Parents as teachers? Job fair in Dömitz shows new opportunities!

Parents as teachers? Job fair in Dömitz shows new opportunities!

In times of teacher shortages, it is clear that parents and interested parties can also play a role in education. At a job fair that took place on June 16th in the high school center in Dömitz, exactly these people were brought on board. The event, which was specifically designed for parents and interested non-teachers, aimed to present the school as a potential workplace and to promote the teaching profession. As nordkurier.de reports, Dr. Marcel Warmt, the head of the school center, believes that these measures are urgent, as twelve teaching positions are advertised for the coming school year.

The job fair recorded visitor numbers that exceeded expectations. Parents and interested parties were encouraged to invite their acquaintances and friends and to actively engage with the topic. Dr. Warmt emphasized that the ability to impart knowledge to children is the most important criterion for prospective teachers. For those interested in becoming a teacher, the path is relatively straightforward: after applying, there is a three-month intensive course, followed by practical experience in the classroom.

Career career changers and teacher needs

The number of career changers is constantly growing, which is not least due to the acute shortage of teachers. According to destatis.de, 8.6 percent of teachers at general education schools already teach without a recognized teaching qualification. In the 2021/22 school year there were around 60,800 of a total of 709,000 teachers. This proportion has risen steadily since 2011 - ten years ago it was still 5.9 percent.

In the current 2023/24 school year, the proportion of teachers without a teaching qualification has even risen to 10.5 percent, which corresponds to around 77,600 teachers. At vocational schools it is already 20.8 percent. This development shows that the trend towards lateral entry into the teaching profession has increased significantly, especially in the federal states of Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, where more than 50 percent of the newly hired teachers are lateral entrants. In contrast, the proportion in Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate is less than two percent, as [sueddeutsche.de](https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/lehr Mangel-quereinsteiger-seiteneinsteiger-lehramt-universitaeten-li.3263923) states.

Education systems and challenges

The decline in the number of teaching graduates graduating is alarming. In 2023, only around 29,000 teacher training students passed their exams. That is 12 percent less than ten years ago. Experts fear that there could be a shortage of around 49,000 teachers by 2035. This means that the gap between trained teachers and the required positions will continue to grow in the coming years.

In order to counteract this situation, the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs and other education experts have already begun to relax the training rules. The idea is to promote the training of teachers who only teach one subject and to enable dual teacher training courses. Nevertheless, the need to take additional measures to ensure the quality of training is recognized, especially for career changers who often have not undergone any pedagogical training.

Overall, it remains to be seen how the results of the job fair in Dömitz will influence the situation on site. Dr. Warmt would like to wait for developments before making any predictions about filling the vacancies. If the vacancy persists, another job fair could come into play next year to attract even more people to the teaching profession.