. Every child should be able to go to a regular school. This also applies to children who speak little German. Fewer young people should leave school without a diploma.

The Greens want to raise the minimum pay for apprentices significantly and fund apprentice service organizations modeled on student services. A solidarity-based training levy is meant to encourage small and mid-sized firms to train.

Apprentices should get clearly more pay. There should be apprentice services that offer dorms and advice. Companies would pay into a shared fund. Companies that train apprentices get money from it. Young people should get better help choosing a job.

The Greens want BAföG (student and training aid) to cover living costs and be adjusted regularly as those costs rise. It should depend less on family income, and dorms would continue to be funded.

BAföG is state money for students and apprentices. It should rise regularly when life gets more expensive. Parents' income should count less. Siblings' income should no longer count at all. There should be more low-cost dorms.

The Greens want to renovate university buildings together with the states and make them climate-friendly. The federal-state agreements that fund higher education and research are to continue and be expanded.

Many university buildings are old or run-down. The Greens want to renew them together with the states. The buildings should become good for the climate. Universities should also get reliable funding.

The Greens want fewer academic staff on fixed-term contracts, especially after the doctorate. Permanent tasks are to be done by staff with permanent positions. The platform sees this as a condition for fair opportunities in academia.

Many researchers only have short-term contracts. The Greens want to change that. More researchers should get permanent jobs. Research work and family life should fit together better.

The Greens want to defend academic freedom: only scholarly standards are to decide who gets research funding. At the same time, international exchange for researchers and students is to become easier.

The Greens want to protect the freedom of research. Politicians should not decide which research gets money. Researchers from other countries should be able to come to Germany more easily. More people should be able to study abroad.

The Left wants to end the repair backlog at schools and universities. In the long run a wealth tax would fund the states for this; until then the federal government should set up a 100-billion-euro special fund. More teachers and childcare staff are also to be recruited.

Many schools are run-down. The Left wants 100 billion euros from the federal government for schools, daycare and universities. Later a tax on large fortunes should pay for it. There should also be more teachers.

The Left wants the federal and state governments to be able to cooperate without limits on education and to anchor this as a joint task in the Basic Law. A federal framework law on education would secure the same minimum standards nationwide.

Today the federal government can do little for schools. The Left wants to change that. Federal and state governments should handle education together. The same minimum rules should apply in every state.

The Left wants learning materials, meals and school transport to be free so that education does not depend on parents' income. Homework would be abolished because, in the party's view, it turns social differences into unequal school success.

Schoolbooks and devices for learning should cost nothing. Meals in daycare and school should be free too. So should the trip to school. There should be no more homework. Practice happens at school.

The Left calls for a daycare quality law that actually delivers on the legal right to a daycare place. Daycare would be free, with fewer children per staff member and better pay for staff. The platform points to 430,000 missing places and overburdened employees.

Many children get no daycare place. The Left wants a new daycare law. Daycare should cost nothing. Each caregiver should look after fewer children. Caregivers should earn more.

The Left wants to replace the tiered school system with a common, inclusive all-day school where every diploma can be earned. In its view, today's tiered structure reinforces social inequality.

Today there are different types of schools. The Left wants one school for all children. School lasts all day. Students can earn any diploma there. Several professionals should help in each class.

The Left wants to prohibit advertising and lobbying in schools and bar the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) from advertising at schools and universities. Instead, students would learn about peace work and civilian alternatives. Digital learning tools should likewise not become a gateway for corporate interests.

Companies should not advertise in schools. The armed forces should not advertise there either. Schools should teach about peace. Artificial intelligence should not give grades.

The Left wants a levy: companies without apprentices of their own would help pay for training places elsewhere. All vocational training would be free and lead to a full qualification, with a legal entitlement, minimum pay and permanent hiring afterward. The platform points to many young people without a diploma and companies training less.

Some companies train no one. Those companies should pay into a fund. The fund pays for training places. Everyone should have a right to training. Apprentices should get more pay and a permanent job afterward.

The Left wants to promote lifelong learning as an offer and improve working conditions in adult education. This includes a collective agreement for all employees in the sector and a continuing-education allowance.

Adults should be able to keep learning. It should be an offer, not a duty. People who work in adult education should get union-scale pay. There should be a training allowance.

The Left wants to turn BAföG (federal student aid) into support for all students that need not be repaid and is paid regardless of parents, age or origin. It rejects tuition fees and wants broader access to universities. The platform cites poverty among students.

All students should get BAföG. That is state money for studying. They do not have to pay it back. It should be enough to live on. Studying should have no fees.

The Left wants to push back fixed-term contracts in academia and fund universities through reliable core funding rather than third-party grants. Research should focus on peace, social equality and ecology; civil clauses would apply at all universities.

