(de-news.net) – The Conference of Ministers of Education would like to open up the teaching profession in view of the ongoing shortage of trained teachers. In the future, graduates with just one subject will be allowed to become teachers instead of currently two subjects to be studied. That way, people with a wide variety of biographies could enrich school life, the President of the Conference of Ministers of Education, Streichert, Clivot (SPD), announced. Teacher training courses should be designed to be more practical and career-oriented.

The teachers’ association and the education and training association uttered criticism after the announcement. Teachers’ Association Chairman Brand called for the hiring of career changers to be limited to graduates with a master’s degree. This guarantees that the students receive high-quality teaching. So far, when it comes to the use of lateral and direct entrants, one can only speak of “class-like offers,” Brand said. On the other hand, career changers about to become teachers would need to be significantly better prepared in the future, ideally through semi-annual pre-qualification.