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Status: 04.01.2021 12:35 pm
The federal states want to clarify today how school lessons will continue in the coming weeks. Current federal and state regulations are limited to the end of the week.
Schleswig-Holstein Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU) assumes that schools in the north will not open after January 11. “First of all, we are not going to extend the holidays, now we are doing distance lessons,” he said today on Deutschlandfunk. “Now, at a time when the database is so uncertain that we don’t really know if the lockdown is successful, nor do we know what effects the new variants of the B.1.1.7 virus from England, among others, have had. No we can open schools responsibly, “said the minister in the face of the change in the Conference of Ministers of Education (KMK). The minister emphasized that it was fundamentally an objective to teach as many students as possible in face-to-face classes, as soon as this was justifiable.
AUDIO: Lessons in the classroom at schools: Prien expresses skepticism (1 min)
Tuesday follows the consultation on the extension of the blockade
At the KMK, the ministers of education of the federal states are speaking today about how schools should proceed. They then give their recommendation on how to deal with the schools. On Tuesday, the heads of government of the federal states discussed a possible extension of the shutdown with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU).
Postponement of vacation will be discussed
According to the current status, schools in Schleswig-Holstein will start distance learning on Thursday and Friday. It is still open if and to what extent there will be classroom lessons after Christmas break. Schleswig-Holstein will report on how things are going in the state by Wednesday at the latest, Prien said. When asked if the Christmas holidays should be extended by two or three weeks and then interrupt the summer holidays, Prien answered in the negative. “But the issue of postponing vacations, of course, will have to be discussed on a case-by-case basis, including postponing exam dates, which has already happened in individual federal states. Now it’s about taking advantage of advances in digital learning, Prien said.
State parent council: worksheets aren’t enough
Claudia Pick of the State Parent Advisory Council for elementary schools sees a lot to do there. It is not enough to provide students with worksheets at home. “Of course, there has been an optimization of distance learning, but not in all areas and especially not with all students and in all schools. It also depends a lot on teachers how they have expanded distance learning,” said Pick . This worries the state representative, especially in regards to Abitur’s graduation classes.
The State President of the Education and Science Union (GEW), Astrid Henke, said it was the right way to look at the development of the number of infections and decide later on teaching in the classroom.
Discussion on school lessons
At Deutschlandfunk, Prien admitted omissions in digitizing schools. “In Germany we should have started digitizing schools 10-15 years earlier, but you can’t do all of that in a few months.” That takes time.
The Federal Minister of Education, Anja Karliczek (CDU), called for caution in the newspapers of the “Funke Mediengruppe”. Today, it is inconceivable to go back to full classroom teaching. This cannot be decided solely on the basis of protection against infection. The education and science union called for the school to be closed for at least a week.
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