Many researchers only have short-term contracts. The Left wants permanent jobs for them. Universities should get enough steady money from the state. Universities should do research only for peaceful purposes.

The ÖDP sees parents and guardians as primarily responsible for raising children. It rejects education plans for nurseries and compulsory all-day schools against the wishes of those affected, and it wants kindergarten to be free of charge.

The ÖDP says parents come first in raising children. It does not want an education plan for nurseries. Nobody should be forced into an all-day school. Kindergarten should cost nothing.

The ÖDP wants all children to be taught together for the first six school years, with instruction tailored to different ability levels within the class. Special-needs schools (Förderschulen) are to be kept. The party also calls for internships in every type of school and a stronger focus on languages.

The ÖDP wants all children to learn together for six years. Only then do they go to different schools. Special-needs schools should stay. Students should do more internships. They should also learn more languages.

The ÖDP wants teaching and research to be independent of special interests from business and politics. A first degree should remain free of tuition fees. According to the program, studying and learning should not depend on commercial usefulness.

The ÖDP wants independent universities. Companies and politicians should have less influence there. A first degree should cost nothing. All groups at a university should have an equal say in its committees.

The ÖDP wants to immediately raise pay in dual vocational training to at least €1,400 a month in the first year. The federal government would cover half. The aim is to make company-based training attractive again for suitable applicants.

The ÖDP wants more money for apprentices. In the first year they should get at least €1,400 a month. The amount should go up every year. The government should pay half of it. This should lead more young people to start an apprenticeship.

The PdF wants to revive the discontinued federal program "Sprach-Kitas" (language daycare centers) and give it a much larger budget. In addition, every daycare center would need a binding language support plan so that all children receive systematic help.

The PdF wants to restart the "Sprach-Kitas" program. It should get much more money. Every daycare should have a fixed plan for language support. Staff should be able to get extra training. This helps children learn German better.

The PdF wants trainee early childhood educators to be paid in every type of training program in order to address the staff shortage. It also wants early childhood care to be regulated uniformly at the national level.

The PdF wants to pay people who train as childcare workers. They should earn money during training. Nobody should need student aid for it. Daycare rules should be the same all over Germany. Ads should bring more people into the job.

The PdF wants to replace the states' education administrations with a central federal agency. A nationwide curriculum and centrally organized final exams are meant to ensure the same standards everywhere. The platform cites educational inequality and problems when families move between states.

The PdF wants one school system for all of Germany. Today each state makes its own rules. In the future a federal agency should be in charge. The curriculum and final exams should be the same everywhere. Children should also have to attend daycare.

The PdF wants a flexible school system that supports students according to their interests and strengths. It rejects full inclusion and wants to keep or reintroduce special schools. The platform cites overburdened teachers and falling classroom standards as reasons.

The PdF wants children to switch more easily between school tracks. Each child should learn according to their strengths. The PdF is against full inclusion. Inclusion means children with and without disabilities learn together. Special schools should stay or come back.

The PdF wants vocational and academic education to be treated as equal, both formally and in public esteem. In the platform's view, the education system focuses too heavily on the Abitur and university, which neglects the skilled trades and worsens the shortage of skilled workers.

The PdF wants to treat the Meister and the master's degree the same. The Meister is a top qualification in the skilled trades. The master's is a university degree. Schools should teach more practical skills. Trade jobs should get more respect.

The PdF wants sports and swimming lessons to be a binding part of the curriculum from the first day of school. The platform points to the healthy development of children and teenagers and says many schools lack a firm rule.

The PdF wants sports and swimming to be required at school. This should apply from first grade. Children should try many kinds of sports. All children should be able to exercise, no matter what family they come from.

The PdF wants schools to teach practical life skills in the final grades, such as taxes, insurance and personal finance. According to the platform, many young people leave school without this knowledge, especially when their parents cannot help.

The PdF wants students to learn things for everyday life. Examples are tax returns, insurance, finding an apartment and handling money. This should happen in the last school years. That way all young people should have similar chances.

The PdF wants schools to teach students early on how to use common IT tools and social media. Teachers are to receive targeted training for this.

The PdF wants more lessons about digital media. Children should learn computer programs early. They should also learn how to handle social media. Teachers should get training for this.

The PdF wants to reform the student loans offered by KfW, the state development bank. Interest is to be dropped or capped, because the party considers the current terms inappropriate for a state bank.

Students can borrow money from KfW. KfW is a bank owned by the state. The PdF says the interest there is too high. It wants no interest or a limit on interest.

The PdF wants to give all adults access to free or subsidized continuing education, especially on digitalization and new technologies. It justifies this with technological change, which it says requires constant learning.

The PdF wants courses for adults. The courses should be free or cheap. They are mainly about digital technology. Companies and universities should take part.

The PdF wants to make teacher training more practical through dual degree programs and attract career changers with appealing conditions. Teachers are also to be evaluated regularly and relieved of paperwork, in order to address the teacher shortage and improve teaching.

