Democracy: Teachers need support in disputes

A broad alliance of organizations is collecting petition signatures to strengthen teachers’ rights. They are demanding more support from responsible ministries and school supervisory authorities. This initiative was started by: Teachers for Future, GEW, Greenpeace, Federal Student Conference, Parents Against the Right and the German Association for Political Education. More than 150,000 have signed.

Ms. Feuser, you started a joint petition with other organizations “Schools take a stand – empowering teachers against hate and anxiety”. What do you want to achieve?
As Teachers for the Future, we experience again and again how often there is a lack of support when you, as a teacher, clearly want it democracy want to be positioned and used. It often happens that colleagues come under pressure for things that should be taken lightly. For example, someone wears a T-shirt that says: “No one is illegal.” Or having a sticker on a laptop that says “against racism” or against right-wing extremism and therefore being asked to speak and having to give a reason. We had a case where there was a demonstration against a right-wing extremist party conference at a school. His colleagues were instructed by school supervisory authorities to stay away from the demonstration, even outside office hours.

There are actually clear guidelines. The so-called Bechersbach Consensus applies to political education. Therefore, teachers should not shock their students with certain political opinions or impose them on students. As servants of the state, they must defend the Constitution if it is attacked.
That’s exactly how it was. The prohibition on excessive power (overpowering) based on the Bechersbach Consensus is an important guiding principle. The Constitution and the values ​​contained therein are legally binding for political education – this is also our obligation as civil servants in our oath of service. On the other hand The Bechersbach Consensus did not call for political neutrality. The controversial requirement emphasizes that different positions must be made visible, but this does not mean that this occurs without classification. However, daily life and practice show that right-wing extremist strategies actually fuel the myth of the neutrality requirement, which states that teachers are not allowed to express themselves politically in schools at all.

This is wrong, but it impacts the authority of school supervisors. At the trainee’s oath-taking ceremony, everyone is made aware of what is considered the “obligation of neutrality”, but is not obliged to defend the Basic Law at all. It was only when a colleague, who had been active with Teachers for Future as a student, came forward and asked questions that the matter was clarified. Each culture minister is now positioning himself quite clearly, but that does not mean that this has also reached the authorities. Until recently, in the run-up to elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, emails were regularly sent to demonstrate the need for moderation. But not on the oath of service and the obligation to protect the Constitution. We are not motivated enough to defend democracy.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Education Minister Karin Prien met in star clearly behind them Teacherinside and teacher. Who else do you expect support from?
Of course we need their support, and we think that’s very positive. However, this must now also be the concern of school supervisory authorities and school management. To do this, we need further training and more resources for political education. Colleagues must understand that political education is a cross-sectoral task and not just the task of political teachers alone.

One of your demands on application are: legal certainty and protection. Who should offer it?
In each administrative area there must be a contact person for colleagues who are under pressure.

Another requirement is comprehensive monitoring. That’s what’s missing so far star-Recent research shows.
Appropriate! Right-wing extremist, racist, and democracy-threatening incidents and attacks on schools and teachers are not comprehensively recorded by the state. If this does happen, we can shed light on the existing problems and it becomes clear why schools and teachers need more support and support.

To achieve this goal, you call for strengthening the political system Education. What does that mean specifically?
On the one hand, political learning must be ensured to take place regularly. And if possible, the number of working hours must also be increased. It is also important to see political education as a cross-sectoral task for all schools. Schools should be seen as spaces where students become politically mature. This requires more political discourse and more opportunities to participate so that the realization can emerge: democracy has something to do with me – and I can take part in it.

Does this mean more freedom of speech for students?
Very! Schools are almost authoritarian spaces. In her book “The New School of Democracy” Marina Weisband talks about learned helplessness because everything is predetermined – when should I learn what, how should I do it. In everyday life, children and adolescents are completely dependent on other people. The only thing they can decide is where they want to travel, what color the classroom walls will be, or, most importantly, what stand they want to have at the school festival. This is a big deal because we always note that students must learn to participate. A project above that is not enough.

Are other countries more advanced than us?
However. But already schools in Germany are wondering: What is possible based on existing guidelines? They don’t stick to traditional school traditions, but allow for more participation. Interestingly, they sometimes win the German School Prize.

Is it also because teachers, as civil servants, are basically more careful?
I believe every teacher has a high sense of responsibility and wants the best for their students. But because our schools have always been the way they are now, namely very poor in terms of participation, very condescending, then today’s teachers are also socialized in the same way. This means that this profession may not attract the most daring and innovative people, but rather those who value a certain level of reliability. It’s also completely legal. But the question is, how do we train these teachers? The training period, the second stage of training after learning, is often authoritarian. Teachers who are still in training are not given enough encouragement to express opinions, think for themselves, and help shape things. We have to change it. And discussions about neutrality also extend to the topics of climate and sustainability education.

How is it related?
In the last five years we have also experienced a lot of misunderstanding about this, because right-wing groups have argued that we should not campaign for climate protection, because this is the agenda of political parties that are being brought to schools. But of course this doesn’t make sense. On the one hand, nearly every educational mandate in the state includes environmental protection as an educational goal, as well as respect for the environment. Moreover, it has been clear since the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court in 2021 at the latest: climate protection rests on Article 20a of the Constitution. There are also interesting findings from research that show: When teachers behave apolitically because they think that is what is expected of them, this causes students to perceive this behavior as normal. Because we teachers are also role models in our commitment to democracy.