What do the parties in Baden-Württemberg say on education?

The AfD announces an education overhaul built on achievement, discipline and identity. Curricula would be fundamentally revised, with more testable knowledge and priority for STEM subjects. It also wants proof of German skills before leaving school and a binding code of conduct.

The AfD wants to change schools a lot. Students should learn more knowledge that can be tested. Math, technology and science should matter more. Nobody should leave school without enough German. There should be fixed rules for behavior.

The AfD wants the German flag flying at every public school in the state within 100 days. The platform links this to an education policy built on identity and a German Leitkultur (guiding culture).

The AfD wants the German flag at every public school. This should happen within 100 days. The AfD says school should also show German culture.

The AfD puts knowledge, skills and performance at the center and wants to keep the tiered school system. The elementary school recommendation is to count for the Realschule (mid-level secondary school) as well, and the nine-year Gymnasium is to get more lessons. Inclusion is to happen only with a sense of proportion.

The AfD wants to keep different types of schools. Performance should matter at school. Elementary school should help decide who goes to the mid-level school. Children must know enough German before elementary school. Children with disabilities often learn better in special schools, the AfD says.

The AfD wants to relax compulsory school attendance and replace it with a duty to be educated that also allows homeschooling. The state is to keep checking performance. The program argues that the state only inadequately secures the right to education.

Today all children must attend a school. The AfD wants to change that. Children should also be allowed to learn at home. But the state should check what the children have learned.

The AfD wants to tackle the shortage of skilled workers by raising the standing of traditional vocational training relative to university study. Economic considerations would weigh more heavily in decisions to expand or cut degree programs, with an eye to demand in STEM fields.

The AfD wants more young people to do vocational training. Schools should show how important skilled trades are. The state also needs more people for technology and computer science. For university subjects, the benefit to the economy should count more.

The CDU wants to expand dual vocational training and promote it more strongly. Vocational schools are to become competence centers. The program sees well-trained skilled workers as the foundation of the economy.

In dual training, people learn at a company and at school. The CDU wants to strengthen this training. Schools should give better information about jobs. Vocational schools should get more tasks.

The CDU wants to abolish the fees for master craftsman training. Until then, the Meisterprämie (master craftsman bonus) is to be doubled to 3,000 euros. The reason given is that vocational and academic education are of equal value.

People who want to become master craftsmen pay fees today. The CDU wants to end these fees. Until then, there should be a bigger bonus. The bonus should be 3,000 euros.

The CDU wants to scrap all civil clauses, meaning universities' self-commitments to do research only for civilian purposes. It argues that academic freedom also applies to security and defense research. It rejects state interference and ideological requirements in research and teaching.

Some universities only do research for peaceful purposes. This rule is called a civil clause. The CDU wants to abolish it. Universities should also be allowed to do defense research. The state should not tell researchers what to do.

The CDU wants more staff at universities, easier top-level hiring and better conditions for students. University buildings are to be renovated and new ones built faster, along with more affordable dorm places. A "Stay in BW" program is meant to keep talent in the state.

The CDU wants to spend more money on universities. There should be more staff. Old buildings should be repaired. Students should get more low-cost dorm places. Talented people should stay in the state after their studies.

The CDU wants to concentrate and expand future technologies such as AI, quantum technology and life sciences at strong research sites. An innovation freedom act is meant to remove obstacles to top-level research. By 2036, the state is to be among the world's leading locations for cancer research.

The CDU wants to support research on new technologies more. These include artificial intelligence and medicine. A new law should remove obstacles for researchers. The state should be among the best in the world for cancer research.

The CDU proposes a new, tenth state university focused on artificial intelligence. The aim is to make Baden-Württemberg the leading AI location in Germany.

The CDU wants to found a new university in the state. It would focus on artificial intelligence, or AI. The state should lead Germany in AI. There should be more AI degree programs and professors.

The CDU wants a binding elementary school recommendation for all school types based on a "2 out of 3" model. The parents' wish, the teacher's recommendation and a test would then jointly decide which secondary school a child attends. This is meant to prevent children from being over- or under-challenged.

After elementary school, children move to another school. Three things should count: the parents' wish, the teacher's advice and a test. Two of them must agree. This should apply to all types of schools.

The CDU wants to keep school grades because, in its view, they provide clarity about performance. Knowledge and content are to get more weight in class again; the party counts values education and good manners as part of the school's mission.

The CDU wants to keep school grades. In its view, grades show clearly what a child can do. School should focus more on knowledge again. Children should also learn good manners and values there.

