"The constant policy discussions block improvements for schools"

Hamburg's education senator Ties Rabe has warned of protracted discussions and little progress at the education summit in Berlin. "It would be bad if the federal, state and local governments were just wrangling for competencies again," said the spokesman for the SPD education ministers on Tuesday.

Good programs have been agreed in the federal government's coalition agreement in order to give tail wind to students from educationally disadvantaged or socially disadvantaged families. Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) should now get to work with the federal states and municipalities to implement these good programs as quickly as possible, said Rabe.

Arguing about who should have more say on educational issues is a waste of time. "There hasn't been a majority for a necessary amendment to the Basic Law for 70 years," said Rabe. The constant fundamental discussions about the sense and nonsense of federalism are possibly exciting for academic seminars, "but they block the improvements that are actually possible at any time for schools and their students, even under the existing framework conditions," said the SPD politician.

“Anyone who wants to do something can do it at any time. What we need now is a clear signal to start concrete improvements.”

According to Rabe, however, it cannot be about a “revolution”. "Such large systems - we're talking about ten million students, 15 million guardians and one million educators - need a long start-up and planning time for big changes."

The constant call for a general turnaround or a complete new beginning is therefore irrelevant. “Other countries have understood this for a long time and instead rely on gradual changes. That's why it would be much more important in Germany to introduce many concrete improvements step by step."

On Tuesday, representatives of politics, science and civil society will meet in Berlin for an education summit. The conference should deal with fundamental problems in education policy. However, the event has already been criticized in advance. Not only opposition politicians do not expect much from it.