Overview
- Hesse introduced a bill to push age-based load cuts for teachers from 55 to 60, giving 1.5 fewer lessons per week at 60 that rise to 3.5 after 64.
- The Hesse plan, folded into a wider school law, cleared an initial reading in the Landtag, with a committee hearing and a second reading still to come.
- About 100 teachers in Thuringia protested Wednesday in Erfurt against a similar plan to delay the start of these age-based reductions to 60.
- Thuringia’s education ministry said the change is part of a package to reduce lesson shortfalls and signaled it is unlikely to reverse course.
- Unions warn the delay will harm health, drive more part‑time requests and earlier exits, and make affected states less attractive for hiring compared with others.