The CDU wants to keep and strengthen every type of secondary school, each with its own profile. Gymnasien (academic-track schools) should find it easier to keep offering the eight-year track alongside the new nine-year one, and new rules on minimum enrollment are meant to keep small local schools open.

The CDU wants to keep the different kinds of schools. Each kind should build on its strengths. Academic high schools may still offer the shorter eight-year path. Small schools close to home should stay open.

The CDU wants to keep the special-needs education and counseling centers (SBBZ) and secure more teaching there. It regards these centers, satellite classes and inclusive teaching at mainstream schools as equally valid paths, each within available resources.

There are separate schools for children with special needs. The CDU wants to keep these schools. Fewer lessons should be canceled there. Learning together at regular schools should also remain possible.

The CDU wants students of all ages to gain digital skills and every school to get a fiber-optic connection. Private smartphone use in class is to be prohibited under a single statewide rule.

All students should learn to handle digital media well. Every school should get very fast internet. Private phones should be banned in class. The rule should be the same across the state.

The CDU wants a statewide rule requiring schools to work with Bundeswehr youth officers as part of civic education. It argues that the armed forces are part of the state and defend a free society.

Youth officers are soldiers who explain security policy. The CDU wants them to come to schools. All schools in the state would have to work with them. This would be part of civic education.

The CDU wants to tackle the teacher shortage with better working conditions, faster hiring and fewer reporting duties. School principals are to get relief and, at the same time, tools to reward strong performance and respond to breaches of duty.

There are not enough teachers. The CDU wants to make the job better. Principals should get help with office work. Good work should be rewarded. Teachers who neglect their duties should face consequences.

The Greens want to renew the promise of upward mobility and rely on good education starting in daycare. Vocational training is to be strengthened and the Meister (master craftsman) qualification put on equal footing with a master's degree.

The Greens want good education for all children. It should start in daycare. People who work hard should get ahead in life. A master craftsman's training should count as much as a university degree.

The Greens want to conclude a new higher education funding agreement with a high level of core funding in the next legislative term. This is meant to let universities decide independently and set their own priorities.

The Greens want to keep giving universities a lot of money. There will be a new agreement for this. Universities should decide for themselves how to use the money. Buildings should be renovated.

The Greens want to abolish the tuition fees that foreign students pay in Baden-Württemberg. The plan is tied to the goal of education that is open to everyone.

Students from other countries pay fees in Baden-Württemberg. The Greens want to end these fees. Studying should be open to everyone.

The Greens want to actively recruit top researchers from abroad whose academic freedom is at risk in their home countries. The platform justifies this with the pressure that authoritarian forces worldwide put on teaching and research.

In some countries researchers cannot work freely. The Greens want to bring such researchers to Baden-Württemberg. The state should help them with this. Their families should get support too.

The Greens want to expand teams of different professions in daycare centers (Kitas), make the state's early-education framework more binding and improve the staff-to-child ratio. More training routes for early-childhood educators are meant to secure reliable opening hours.

The Greens want better daycare centers. More experts should work there, for example for language and social work. Each staff member should care for fewer children. There should be more training for daycare workers. Then daycare centers can stay open reliably.

The Greens want to continue the early language support program SprachFit and add support for basic math skills. The state's reading strategy is also to be stepped up, because too few children meet the standards in reading, writing and arithmetic.

Many children cannot read, write and do math well enough. The Greens want to keep the SprachFit program. It helps children learn German. Early help with math should be added. Children should also practice reading more.

The Greens want to extend the "Startchancen-Programm BW" to additional schools and daycare centers in socially difficult areas. A social index is meant to ensure that extra money reaches the places where need is greatest.

Some schools and daycare centers have a harder job. They get extra money from a program. The Greens want more schools and daycare centers to get this money. A social index shows where help is needed most.

The Greens want to make financial education a fixed part of schooling. Young people should learn to handle topics such as taxes, insurance and retirement provision regardless of their family background.

The Greens want students to learn more about money at school. They should also learn about taxes and insurance. This should help everyone. It should not depend on what their parents know.

The Greens want to gear teacher education more toward classroom practice and expand the dual teacher-training degree. The Referendariat (post-degree practical training) is to become easier to plan, including through new exam formats and pay over the summer break.

The Greens want better training for teachers. Students should practice in schools earlier. After university, new teachers do a practical training phase. It may get two start dates a year. Trainees who finish in summer keep getting paid during the break.

