Despite ongoing teacher shortages and disappointing PISA test results, thousands of employed educators in Germany switched to unemployment during August alone. This figure comes from data provided by the Federal Employment Agency, as quoted in responses from the Federal Ministry of Labor to a written inquiry by the Left parliamentary faction, as reported by the “Rheinische Post”.
According to the Ministry’s figures, 3,772 teachers nationwide became unemployed in August, with 545 of those cases occurring solely in Bavaria. The number was also significant in July, when 1,771 teachers transitioned from employed status to unemployment. Looking at the greater period from January to August 2026, the Ministry states that over 9,200 teachers have entered unemployment. Conversely, during the period from January to June 2026, only close to 3,400 teachers left unemployment.
Nicole Gohlke, a Member of Parliament for the Left, strongly criticized these figures, labeling the practice as an “undignified custom of summer unemployment.” She pointed out the stark contradiction: while German PISA scores are described as being worse than in decades and schools are desperately searching for specialist staff, thousands of teachers, both trainee and temporarily employed, are still being released into unemployment during the summer breaks.
The Left politician deemed this situation completely incomprehensible given the lack of staff in schools. Gohlke further argued that education is a fundamental communal task, as enshrined in the Basic Law, and should therefore be permanently financed jointly by the federal government and the states.
