Bremen has a new state councilor: Müller-Wilckens heads the education department!

Bremen has a new state councilor: Müller-Wilckens heads the education department!

A breath of fresh air is blowing through Bremen's education policy: On October 24, 2025, Jennifer Müller-Wilckens was appointed the new State Councilor for Children by Children and Education Senator Mark Rackles. The 39-year-old brings extensive experience from both public administration and the private sector. She was previously head of department at the Senator for Health, Women and Consumer Protection, where her poaching was met with dissatisfaction in the health department. Jennifer Müller-Wilckens succeeds Katharina von Fintel, who moved to Hamburg in May 2025, and becomes the second state councilor under Mark Rackles in the education department alongside Torsten Klieme, who is responsible for schools. The Senate press office in Bremen reports.

Born in Offenbach, she completed a degree in educational sciences at the University of Bremen and passed her state examination in primary school teaching at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. Müller-Wilckens is not only professionally committed; She lives in the east of Bremen, is married and mother of two children. This certainly gives her a good handle on the challenges she will face in her new role.

Disagreement in the health department

The personnel decision seems to have caused some unrest in the health department, as the poaching of Müller-Wilckens was sudden and unexpected. There she worked as a department head and now she will be responsible for, among other things, budgetary matters in the education department. This has focused attention on the need to coordinate well between the various departments. Butene and mentioned within that both Andreas Bovenschulte and Thomas Ehmke support the Senate's decision.

Meanwhile, Mark Rackles will be elected by the citizens as the new Senator for Education next week. With an experienced team around him, he aims to further develop Bremen's education policy and perhaps also address existing challenges and unrest in the education system. Education policy in Germany offers a broad framework that also addresses the role of the federal states.

Outlook on education policy

Education policy in Germany is a diverse field that is constantly evolving. The administration of schools and universities is the responsibility of the federal states, and there are major differences in the school systems. Müller-Wilckens is faced with the task of operating in a system that is characterized by various challenges such as a shortage of teachers and educational equity. The creation of uniform regulations in the areas of curricula and qualifications is therefore an essential part of their future work.

Through initiatives such as the StartChances program, which is intended to provide a total of 20 billion euros for educational equality from the 2024/2025 school year, both opportunities and challenges become visible. The new team under Mark Rackles and Jennifer Müller-Wilckens has the opportunity to develop ideas that will not only be examined in education policy in Bremen, but also at the federal level.