The Greens want to keep investing in all-day school programs and support municipalities with construction so that the legal entitlement for primary school children from September 2029 can be met. They favor a binding model with lessons and breaks spread across the day that is free for parents.

From September 2029, primary school children have a right to all-day care. The Greens want more all-day schools. The state gives towns money for this. Children do their homework at school. There should be quiet rooms and a warm lunch.

The Greens want to merge existing student files into one unified education record and give each child an education ID. The aim is to keep information on support needs from getting lost when children change institutions and to allow data-based quality checks of schools.

The Greens want one education file for each child. Each child gets a personal number, the education ID. New teachers then know what help a child needs. The data also show how well schools work.

The Greens want all children to receive a free, balanced lunch at school, beginning with the schools in the Startchancen program. Children with allergies or food intolerances are to be catered for safely and allowed to eat their own food in the cafeteria.

The Greens want a free lunch for all school children. It starts at schools that get special support. The food should be healthy. Some children cannot eat certain foods. They may bring their own food to the cafeteria.

The Greens want to offer ethics step by step in every grade as a complement to religious education. Islamic religious education is to continue in cooperation with universities, and the joint classes run by the two major churches are to receive more support.

The Greens want ethics classes in all grades. This should come step by step. It is also for children who do not take religion class. Islamic religion class should continue. Protestant and Catholic children should have religion class together more often.

The Greens want school success to depend less on the family home. To that end, practice work is to take place more in class, in-school learning support is to be expanded, and primary schools can become contact points for families.

Not all parents can help with homework. The Greens want children to practice more in class. Teachers help them there. There should be more learning support at school. Primary schools can also become a meeting place for families.

The Greens want an action plan to make more inclusive schooling possible and improve the conditions for it. As many children with special educational needs as possible are to earn a general school diploma, and parents are to be able to choose between inclusive and special-education settings.

The Greens want children with and without disabilities to learn together more often. They are making a plan for this. Schools get more staff and money for it. Parents can still choose: a shared school or a special school. Children who are sick for a long time should be able to join online.

The Greens want to give schools more room to decide for themselves and to free principals and teachers from administrative work. An innovation budget, school networks and a new approach to exams are meant to raise teaching quality.

The Greens want schools to decide more on their own. Teachers and principals should have less office work. More office staff will help. Schools get money for new ideas. Exams should become more modern.

The Greens want to further expand democracy and media education in schools and give students more say. The new compulsory subject "Informatik und Medienbildung" (computer science and media literacy) is to be consolidated and teach everyone about artificial intelligence.

The Greens want students to learn more about democracy and media. Students should have more say at school. They learn to check news. They also learn how artificial intelligence works. Well-trained teachers are needed for this.

The Greens want every student to visit a memorial site for Nazi crimes at least once during their school years. Funding for such trips is to be expanded and simplified in order to strengthen the culture of remembrance and counter antisemitism.

The Greens want every student to visit a memorial site once. These places remember the crimes of the Nazis. Schools will get money for this more easily. The Greens want to act against hatred of Jews and other groups.

The Greens want to keep supporting municipalities in renovating and modernizing schools and add an "innovation component" for modern room concepts to the state's school construction funding. Sports and swimming facilities are to get more support, and applications are to become simpler.

The Greens want to renovate and modernize schools. The state gives towns money for this. There is extra money for new room ideas. School gyms and swimming pools also get more money. Applications should become easier.

The Greens want the state to cover one third of the cost of school social work and to raise its subsidies accordingly. Because mental strain among children and teenagers has increased, school psychology services are also to be expanded with additional positions.

More and more children and teenagers have mental health problems. The Greens want more school psychologists. The state should also pay more for school social work. It should cover one third of the cost. Schools get help against bullying and violence.

The Greens want to place primary school teachers in pay grade A13 (civil servants) or E13 (employees) in the future. They argue that primary school lays the foundation for the rest of a child's education.

The Greens want primary school teachers to earn more. They should move to pay grade A13 or E13. Primary school is very important for all children. Teachers should still be able to work part-time.

The Greens want Gemeinschaftsschulen (comprehensive-style community schools) to offer their own university-track upper level in as many places as possible. The platform argues that this school type keeps the path to a university entrance qualification open for a long time and supports both strong and weaker students.

The Greens want more upper levels at community schools. An upper level leads to the Abitur, the diploma for university. This should be available almost everywhere in the state. That keeps the path to university open longer.

The Greens want the state parliament to set up an inquiry commission (Enquete-Kommission) on the future school landscape. The dialogue is to be based on scientific evidence and build on the school reforms that took effect in the 2025/2026 school year.

