Commuting for your dream job: a teacher from Neumünster fights for recognition

Commuting for your dream job: a teacher from Neumünster fights for recognition

Jasmin Röschmann from Neumünster sees herself in a delicate situation that affects many teachers in Germany. The 31-year-old graduated from the University of Greifswald in 2021 with a degree in high school teaching with subjects in German and history. But despite her extensive qualifications, she is denied access to a coveted position at a primary school in Schleswig-Holstein. As ndr.de reports, her special additional qualification for elementary school in Schleswig-Holstein is not recognized.

The consequences are serious: Jasmin currently commutes around 100 kilometers every day to Schönberg in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to do her work there. Given this long distance, she gets up at 5 a.m. every day and has massive difficulties picking up her two-and-a-half-year-old son from the childminder on time. On average, she drives around 1,000 kilometers to work every week, which not only affects her time, but also her finances - the high fuel costs put a significant strain on her budget.

Hurdles for highly qualified teachers

Theoretically, Jasmin has the option of completing a one-year preparatory service as a career changer in order to be able to work at primary schools in Schleswig-Holstein. State Secretary Tobias von der Heide (CDU) has confirmed that this route would be possible. But this is not an attractive solution for the committed teacher. “I don’t see myself as a career changer,” she says, describing the preparatory service as an enormous effort. She is supported by Franziska Hense, co-chair of the GEW Schleswig-Holstein, who criticizes the ministry's recognition practice. She emphasizes that many teachers with additional qualifications from other federal states, like Jasmin, often face similar hurdles and are not allowed to work.

As the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs states in its regulations, the mutual recognition of teaching qualifications is definitely a declared goal of the federal states. But in practice a different reality emerges. This is also supported by statistics, which say that out of 2,715 recognition notices in 2023, only 312 were recognized as fully equivalent. The rest were rejected or required adjustment measures that are difficult for many applicants to cope with kmk.org.

A long-term problem

Röschmann's case illustrates the general shortage of teachers in Germany, which could become a challenge in the long term. The discussion about reforms to recognize training content is increasingly focusing on being based less on formal criteria and more on actual skills. This could give mentors the opportunity to better assess qualifications rather than relying solely on documents. Many teachers are currently experiencing devaluation in the recognition process, which undermines solidarity within the professional group rat-fuer-migration.de.

Röschmann's frustration is understandable; She wonders why her qualifications are not recognized while she overcomes the hurdles of mobility and recognition every day. Her colleagues support her, but they also cannot understand why it is so problematic for her to teach primary school in Schleswig-Holstein. This situation not only represents personal pain for many teachers, but also raises fundamental questions about mobility and the recognition of teaching qualifications in Germany.