Gymnasiums and comprehensive schools are particularly affected by the „gaps“ – the grades that have not been awarded – in school reports. There is a shortage of approximately 2,000 teachers in Thuringia, mainly in rural areas. That is an average of 2.6 teachers per school across the state. Politicians are currently unable to remedy the teacher shortage. And this is not only the case in Thuringia; the eastern German states are particularly affected by the teacher shortage.
The increase in missing grades amounts to 20% compared to the previous year. Incomplete school reports impair pupils„ career opportunities, even if the subjects most affected by lesson cancellations are “only" music and art. Good grades in these subjects could compensate for a five in maths.
After all, in Germany, pupils only receive grades on their report cards from the third grade onwards. The president of the Swiss Teachers' Association, for example, believes that grades are no longer appropriate. A look at Scandinavia shows that there are also concepts that only start grading later. In Finland, which ranks first among all OECD countries in the PISA study, grades are only given from the fifth grade onwards. In Sweden, it is only from the sixth grade onwards, and in Denmark, only from the seventh grade onwards.
Whether grades provide an incentive to learn or put pressure on students, we will not resolve the decades-long debate with this short article. But if you are a teacher and feel called to alleviate the teacher shortage in Thuringia, go for it. Schools in the beautiful Eichsfeld region, in the Kyffhäuser district with its vast beech forests, or in the Weimarer Land region, to name just a few examples, would certainly welcome applications.
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