Potsdam – he’s glad it worked – despite his last-minute appeal. Fritz Fischer, 24, a student teacher at the University of Potsdam and now a newly appointed country teacher in Brandenburg, says, “You just have to work in addition to your studies.”
It’s a wonderful incentive for me to “have a safe place now for my practical semester and my legal clerkship”.
Fisher is one of 23 students with whom the new program is now starting. Thus, the state is responding to the difficulty of finding teachers for rural areas away from Berlin.
Such as “essentially trained teachers,” Education Minister Britta Ernst (SPD) said Monday at the formal handover of the relevant Brandenburg Certificate to the Red Heraldic Eagle to future state teachers.
The model – comparable to a rural doctor grant – looks like this: Grants receive 600 euros per month from the state. In return, they took on the responsibility of teaching in rural Brandenburg for a few years after their studies. If they change their mind, they will have to pay back. Out of the estimated 700 schools in the state, 53 schools have been selected where they are most needed.
“It’s not just money.”
They are not grammar schools, since they have no problem with young people, but elementary school and high school. Of those, the proportion of late entrants is more than 25 percent, Ernst says – out of necessity, because it is difficult to find another teacher there. The program is “not just about money,” Ernst says. It also includes professional assistance with mentors. “You’ll graduate from Brandenburg’s best-prepared teacher training!”
This form is unique in Germany, Ernst said. Those from all over Germany who have already studied for five semesters have been able to apply in about 25 places 47 applications have been accepted. Of the 23 scholarship holders, 18 are studying at the University of Potsdam, the rest are spread across Berlin, Leipzig and Halle. Two spots are still available as not all applicants have met the criteria They will be rewarded in the summer semester. There will be 25 more places in 2022, Ernst says.
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Until now, the scholarship has been particularly appealing to locals like Fisher, who are not afraid of the province, in contrast: “I grew up in the country. It was clear to me that I was leaving the country. ” He will teach mathematics and music at Domenesburg Primary School in Premnitz. He studied in Potsdam, living in Brandenburg an der Havel, which fits the path, he says.
Does the obligation to repay the loan scare you?
Doesn’t the obligation to repay the loan scare him if he changes his mind? “It simply came to our notice then.
“The decision was difficult for me,” said Louisa Margraf, 23, who is studying at Potsdam University to become a teacher in a combination of German / Lifestyle, Ethics, Religion (LER). She was a working child, not even going to university, and her parents had been financing her for the past four years.
What’s the difference? “I was looking for a practice,” Margraff said. There are not so many options in the university. “I’ve already introduced myself to my school and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Because the catchment area is not socially easy either. This is the “Ulrich-von-Huten” high school in Frankfurt-en-Dar-Oder, east of the country, with 505 students, six classes – probably the largest high school in the country, says headmistress Carsten Reinhardt, who is very happy about Marggraph. Reinhardt said he was happy about the “miserable human child that would dramatically reduce our average age.” “We’ll take care of them. The red carpet is still tied!