Brandenburg braces for 'most difficult' school year with 131 teacher vacancies unfilled

Teacher shortage dominates new school year

Brandenburg's new school year begins on 24 August with 131 teaching positions still unfilled, according to the Education Ministry's website as of mid-August, only days before classes start. The vacancies span core subjects across the state. A German and English post in Treuenbrietzen, near the Saxony-Anhalt border, has been advertised since approximately April. In Friesack in the Havelland region, a mathematics and physics position remains open even after the application deadline expired, though applications are still being accepted. Hoffmann's spokesperson said one week before the start of school that the demand for teachers in Brandenburg remains as high as ever, despite new hires found over the summer holidays. Hoffmann had also placed hopes in applications from teachers in other German states.

The previous coalition of SPD and BSW reduced teaching positions by 345 full-time posts in the 2025 budget. The new SPD-CDU coalition, in power since Hoffmann's appointment in March, has allocated 250 new teaching positions, but only with the upcoming budget. In the meantime, teachers are required to teach one additional hour per week.

Minister's assessment and guarantees

Hoffmann has been sounding the alarm for weeks that the timetable and the number of teaching hours in core subjects are under threat. In the worst case, the shortage could affect school-leaving qualifications in Brandenburg. Hoffmann expressed cautious optimism that requirements can be met.

We have sat down together here in the ministry and worked out solutions with which, I assume, we can ensure that students get their qualifications with us.

He also acknowledged the gap between effort and outcome in filling vacancies.

We are working all the time to find teachers. And yet I naturally see that we cannot cover the demand at all schools.

Strain on teachers and parents

Hoffmann described the current situation for teachers as one of great strain and set himself a personal goal of improvement.

I have made it my goal to do my best to support them so that at some point they can say: it has gotten better.

Matthias Knoll, spokesperson for the Landeselternrat, the state parents' council, praised the minister's transparency while conveying the anxiety among parents about reliable instruction for their children.

The minister is dealing with this difficult situation in the new school year very openly and proactively. We are extremely worried.

Online courses and curriculum changes

Beyond ensuring classes can take place at all, Hoffmann's ministry plans online courses in several subjects for the gymnasiale Oberstufe, the upper secondary level. The new offerings include French, Latin, Geography, Political Education, Psychology, and Philosophy, expanding an existing right to six additional subjects. Hoffmann described the format.

The course will be organized as a three-hour basic course via the school cloud and will take place in the evening or late afternoon so that we can ensure that all students have the opportunity to participate.

Enrollment is limited to 15 places per course. The ministry is also developing its own framework curriculum after Brandenburg exited the shared Rahmenlehrplan with Berlin.