There are not enough teachers, especially in rural areas. The PdF wants more practical training. People from other jobs should become teachers more easily. Teaching should be rated regularly. Teachers should write fewer reports.

The PdF calls for a special budget to renovate and expand school buildings. In addition, all schools are to get broadband and modern technology, and IT is to be firmly anchored in the curricula.

The PdF wants to repair and expand schools. There should be extra money for this. All schools should get fast internet. Teachers must take courses on computer technology.

The PdF wants to respond to discipline problems and violence in schools with police presence, security checks as a last resort and consistent penalties. It adds prevention programs, more funding for schools in disadvantaged areas and closer involvement of parents.

The PdF sees more violence and disruption in schools. At some schools, police should be present regularly. There may also be checks for weapons. For serious offenses, students may have to leave the school. There should also be training against violence.

The PdF wants BAföG, the state student aid, to be granted in the future without counting parents' income. In the party's view, this would strengthen educational fairness and make students more independent of their parents.

BAföG is money from the state for students. Today it depends on what the parents earn. The PdF wants to change that. The parents' income should no longer matter.

The PdF wants to offer researchers permanent positions after the postdoc phase and raise state core funding for universities. Pressure from publication counts and third-party funding is to ease so that long-term and non-profit research gets more room.

Many researchers only have short-term contracts. The PdF wants permanent jobs for them. Universities should get more money from the state. Research that makes no profit should also get more help.

The SPD wants to expand research funding, especially for basic research in key industries and green technology. Universities are to keep receiving public funding, and academic careers are to become more predictable.

The SPD wants to give more money to research. Researchers should get funding more easily. Universities keep getting money from the state. Jobs in science should be more secure. Ideas should turn into products faster.

The SPD wants to continue the vocational training guarantee and hold companies more responsible for training, for example through levies. It names a right to further training and a fresh career start at every stage of life as its goal.

Every young person should be able to get vocational training. Companies should train more people. Where too few are trained, companies should pay into a shared fund. Everyone should have a right to further training.

The SPD wants a binding agreement with all states on a staffing drive for daycare centers and schools. It adds mandatory checks of children's development, a Startchancen (equal start) program for daycare centers, a continued Digitalpakt for schools and the all-day care entitlement.

Daycare centers and schools need more staff. The SPD wants a firm agreement on this with all states. Children should be tested and supported early. Daycare centers in poorer areas should get more money.

The SPD wants to adjust BAföG (student aid) regularly to living costs, make more students eligible and gradually turn it back into a full grant. The minimum pay for trainees is also to rise.

BAföG is money from the state for students. The SPD wants more students to get it. It should rise with prices. Later, students should not have to pay anything back. Trainees should get more pay.

The Tierschutzpartei calls for a guaranteed apprenticeship place and a minimum training wage. Vocational training should no longer involve any fees. The aim is for young people to train without money worries.

Every young person should get a training place. Trainees should get a minimum pay. Training should cost nothing. Travel and overnight costs should also be paid.

The Tierschutzpartei wants media literacy and digital education to be a mandatory part of the curriculum at every school level. Students should learn early on to use digital technology responsibly and critically.

All schools should teach digital skills. Children should learn to use media well. Teachers should get training for this.

Volt wants vocational training to also be offered in English or in the language of the neighboring country. This is meant to make it easier for international talent to get a training position. Companies and trainees are expected to benefit from stronger international ties.

Volt wants job training to be offered in English too. Near the border, the neighbor country's language should also be possible. Then more young people from abroad can train here. Later, all trainees should learn English.

Volt wants to abolish the Kooperationsverbot, the rule that largely bars the federal government from taking part in the states' education policy. Federalism in education is to be phased out step by step to allow uniform nationwide standards and faster decisions.

Today the German states mostly decide about schools. The federal government can hardly take part. Volt wants to end this ban. Then the same rules for education would apply all over Germany.

Volt wants to make education free for children and young people, from childcare starting at birth to learning materials and meals. The platform treats education as a basic right whose access should not depend on parents' income.

Volt wants education to cost nothing. Daycare would be free for all families. Children get free breakfast and lunch at daycare and school. Schoolbooks would also be free.

Volt wants everyone to be able to learn together regardless of their needs or abilities. To that end, educational institutions would receive more money and staff for inclusion.

Volt wants all children to learn together. This includes children with disabilities. Schools and daycare centers would get more money for this. There would also be more helpers.

Volt wants to relieve teachers through additional staff and make their employment more flexible and fair. The platform sees good working conditions as a precondition for supporting learners well.

Volt wants to make work easier for teachers. Other professionals would take over some tasks. Teachers who are employees would earn as much as civil-servant teachers. All would get time and money for training.

