Contrary to an earlier announcement, the Wiefelstede elementary school in the Ammerland district will probably not cancel any teaching days for individual years. The Lower Saxony Ministry of Culture in Hanover announced on Tuesday that this should not happen. “The examination of the situation has shown that there is scope to ensure continuous school attendance on all weekdays for all school years,” said a statement from the ministry.
The loss of teaching days is to be averted with several measures: According to the ministry, the school’s timetable will be changed. You put classes together. In addition, pedagogical specialists would be deployed and a fire brigade instructor would be hired at short notice. The responsible Regional State Office for Schools and Education in Osnabrück implemented the project immediately in coordination with the school. “The ‘four-day week’ is off the table,” said the spokesman.
According to the ministry, the staffing situation at the primary school is tense. Bottlenecks arose because three teachers were absent due to the Corona maternity protection regulations and another teacher was missing for a long time. “Nevertheless, the decision made to cancel a day of teaching for individual years was neither without alternative, nor agreed with the responsible regional state office for school and education in Osnabrück – nor with the Ministry of Education,” criticized the ministry.
The ministry also said that the deletion of entire days of teaching, especially at primary schools, was not planned. Comparable procedures are not known. On all days it is important to ensure the reliability of the lessons. Unaffected by this, there could be short-term failures. The Wiefelstede case makes it clear that it was right that the issue of a shortage of skilled workers in the education sector was placed at the top of the state political agenda.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated. We have supplemented the statement of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Education and adapted the text accordingly.
