New school year 2026/27 in Saxony: Minister for Education faces strong criticism over homework policy

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With around 527,300 pupils, the new school year begins in Saxony on Monday 17 August. For around 37,700 Year 1 pupils (2025: 38,388), this marks the start of their school life. But – as in previous years – there will once again be a shortage. Saxony has only managed to recruit 905 teachers in preparation for the coming school year, over 100 fewer than planned. Of these, 731 are teachers with a traditional teaching qualification and 17 are educational support staff. In addition, there are 157 career changers who will be standing in front of a class and teaching from the start of the new school year.

87 of the newly recruited teachers with standard teacher training were trained in other federal states.

A large proportion of the graduates applied for posts in the Leipzig and Dresden conurbations. All qualified applicants were offered a post, according to Minister for Education and Cultural Affairs Conrad Clemens: “We will continue to reduce the number of cancelled lessons in the new school year. The greatest challenge remains the fair distribution of available teachers across the whole of Saxony.

Some of the young teachers wish to work exclusively in Leipzig. At the same time, we are obliged to ensure a good provision of teaching staff throughout the Free State. This can only be achieved if we all change our mindset together. I would like to thank all those who were prepared to accept a slightly longer commute or even to leave their familiar surroundings. We are all pursuing the same goal: to provide the best possible education for children throughout Saxony – regardless of where they live or the type of school they attend.”

Media literacy – but how?

In addition, all 528 curriculum documents across all subjects and school types have been revised.

“In future, the curricula are intended to equip pupils with more skills and provide teachers with the pedagogical freedom to incorporate practice and consolidation phases,” said the Ministry.

The topics of media literacy and digitalisation are a key focus of the ‘Learning’ action area in the ‘Bildungsland 2030’ strategy and will be further developed in the 2026/2027 school year. After all, the aim is to protect pupils from the risks of excessive screen time and to promote focused learning in schools.

To this end, the mobile phone ban – which has been in force since February 2026 in primary schools and the primary stage of special needs and comprehensive schools – will be extended to Years 5 to 8. To facilitate implementation, the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs (SMK), in collaboration with the State Office for Schools and Education, has drawn up comprehensive guidelines.

GEW on the start of the 2026/27 school year: Ministry of Education is clearly overstepping the mark

However, from the perspective of the education trade union GEW Saxony, the new school year in Saxony is beginning with an even more strained situation than the previous one. The Ministry of Education’s target of recruiting over 1,000 new teachers has not been met. The GEW is particularly critical of the way teachers are being treated due to the massive increase in secondments and warns of the long-term consequences of the current measures.

Burkhard Naumann, Chair of the GEW Saxony education union, explains: “The strained situation in schools is worsening even further in the new school year. The workload is continuing to rise due to the massive increase in secondments. Teachers are therefore having to teach at several schools, often in subjects or at school types for which they are not qualified.

New bottlenecks are arising at their home schools. Pupils are experiencing regular changes in subject teachers and form tutors. Yet the foundation of a good education is a continuous relationship between learners and teachers, not teaching statistics. The Ministry of Education is now clearly overstepping the mark. Spreading the misery evenly is not a solution.”

GEW Saxony criticises the expansion of secondments to over 5,000 teachers, the treatment of older teachers – who have had to teach more since last school year – and the treatment of trainee teachers. These trainee teachers now have to teach more during their induction period without receiving any compensation, after the support they receive from their training supervisors has been reduced since the last school year.

“Teachers are now leaving the profession earlier, and trainee teachers are moving away,” says Naumann, describing the consequences.

“Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia reported more applications from Saxony this summer. The Ministry of Education’s current measures are exacerbating the problem rather than solving it. The tablecloth is still too small. If you pull on it from all sides, it will eventually tear. The cuts to school budgets in the current budget are also creating gaps in support for pupils that cannot be plugged. We need measures that are well-judged and involve teachers and school heads. The massive secondments, the discontent among teachers and the lowering of quality standards – for example, in German as a second language – will have significantly negative long-term consequences for education in Saxony.”