Volt wants to improve working conditions in daycare centers and raise the pay of early childhood educators to the level of school teachers. The platform argues that high-quality early education depends on motivated and valued staff.

Volt wants to pay daycare staff better. They should earn as much as school teachers. They should also get money during their training. Volt says this makes the job more attractive.

Volt wants to end the split into Hauptschule, Realschule, and Gymnasium and have all children learn together for longer. School diplomas would be uniform nationwide. The platform says this strengthens equal opportunity and social cohesion.

Germany has three types of secondary school today. Volt wants to end this split. All children should learn together for longer. Diplomas should be the same across Germany. Volt says this is fairer.

Volt wants to replace school grades with individual performance assessment and tailor teaching more closely to each child. Project work and mixed-age learning would become central, and curricula would be slimmed down. The platform says this fosters skills and self-reflection.

Volt wants to end grades in school. Instead there would be talks and learning diaries, for example. Children should learn more in projects. Each child should learn according to their strengths. Curricula should become shorter.

Volt wants specialists in psychology, social work, health, and special education to be permanently based in schools. They would work closely with teachers, because the platform sees health and well-being as preconditions for successful learning.

Schools should not only have teachers. Volt also wants experts for psychology, social work, and health there. They help children with problems. Volt says children learn better when they feel well.

Volt wants children with and without disabilities to learn together in one school. Special-needs schools would continue only as a transitional arrangement. The platform cites equal opportunity and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Children with and without disabilities should learn together. Schools should become barrier-free for this. That means everyone can use them without obstacles. Special-needs schools would only exist for a transition period.

Volt wants to anchor democracy education in all subjects and give students more say. According to the platform, democracy must be actively experienced so that young people take on responsibility.

Children should practice democracy at school. They should have more say. Class councils are one way to do this. Parents should also be able to make proposals.

Volt wants digital skills taught from elementary school onward and computer science to be a focus throughout. Schools would receive modern equipment and fast internet. The platform sees this as preparation for a connected world.

Children should learn to use computers in elementary school already. Computer science should matter in every school year. Schools should get new devices and fast internet. Parents should get training too.

Volt wants to introduce a dual-track teaching degree and link university study more closely with the practical training phase. More hands-on experience is meant to prepare future teachers better and secure school quality.

Future teachers should practice in schools earlier. Volt wants a dual degree. That means study and work at a school happen together. Degrees from other countries should count.

Volt wants to keep small rural schools open. Mixed-age teaching and digital networking are meant to make this workable even with few children. The platform regards village schools as important for vibrant rural regions.

Volt wants to keep schools in villages. Children of different ages can learn together there. Small schools should connect over the internet. This gives them more learning options.

Volt wants to raise the standing of vocational occupations through nationwide campaigns, modernize training plans, and help small businesses offer apprenticeships. According to the platform, this secures skilled workers and strengthens the labor market.

Volt wants more young people to choose vocational training. There would be advertising across Germany. Training should become more modern. Small companies should get help to train people.

Volt wants to give students and trainees more financial security. BAföG (federal student aid) rates would be tied to local living costs, and state-recognized vocational training and continuing education would be free for everyone. The platform argues that education should not depend on a person's financial situation.

Volt wants more money for students and trainees. BAföG is money from the state for learners. It should match the cost of living in each place. People in expensive cities should get more. Recognized training courses should cost nothing.

Volt wants every learner to be able to spend at least four weeks abroad during vocational training or university. Exchange programs such as Erasmus+ would be expanded, and degrees would be uniform across Europe. The platform expects this to foster personal development, European cohesion and knowledge transfer.

Volt wants more learning abroad. All trainees and students should be able to spend at least four weeks abroad. Programs like Erasmus+ should grow. Degrees should be the same all over Europe. Then other countries accept them faster.

Volt wants to give researchers from the postdoc stage onward a flat basic budget that replaces time-consuming grant applications. They would have to pass half of it on to other researchers. Non-professorial academic staff would also get clearer career paths.

Volt wants to give researchers a fixed amount of money for their work. This starts after the doctorate. They then have to write fewer applications. They pass half of the money on to other researchers. This should help researchers work together more.

Volt wants an education leave law that allows paid time off work for continuing education. In addition, adult education centers would be expanded, retraining promoted and learning materials made freely accessible. The platform regards lifelong learning as necessary to keep up with the demands of the modern world.

Volt wants people to be able to learn all their lives. A new law should help with this. Workers then get time off for further training. They still get paid during this time. Adult education centers should also offer more courses.

Volt wants to strengthen anti-racism education, including colonial history in curricula, intercultural programs and staff training. According to the platform, this promotes respect and helps people recognize discriminatory structures.

Volt wants more education against racism. Schools should teach about the colonial era and its effects. Children from different cultures should meet and talk more. Volt also wants to support projects for democracy.