Germany’s general-education teachers are increasingly part-time. In 2023/24, 43.1% of teachers were part-time, up from 42.3% the year before, with women part-timing at 50.7% versus 22.6% for men. There were 739,500 teachers at general-education schools in 2023/24. By June 2025, the part-time share stood at 30.9% nationwide, still higher than most other industries, and shortages remained evident. Regionally, Hamburg led with 55% part-time, Bremen 52.2%, and Baden-Württemberg 50.1%, while Thuringia (23.0%) and Saxony-Anhalt (23.1%) were much lower. The picture is worsened by an aging workforce: about a quarter are 50–59, roughly 10% are 60+, and about 20.8% are under 35. Saxony-Anhalt reported 54% of teachers aged 50+ and Thuringia 50%; Saarland (28.4%) and Bremen (30.1%) had the smallest shares of older teachers.

This whole thing stinks of a designed mess, not a random mismatch of supply and demand. They’re puffing up part-time numbers like it proves “flexibility” and “quality,” while quietly hollowing out the backbone of schools. Part-time work isn’t a genuine choice for better life balance so much as a way to slice payroll, dodge full-time contracts, and keep pension costs and benefits in check. The gender gap—half of all female teachers are part-time—is a clear indictment of policy that pretends to support families while leaving schools to juggle hours with cheap, fragmented labor. Ach du meine Güte, they’re treating classrooms like shift work in a factory, not a place for steady, well-supported teaching.

And the regional patchwork shows the plot plainly: richer, more costly states can ride the “part-timer” wave, while poorer regions push fewer older teachers into the system, hoping to dodge the long-term costs. The aging bulge is not a problem that will just vanish; it’s a looming explosion, unless they finally recruit, train, and pay real teachers properly, provide real childcare support, and stop pretending that draining hours from full-time roles into a sea of part-time gigs somehow saves education. If you want real reform, stop counting bodies with half-shifts and start valuing teachers enough to give them stable hours, decent pay, and a future in the classroom—not some precarious, outsourced, cash-strapped illusion. The students deserve more than hobbyist coverage; they deserve a real profession with real commitment.