The Greens want a commission in the state parliament. It will talk about the future of schools. Many groups will take part. Research will be the basis.

The Greens want teaching positions and funds to be distributed across all school types by uniform, transparent criteria. The school's tasks, class sizes and the social makeup of its students are to be the deciding factors.

The Greens want to share money and staff more fairly among schools. Schools with harder conditions should get more. The rules should be clear to everyone. Principals should decide more on their own.

The Greens want to support immigrant children and teenagers in preparatory classes so that they reach at least language level B1 before starting vocational training. Learning workshops are to be created for young people for whom regular school tracks are not a good fit.

The Greens want to help young immigrants learn German. They should speak German well before job training starts. There will be more preparatory classes. New learning workshops combine language, math and hands-on work.

The Greens want to keep and strengthen training-preparation programs at vocational schools and to establish youth employment agencies permanently across the state. The aim is to reach young people without a training place early and reduce youth unemployment.

Some young people do not find a training place. The Greens want to help them more. There should be youth job agencies everywhere in the state. Different offices and youth services work together there.

The Greens want to lengthen the obligation to attend vocational school. For young people without a training contract it would apply until the end of their twelfth year of schooling.

The Greens want young people to attend vocational school longer. Those without job training must go until their twelfth school year. Apprentices must go until about age 21.

The Greens want to launch a state-funded training initiative that relieves smaller businesses and finances vocational training on a shared basis. They also want more affordable dormitory places and apprentice service organizations, to put vocational and academic education on a more equal footing.

The Greens want to strengthen job training. The state will pay for this. Small businesses should carry less of the burden. Apprentices should get more low-cost dorm places.

The Greens want to raise state subsidies to the Studierendenwerke (student services organizations) and tie them permanently to price trends. This is meant to secure low-cost housing, cafeteria meals and counseling despite higher living costs.

Studying has become more expensive. The Greens want to give student services more money. That keeps housing and meals cheap for students. Student aid applications should be processed faster.

The Greens want to establish a statewide student congress that brings together students, university leaders, student services and politicians. The platform also commits to the Verfasste Studierendenschaft (statutory student body) as a representative organ.

The Greens want a congress for students. Students will talk there with universities and politicians. Randomly chosen students will also take part. Students should keep their say at universities.

The Greens aim to raise base funding for general continuing education to the level of comparable large German states. Volkshochschulen (adult education centers) and church-run providers should thus be able to keep courses affordable for everyone.

Adult education centers offer courses for everyone. The Greens want to give them more money. That keeps courses affordable. Advice on further education should also stay for good.

The Greens want more young people to experience Europe through cross-border exchange, vocational training and study. Erasmus+ is to become better known, cross-border apprenticeships are to increase and university networks such as EUCOR are to grow.

Young people should get to know Europe better. More trainees should do part of their training in a neighboring country. The Erasmus+ program should become better known. Universities should work more closely with universities across Europe. Schools should teach more about Europe.

The SPD wants education to be free of fees from daycare to the highest qualification, for both academic and vocational paths. It also calls for a legal guarantee that scheduled lessons take place. According to the platform, a person's background should not determine their opportunities.

The SPD wants education without fees. This should apply from daycare to a master's degree or master craftsman title. A law should also guarantee school lessons. Then no lessons should be canceled anymore.

The SPD wants to remove all fees for Meister (master craftsman) training and other advanced vocational qualifications, to put vocational education on par with academic education. For the skilled trades, it calls for doubling the start-up grant for master craftsmen to 20,000 euros. Part-time apprenticeships would also be promoted more.

People who want to become master craftsmen should no longer pay fees. This should also apply to similar qualifications, such as technician. Master craftsmen who start a business should get 20,000 euros. The SPD also wants more people to know about part-time apprenticeships.

The SPD wants to abolish daycare (Kita) fees for all children and guarantee every child a place close to home. The final daycare year would become compulsory as shared preparation for school. All-day programs at daycare centers and schools would be expanded.

The SPD wants free daycare for all children. Every child should get a place near home. The last year of daycare should be required. There should be more all-day care. School meals should be healthy and free.

The SPD wants a legal guarantee that scheduled classes actually take place. To that end, more teachers are to be trained and substitute coverage better organized. The platform bases this on every child's right to an education under the state constitution.

The SPD wants classes to stop being canceled. This should be written into law. There should be more teachers. When a teacher is sick, a substitute should come quickly.

