A Teacher’s Position in Germany

Many Christmases ago,  while hosting a dinner party in my Franconian home town, our five-year-old was asked by a relative what future job he was dreaming of. He  had to take a few moments to think about his new ambition as he had just buried the one about becoming a surgeon.

Of course, the adults were eager to supply him with ideas, such as Möchtest du mal Rennfahrer werden?, and Möchtest Du mal Astronaut werden?. Our little one just shook his head, but when he was asked Möchtest Du mal Lehrer werden?, he replied: Nein, ich möchte mal einen richtigen Job! (No, I want to get a real job!) which left our German family hollering with laughter.

For our son, going to primary school was a lot of fun. His teachers at the private school were motivated, outgoing and cheerful. To him schooling must have seemed more like entertainment. There were days, when he was misbehaving at home, I could stop him with I won’t let you go to school tomorrow! Of course, going to a private school, while learning in small classes, was a lot of fun. In his young mind, teaching could not be a job where one has to work hard.

Anyway, there we had it – the old and negative cliché of teachers in the German school system. Even today among adults, some teachers are seen as holding an easy job, with long vacations, and good pay.

The teaching job looks easy when the neighbor spots the nice elementary school teacher walking her dog around noon. Additionally, some would assume all the work was done for the day, with government pay. Very little is known about the continuing work outside the classroom. Based on my observations in Germany, teachers are not much respected.

Among my own relatives, I got to hear this statement once from a teenager “Ach, die Lehrer sind doch alle zu faul!” (Teachers are too lazy!). I used wisdom and politeness to ignore it.

I have been told that students in the German system cannot contact the teacher at home. There is neither e-mail nor telephone connection. When a student misses a school day, no assignments are sent out. There seems to be a strong division between work and free time.

Das Schicksal einer Gesellschaft wird dadurch bestimmt, wie sie ihre Lehrer achtet.

The fate of a society is determined by how it respects its teachers.

– Karl Jaspers –

Comments

  1. I was never a “good student” while in school here in Germany. I didn’t enjoy education until I went to college in the U.S. And then I totally loved learning. There my professors really were available whenever I needed them. Even at home. It totally opened my eyes to what education *could* be like here in Germany. But I suppose the German “mindset” is not ready for that – yet. After all: the fact that teachers are “civil servants” in Germany says a lot. But I am not giving hope just yet. After all: I live here and we are raising two daughters in this German “system”.

  2. Speaking as a parent of a 1st year pupil 🙂 I’d like to point out two things.

    Firstly, we *do* have the telephone number of our daughter’s teacher if we need to contact her out of hours, and whenever our daughter is off sick she sends the homework to us with another child from the class who goes past our building on the way home.

  3. @Graham,
    I guess you are one of the rare and lucky ones (if there are any other parents like you) who have the teacher’s number.
    Based on the conversations I had with other German parents, there was no such thing as getting the teacher’s personal contact information.

  4. Haha das kommt mir alles irgendwie bekannt vor! Jedenfalls kann ich bestätigen dass zumindest gute Lehrer in Deutschland nicht umbedingt faul sind… Ich finde es etwas absurd dass viele Deutsche so einen negativen Eindruck von Lehrer haben.

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