Overview
- Saxony recorded lesson cancellations of 3.1% in August and 3.2% in September, the first year-on-year decline in ten years, according to the education ministry.
- The sharpest improvement was at Oberschulen, where cancellations fell to 5.8% from 8.0% in August and from 7.8% to 5.8% in September, while rates ticked up at primary and vocational schools.
- Unplanned cancellations, such as those due to illness, also eased slightly compared with last year, the ministry reported.
- The spring measures included reassigning teachers to shortage schools, promoting digital and cross-subject teaching, reducing test burdens, and encouraging increased hours for older staff.
- Teacher shortages persist with 1,145 positions unfilled and too few special educators as 7.2% of pupils have individual support needs; unions dispute a ‘trend reversal,’ citing redistributed shortfalls and nonstandard lessons that do not count as cancellations.