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Saxony-Anhalt Solves the Teacher Shortage in a Revolutionary Way: Where No Teaching Takes Place, There Is No Need for Grades AnymoreNearly 28,000 missing grades, only 87 percent teaching provision at secondary schools, and yet the Ministry of Education discovers a “clear signal of stability.” 
Saxony-Anhalt shows how modern shortage management works. You don't necessarily have to solve problems. It is enough to give them a friendly label. One simply has to give Saxony-Anhalt's education policy the recognition it deserves. While other federal states are still laboriously looking for teachers, organizing lessons and then even assessing academic performance, Saxony-Anhalt has found a much more efficient approach. Simply don't hold any classes. Then there is no need to give grades either. It also saves on teaching, the tedious task of marking assignments, and the hassle with parents who simply refuse to accept their children's poor grades. This Is How Modern Education Policy WorksOn the mid-year report cards for the 2025/26 school year, a total of 27,842 grades were missing in Saxony-Anhalt because classes in the respective subjects had not taken place frequently enough. 152 of the 739 public schools reported cases of this kind. This new educational concept has been particularly successful at secondary schools. There, around 41 percent of the 38,010 students received no grade in at least one subject. Music was particularly popular, with 4,215 missing assessments, followed by home economics, technology and economics with 3,853.Perhaps we should stop calling this “cancelled classes.” “Self-organized education-free learning time” sounds much more modern. After all, lessons are also a burden on teachers, children and parents. Children and teenagers can devote themselves to more meaningful activities, such as learning modern communication techniques with their smartphones. In the end, no one gets the idea of checking whether anything has actually been learned. There is no performance pressure on students, and parent-teacher meetings are considerably more conflict-free. So Saxony-Anhalt is breaking new ground. No classes means no performance assessment and no grades. Many problems in our school system have thus been solved elegantly. The 87 Percent ConceptThe assessment by the Ministry of Education is particularly reassuring. In January 2026, the ministry published a press release with the splendid headline: “Stable teaching provision thanks to the outstanding commitment of teachers.” That sounds excellent. In reality, teaching provision at public general education schools was a whopping 93.7 percent.The coalition agreement between the CDU, SPD and FDP still contains a target of 103 percent teaching provision. The original intention was to have a small reserve so that classes could still take place when teachers became ill, attended training courses or were absent for other reasons. That was then. Apparently, people have become wiser in the meantime. At secondary schools, teaching provision was not 103 percent, nor 100 or 95 percent. Teaching provision stood at 87 percent. The Ministry of Education calls this stability, and in that respect, it is actually right. A car with three tires is also stable with one tire missing, as long as nobody puts the fourth one on. For the nationwide figure of 93.7 percent, the ministry even speaks of a “clear signal of stability.” This opens up entirely new possibilities for state policy. The 87 percent concept should be expanded across the entire state. Employ only 87 percent of the police officers actually needed, run 87 percent of the trains, and provide 87 percent of the necessary hospital beds. Then you have stable under-provision in public safety, stable rail services with gaps, and stable under-provision in healthcare. The TroublemakersThe skilled trades sector is showing remarkably little enthusiasm. According to reports by MDR, the Magdeburg Chamber of Skilled Crafts is sounding the alarm. Even today, young people's readiness for vocational training is often inadequate. But why should anyone ask whether a young person can do arithmetic, write, or understand technical relationships? Unfortunately, there are people who fail to sufficiently appreciate this innovative educational concept. In report cards, a mundane assessment of academic performance is being replaced by an educationally valuable absence of one.Perhaps the problem should be solved linguistically. “No grade due to cancelled classes” sounds far too technocratic. Wouldn't this read much better: “Individually non-quantifiable competency development”? That immediately sounds like education reform; from the 103-percent promise to shortage management. An exceptional state simply becomes the system's normal state. TheBasis Saxony-Anhalt sees things in an entirely old-fashioned way. With a complete lack of humor, it criticizes the shortage management without recognizing the undeniable advantages of the new education system. It criticizes the missing grades and points to the fundamental contradiction between political promises and the reality in schools. It calls for education policy to be shaped more strongly with teachers, parents, students and municipalities, instead of managing problems exclusively from within ministries. That sounds dangerously radical. In the end, the people who sit in schools every morning might actually be asked what is really needed there. Instead, the existing concept should be consistently developed further. If cancelled classes prevent grades, then complete cancellation of classes could eventually eliminate all assessment problems. There would be no tests, no marking, no students being held back, and above all, no poor PISA results. The teacher shortage problem would also be eliminated. And at some point, the Ministry of Education could announce: “100 percent stable freedom from classes thanks to the outstanding commitment of everyone involved.” Author: AI-Translation - Peter Scheller | |
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