Suche
Mein Konto
Music teacher in Berlin: permanent position or blackmail? The hot debate!
The Federal Social Court's ruling calls on music schools to employ teachers on a permanent basis. Deadlines and effects at a glance.
Music teacher in Berlin: permanent position or blackmail? The hot debate!
In Berlin, a ruling by the Federal Social Court is causing a stir in the world of music schools. According to a decision, teachers in these institutions must now be employed on a permanent basis, which could have a positive impact on the social security of the teachers. But not everything that glitters is gold. Because Berlin currently does not have the financial resources to implement the necessary permanent positions. A transition period until the end of 2026 has been created by a new regulation to give schools time to adapt rbb24.de reported.
A central point of the ruling is that music school teachers, who previously worked on a fee basis, now have to sign a declaration in order to continue their contracts. Anyone who doesn't do this will no longer receive any new orders after the summer holidays, which puts pressure on many teachers. Ali Ekhtiari, a music teacher, describes his situation as “blackmail”. The Tempelhof-Schöneberg district office can no longer employ the freelance workers without this signature, which leads to a truly uncomfortable dilemma.
Background of the judgment
The so-called “Herrenberg judgment”, which was made on June 28, 2022, made waves for the education sector, especially for music schools. Freelance workers were often classified as bogus self-employed, which meant that schools had to retroactively pay social security contributions if this dependency was recognized. This could place a serious financial burden on private schools, such as anwalt.de describes.
The core of this judgment calls for a structural reform in music schools in order to convert existing fee-based staff into salaried positions. The transitional regulation until the end of 2026 plays a central role here. Until then, no social security contributions may be required for bona fide contractual relationships, which will at least temporarily alleviate some of the concerns of educational institutions.
The future of music schools
But what does the future look like? The Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has responded to the new challenges and conducted a specialist dialogue with educational associations and social partners. Many teachers would like to continue working independently, which could jeopardize the existing structures in the education sector. From July 2023, new assessment standards for the employment status of teachers will apply, which will lead to additional uncertainty, as shown on bmas.de is to be read.
The Senate Cultural Administration plans to increase the number of permanent positions, but this requires time and resources that have not yet been included in the cultural budget. Melanie Kühnemann-Grunow from the SPD is calling for more permanent positions and has proposed a step model to support this process. Trade unionists also report that around 80% of freelance workers want a permanent position because this offers more social security.
However, there are also concerns that many music teachers could migrate to Brandenburg, where better working conditions and more permanent positions are already being offered. Despite all the uncertainties, one thing is clear: the future of music school teachers in Berlin could look completely different if the required adjustments are implemented in a timely and sensible manner.