New teaching positions for substitute teachers in Schleswig-Holstein - 254 New Teaching Jobs Announced to Strengthen Secondary Schools
Education Minister Dorit Stenke is calling for new substitute teachers and opposing cuts to instructional hours in the 11th grade. Yet she still faces criticism from the opposition in Schleswig-Holstein.
The black-green coalition is creating 254 new teaching positions to ensure more stable classroom coverage starting next school year. The funding will be provided through a supplementary budget, Minister Stenke (CDU) announced. This will increase teaching capacity at all secondary schools to 103 percent.
If the additional staff are not needed for substitute teaching, they could be deployed to provide targeted support where students need it most—whether through team teaching in a single class or extra preparation for final exams. Stenke emphasized that previously announced cuts to teaching positions and the newly created posts are unrelated.
The minister also announced that the number of instructional hours in 11th grade for history, religion/philosophy, and the third foreign language will remain unchanged. Plans to reduce hours in these subjects had drawn criticism. "We have listened and are now responding to the arguments raised," Stenke said.
FDP lawmaker Anne Riecke argued that opposition pressure had forced the minister to reverse her proposed cuts to history instruction. Riecke criticized the changes in teaching staff levels: "First she eliminates around 600 positions, only to create 254 new ones. Does the minister even know what she's doing?"
Jette Waldinger-Thiering of the SSW demanded that an education initiative must go beyond better staffing ratios on paper and deliver tangible improvements in practice. This includes hiring school health professionals, reducing bureaucratic burdens, fostering a positive school environment, smaller class sizes, and more resources to support students' mental health.
CDU state parliamentarian Martin Balasus, however, praised the minister: "Creating 254 teaching positions is a step that will make a real difference on the ground."
Ulf Kämpfer, the new SPD state party leader and top candidate for the upcoming state election, declared that his first act as minister-president would be to reverse the cuts to education staffing.
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