Suhl celebrates: Caroline Arnold is Thuringia's best social studies teacher!

Suhl celebrates: Caroline Arnold is Thuringia's best social studies teacher!

In the heart of Thuringia, more precisely in Suhl, a teacher was recently honored for her extraordinary commitment. Caroline Arnold, who teaches at the Friedrich-König-Gymnasium, received the Thuringian Teachers' Prize for Social Studies 2025. This honor took place at a ceremony in the Thuringian state parliament shortly before the summer holidays. The nomination did not come about by chance, but by students and their colleagues who wanted to honor their achievements in political education and their special commitment to the subject of social studies. How reported in Suedthueringen, the event comes from the German Association for Political Education (DVPB), which has been campaigning for political education in German schools for years.

But Caroline Arnold is not the only teacher to be recognized for her work. In another competition that took place at the same time, the German Teachers' Prize, other teachers were also honored for their innovative teaching methods. daily news reports that this prize was awarded in Berlin, with the focus on the categories “Exemplary School Management”, “Innovative Teaching” and “Outstanding Teachers”. In the “exemplary school leadership” category, first place went to the Willy Brandt School in Berlin, followed by the Maria Gress School in Iffezheim and the Rahel Hirsch School, also in Berlin. The “Innovative Teaching” category was led by Tina Bergen and Marc Brückner from the Christian-Ernestinum high school in Bayreuth.

Challenges in education

A central point that was addressed at the award ceremony is the current situation in the education system. Jotam Felmy, a Berlin teacher, gave words of warning to education policy and spoke about pressing issues such as the mental health of students and the high workload of teachers. The students' frustration with politics was also discussed. This problem was also addressed in the last rounds of the German Teachers' Prize competition. Together with other participants, we considered ways in which educational policy can respond more flexibly to social developments in order to take the challenges into account.

These competitions don't just award individual athletes. Entire teaching teams and innovative projects have also received great attention in the past and created added value for many schools. At the end of March 2025 there was another big award ceremony for the German Teachers' Prize - Innovative Teaching. Among others, ten teachers, five teaching projects and three school principals were honored here, which shows that commitment to education is highly valued in Germany. The award winners come from a total of seven federal states and one German school abroad, which underlines the diversity and the common search for new ways in teaching. lehrkraeftepreis.de highlights the special moments of these honors and the inspiring stories behind the projects.