The SPD wants to simplify the school system into two equal tracks: the Gymnasium (academic high school) and an integrated second track built on the Gemeinschaftsschule (comprehensive school). Both would lead to the Abitur, the university entrance diploma. The party argues that a permeable system boosts motivation and equal opportunity.

The SPD wants only two kinds of secondary school. One is the Gymnasium. The other builds on the comprehensive school. Students can earn the top diploma at both. Vocational schools should get stronger too.

The SPD wants children with and without disabilities to learn together as the rule, backed by staff, rooms and reliable structures. Children with limited German are to get suitable language support from day one. The party treats inclusion as a human right and language support as a condition for integration.

Children with and without disabilities should learn together. That should be normal. Schools should get more staff and suitable rooms. Children who speak little German should get help right away. More people should be able to learn sign language.

The SPD wants to make digital education mandatory in all school types and subjects and set uniform rules for artificial intelligence in class. At the same time, private smartphone use in grades 1 through 6 would be banned by law. The party sees digital skills as part of a modern general education.

All students should learn how to use digital media. This should be required in all subjects. There should be the same rules for AI in class everywhere. In grades 1 to 6, private phones should be banned.

The SPD wants to use the federal renovation program specifically to modernize and build schools, and to match the federal money with an equal amount of state funds. According to the platform, many school buildings are run-down, not accessible or waste energy.

Many schools are in bad shape. The SPD wants to repair them or build new ones. The federal government gives money for this. The state should add the same amount. Schools should be modern and accessible.

The SPD wants teachers at elementary and lower secondary schools to be paid at the A13/E13 pay grade as well. Mixed professional teams, more school social work and smaller classes are meant to relieve teachers so they can focus on teaching.

Teachers at elementary schools should earn more. They should earn as much as other teachers. More experts should help at schools, for example social workers and IT staff. Classes should be smaller. Teachers should have less paperwork.

The SPD wants to secure reliable one-third funding for the Volkshochschulen (adult education centers) and raise the state's share of music schools' teaching staff costs to 15 percent. The platform regards both as key places for lifelong learning and cultural education.

Adult education centers should get secure funding. The state should pay one third of the costs. Music schools should get more money from the state. Adults should find it easier to earn school diplomas later in life.

The SPD wants to expand Baden-Württemberg as a hub for top-level research and attract researchers from around the world. Those fleeing authoritarian states should be able to continue their academic work in the state. University spin-offs are to be made easier.

The SPD wants more research in the state. Researchers from other countries should be able to come more easily. This also applies to researchers fleeing unfree countries. People who start a company at a university should get more help.

The SPD wants to scrap the fees for international students and for second degrees. In its view, the fees hurt the state as a place to study, make access to education harder and worsen the shortage of skilled workers.

Some students pay fees in Baden-Württemberg. These are students from abroad and people doing a second degree. The SPD wants to end these fees. The state should replace the missing money.

The SPD wants reliable funding for the student services organizations and to double the share of students with a dorm place by 2031. When BAföG (federal student aid) applications take a long time, most of the expected amount would be paid out automatically.

The SPD wants to help students more. There should be twice as many dorm places. Students who wait a long time for BAföG get a large part of the money early. BAföG is state aid for students. There should also be enough counseling for mental health problems.

The SPD wants to clear the renovation backlog at universities and university hospitals, using the reformed debt brake and federal money. The share of core funding in university budgets is to rise again.

Many buildings at universities and university hospitals are old. The SPD wants to repair and renew them. It also wants to use federal money for this. Universities should get more fixed money from the state. Planning and building should go faster.

The SPD wants more permanent positions in academia and a collective agreement for student employees. Students would get a greater say, and protection plans are meant to prevent abuse of power at universities.

Many university staff only have temporary contracts. The SPD wants more permanent jobs. Student assistants should get a collective pay agreement. Students should have more say at their university. There should be better protection against abuse of power and sexual violence.

The SPD wants to strengthen the universities of applied sciences with more research money and broader rights to award doctorates. Dual study programs at the DHBW (cooperative state university) are to grow with additional courses.

There are universities of applied sciences, called HAW. Students there learn close to practice. The SPD wants to give them more money for research. They should be able to award doctorates more often. Dual study programs should also offer more subjects.

The SPD wants every child to be able to swim safely by the end of elementary school at the latest. Daycare centers and elementary schools would also have to offer daily exercise sessions. The platform regards swimming as part of basic education.

The SPD wants every child to learn to swim in elementary school. The goal is the bronze swimming badge. Children in daycare and elementary school should move every day. There will be fixed times for this.