Category Archives: Politics

Lehrerarbeitszeit

Das scheint ja momentan ein heißes Thema zu sein…

Die Zeit: Lehrergewerkschaft beklagt überlange Arbeitszeit. “Lehrer arbeiten laut einer Studie ihrer Gewerkschaft pro Woche eine Stunde und 40 Minuten länger als andere öffentliche Angestellte. Ihre Gesundheit sei gefährdet.”

Die darin erwähnte Studie der Ernst-August-Universität Göttingen wird bei der GEW vorgestellt:

GEW: Studie zur Arbeitszeit: Lehrkräfte sind hochmotiviert aber hochbelastet. “Lehrkräfte in Deutschland arbeiten im Durchschnitt länger als vergleichbare Beschäftigte im öffentlichen Dienst. Zu diesem Schluss kommt die heute in Hannover vorgestellte Studie der Georg-August-Universität. Die GEW fordert umgehend Entlastung!”

Viele Lehrkräfte arbeiten mehr als 48 Stunden. “Frank Mußmann, Sozialwissenschaftler, Studienleiter und Leiter der Kooperationsstelle Hochschulen und Gewerkschaften der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.”

Etwas seltsam mutet diese Meta-Studie an, “in der die 20 wissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen aus den vergangenen 60 Jahren durchleuchtet wurden, die seit Ende der 1950er-Jahre die Arbeitszeit von Lehrkräften in Deutschland ermitteln sollten.” Wenn man die Aufgaben der Lehrer vor 60 Jahren mit denen heute vergleicht, dürfte klar sein, dass es da wenige Gemeinsamkeiten gibt. Insofern bin ich ziemlich sicher, dass die Ergebnisse der ältere Studien das Ergebnis verzerren und die tatsächliche Arbeitsbelastung heutzutage deutlich höher liegt.

Dazu führt die Universität Rostock aktuell eine Studie durch, in der die Arbeitszeit von Gymnasiallehrern in ganz Deutschland untersucht wird: Lehrerarbeit im Wandel (LaiW).

“Die LaiW-Studie hat das Ziel, erstmalig deutschlandweit das Spektrum der aktuellen beruflichen Anforderungen und Aufgaben der Lehrkräfte an den Gymnasien zu erheben und zu untersuchen, wie sich der Wandel von Gesellschaft und Technik auf ihre Arbeitszeit und Gesundheit ausgewirkt haben.

Wie hoch ist die tatsächliche Arbeitszeit und Belastung an deutschen Gymnasien?
Welche Auswirkungen hat die Belastung auf die Gesundheit?
Mit Ihrer Teilnahme an der Studie können Sie entscheidend zur Klärung dieser Fragen beitragen.
Teilnehmen können alle Lehrkräfte an Gymnasien in staatlicher, städtischer und freier (privater, kirchlicher) Trägerschaft.”

In meinem Bundesland läuft die Erhebung der Arbeitszeit gerade. Falls unter meinen Lesern Kolleginnen oder Kollegen sind: Mitmachen!

“While the U.S. government has been the source of a lot negative media attention this year, the travel industry must continue to stand for open borders, inclusivity and the celebration of diversity”

NBC News: Tourism to U.S. under Trump is down, costing $4.6B and 40,000 jobs.

“International tourism to the U.S. began to wane after Trump took office, leading to a so-called Trump slump. Experts say that Trump’s proposed travel bans and anti-immigration language have had a negative impact on the U.S.’s attraction for foreign visitors, in addition to a weaker dollar and heightened security measures.

“It’s not a reach to say the rhetoric and policies of this administration are affecting sentiment around the world, creating antipathy toward the U.S. and affecting travel behavior,“ Adam Sacks, the president of Tourism Economics, told The New York Times.”

Link via MetaFilter.

“White House or Buckingham Palace?” – “White House, just because Buckingham Palace looks like it would take a really long time to mop.”

BBC Radio 4 Best of Today: Prince Harry interviews Barack Obama. (Audio, 39 minutes.)

“2017 began with Barack Obama leaving the White House and handing over the baton of the presidency to Donald Trump.

Our guest editor today, Prince Harry, met President Obama, in Toronto in September during the Invictus Games to talk about his memories of the day he left office, his post-presidential work with the Obama Foundation and his hopes for the future.”

This interview was published on 27 December 2017 and is available for listening or downloading for three more days.

“We were frozen out,” said Knowles.

The Washington Post: Nearly all members of National Park Service advisory panel resign in frustration.

“More than three-quarters of the members of a federally chartered board advising the National Park Service have quit out of frustration that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had refused to meet with them or convene a single meeting last year.

The resignation of 10 out of 12 National Park System Advisory Board members leaves the federal government without a functioning body to designate national historic or natural landmarks. It also underscores the extent to which federal advisory bodies have become marginalized under the Trump administration.”

Update:
NPR: Majority Of National Park Service Board Resigns, Citing Administration Indifference.

“”The President still hasn’t nominated a director for the National Park Service and Secretary Zinke has proposed tripling entrance fees at our most popular national parks,” [Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell] said. “His disregard of the advisory board is just another example of why he has earned an ‘F’ in stewardship.”

“To not have any meetings, to not have their phone calls returned, to not have any opportunity to have an audience with the officials at the interior department is really a slap in the face and I think sometimes you have to make a statement,” Sally Jewell, the secretary of the interior during President Obama’s second term, told NPR’s Here and Now on Wednesday.

“They were being ignored, and I have to believe that’s consistent with what this administration has done with other advisory boards and councils in other agencies, as well,” she said.

Since taking office, President Trump has sought to roll back protections of national parks and public lands under the auspices of the Department of the Interior. The administration has ordered a dramatic downsizing of two massive national monuments in Utah and has announced plans to open up oil drilling in protected areas of the Arctic and the Atlantic.

“If we lose the people with the knowledge and the ability to educate the next generation of young people, to appreciate our history, our culture, our natural world,” Jewell said, “then we lose the value of the national parks.””

GroKo

Deutsche Welle:

Merkel’s conservatives, Social Democrats agree on blueprint for formal coalition talks. “Chancellor Angela Merkel says exploratory talks in Berlin between her conservatives and rival Social Democrats are to go on to formal coalition negotiations. The SPD’s Martin Schulz says he’ll ask his party to proceed.”

German coalition talks reach breakthrough: A look at what comes next. “Angela Merkel’s CDU and the SPD have agreed on a blueprint for formal grand coalition negotiations. The left wing of the Social Democrats appears to have been forced into the most concessions.”

Critics weigh in on Germany’s coalition talks ‘breakthrough’. “Germany’s prospective deal for Chancellor Angela Merkel to head another grand coalition has been slammed by industry leaders as “expensive.” Asylum advocates say it hands hard-liners a “triumph” over human rights.”

Another Angela Merkel-led grand coalition in Germany: What you need to know. “After a mammoth last round of meetings, it seems the leaders of the conservatives and Social Democrats have achieved a breakthrough to enter into coalition talks. So what happens next?”