Overview

• About 323,600 pupils start 2025/26 in Brandenburg, roughly 2,600 more than last year and the highest total in a decade.
• Around 24,100 children enter first grade as the school network grows to 953 institutions, up by 11.
• By August 18, schools hired 1,533 teachers on permanent contracts and 1,142 on fixed terms, with nearly half joining as lateral entrants, a ten‑year high.
• The state budget reduces funded teacher posts by 345 this year even as overall education spending rises, and an extra weekly teaching hour begins in the second semester with exemptions for particularly burdened schools and public vocational schools.
• Substitute funding increases by €14.5 million for the first half-year, equivalent to 388 full-time positions, while cuts to ‘Zusatzausstattung’ may curb offerings such as choirs, theater groups or student newspapers.