Brandenburg Teachers Challenge Extra Weekly Lesson in Court

Eight teachers in Brandenburg have initiated legal proceedings against a recently implemented policy requiring an additional weekly teaching hour. The educators, employed at different schools throughout the state, are preparing individual lawsuits to contest the mandate at various administrative courts in Brandenburg.

The contentious policy, introduced as part of the state's double budget for 2025 and 2026, obliges most teachers in Brandenburg to undertake an extra 45-minute lesson each week. This measure, which excludes staff at special schools, vocational schools, and schools in socially disadvantaged areas, affects approximately 60 percent of the teaching workforce, according to the Brandenburg Ministry of Education.

The Ministry has stated that the legal process will provide clarity and legal certainty for all parties involved. However, it has refrained from commenting further on the ongoing legal disputes.

The educators' objections stem from concerns over increased workloads without corresponding compensation. They argue that the additional lesson also entails extra preparation time, estimating that the total weekly increase amounts to approximately 90 minutes per teacher. These concerns have prompted the Education and Science Workers' Union (GEW) in Brandenburg to support the legal efforts, citing the absence of compensatory measures and the increased demands placed on staff.

In a related move, the GEW previously filed a separate legal challenge at the Higher Administrative Court Berlin-Brandenburg, targeting the same policy and raising questions about its compliance with established working time regulations for educators. This case is still pending a verdict.

Further support for the legal challenge has come from the Brandenburg Teachers' Association, which has also indicated plans to pursue litigation. The association maintains that measures introduced by the government to offset the extra teaching hour do not sufficiently reduce teachers' overall workload, resulting in more work for the same remuneration.

In response to the concerns, the Ministry of Education has outlined several steps aimed at easing teachers' administrative tasks. These include the removal of mandatory learning development discussions in the first and second grades, limiting the assessment of learning and work habits in primary schools to just the fourth and sixth grades, and eliminating the obligation to produce subject-specific papers in the ninth grade. Additionally, there will be no central examinations for tenth-grade students at grammar schools, and starting in the 2026/2027 school year, primary school assessment reports will no longer be required.

Despite these measures, many teachers argue that the changes do not sufficiently address the increased burden created by the additional teaching hour. The outcome of the legal proceedings is expected to set a precedent for future policies regarding teachers' working hours in Brandenburg.