GEW Saxony does, at least, welcome the reform of the curricula and the increase in media education in principle. “When it comes to the reform of the curricula, the question arises as to who is drawing them up,” said Burkhard Nauman on Tuesday, expressing a critical view nonetheless: “Will subject advisers be involved, along with academic input, or will this be done solely behind closed doors at the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs? When it comes to digitalisation, it is still unclear who is supposed to look after the hundreds of devices at each school. Teachers are having to take on this additional workload as well.”

Luise Neuhaus-Wartenberg: I find it hard to imagine anyone starting the new school year with any great enthusiasm

Luise Neuhaus-Wartenberg, the education policy spokesperson for the Left Party group in the Saxon State Parliament, also emerged from the Minister for Education’s press conference marking the start of the 2026/2027 school year feeling rather disillusioned.

“The Minister for Education is welcoming pupils to the new school year with an extension of the mobile phone ban and prospective teachers with extra work. Despite many new appointments, a lot of lessons are being cancelled and there is a shortage of support staff in multi-professional teams. I find it hard to imagine that anyone is starting the school year with any great enthusiasm,” says Neuhaus-Wartenberg, summarising what she has heard. “Nevertheless, we wish pupils, teachers and parents every success!”

She is also pleased to hear that all curricula are to be revised.

“The state government has dragged its feet on this for a long time. We need to modernise teaching and learning in terms of both method and content – moving away from lecture-style teaching and towards greater independence. It is no longer primarily about memorising as much knowledge as possible,” says the education policy expert.

“We must bring school education up to date with current times and the latest pedagogical insights. This also includes facilitating more comprehensive schools. Young people – and everyone else – must learn to ask questions, contextualise knowledge, solve problems and foster good relationships with one another. It is questionable, however, whether and how those with practical experience will be involved in updating the curriculum.”

The Left Party, on the other hand, sees media education as a step backwards rather than a step forwards. The extended mobile phone ban merely pretends to be a solution that does not address the lack of media literacy.

“The problem is that young people are left to their own devices in and with the digital world. Fifteen hours of digital self-study in Years 7 and 8 will do them little good. We have been calling for years for a dedicated media studies subject and the integration of media education into the all-day school programme,” said Neuhaus Wartenberg. “Young people are confronted on social media with content that can leave a deep mark on their psyche, their behaviour and their interactions with others.

Experts and teachers trained in media education must raise awareness of the dangers. Platform operators must be compelled to stop making degrading images and videos freely accessible to everyone. Despite the ban on mobile phones, young people are exposed to bullying, humiliation and threats. Schools need staff trained to deal with this and widespread awareness of the issue. Digital whiteboards without internet access and class sets of tablets, which teachers have to maintain on the side, are not enough to address this either.”

Gerald Eisenblätter: Teaching provision remains a challenge

Gerald Eisenblätter, spokesperson on education policy for the SPD parliamentary group in the Saxon State Parliament, also cautiously expresses his unease at the new figures from the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs.

“Ensuring adequate teaching provision remains Saxony’s greatest challenge in education policy. Anyone wishing to tackle teacher shortages and cancelled lessons must retain well-trained young teachers in the Free State. To achieve this, we need targeted incentives for regions with high demand and subjects facing shortages, clear career prospects, open communication from the education authorities and greater transparency regarding future needs. A good education must not depend on where one lives,” said Eisenblätter on Tuesday.

“The new curricula are an important step towards ‘Saxony: A Land of Education 2030’. Schools must place greater emphasis on teaching how to learn successfully: less rote learning, more skills, independence and social interaction.”

You could put it that way, too, if you were to give the Minister for Education a ‘fail’ mark. Homework only half done. That’s not good enough. Even when it comes to dealing with modern media.

“Anyone who wants to improve the quality of schools on the basis of data must lay the legal foundations now. Minister for Education Clemens must finally get the amendment to the Schools Act underway. We need modern regulations for digitalisation, school development and quality assurance, and a future-proof school network. If we want to prevent schools from closing down in the 2030s, we must act now,” said Eisenblätter.

“We wish all new pupils, schoolchildren and teachers a good start to the new school year. School thrives on curiosity, a love of learning and the shared joy of learning. That is precisely what we want to strengthen.”

But who is this “we”, when precisely this has not been achieved for years now, despite a succession of Ministers for Education? It is to be feared that the new school year will not answer this very question.