Controversy about the 2015 education plan (Baden-Württemberg)

Second demonstration against the education plan on March 1, 2014

The controversy about the 2015 education plan was a nationwide debate about a working paper from the green-red state government in Baden-Württemberg in the run-up to the creation of the new 2015 education plan. One aspect of the working paper was the interdisciplinary treatment of the acceptance of homosexual and transsexual diversity and different life models classic marriage. These demands sparked strong criticism, especially from conservative and Christian associations and politicians, who saw in it a devaluation of traditional marriage, a violation of their Christian values, but also an " early sexualization of children". Parts of this criticism were again criticized as homophobic . A month-long period Public and nationwide debate and several demonstrations, some with violent counter-demonstrations, were the result. As a result, the entry into force of the education plan was postponed to August 2016 and a more general, interdisciplinary tolerance guideline was developed.

Working paper on the education plan

In November 2013, an unfinished working paper on the reform of the education plan of the green-red state government of Baden-Württemberg was made public. It outlined five so-called guiding principles that should be dealt with in schools across the board in the future: professional orientation , education for sustainable development , media education , prevention and health promotion and consumer education .

According to the draft version, these guiding principles should also be taken into account from the point of view of the acceptance of sexual diversity. For the guiding principle of Education for Sustainable Development , for example, these were :

"Pupils know the different forms of coexistence of / with LGBT TI people [...]:

Classic family , rainbow family , single, couple relationships, blended families , single-parent families , extended families , choice families without family ties;
gay, lesbian, transgender and as far as known intersex culture [...] and meeting places "

Petition against the curriculum

In response to the draft working paper on the OpenPetition website , secondary school teacher Gabriel Stängle started a petition entitled “Future - Responsibility - Learning: No Education Plan 2015 under the Ideology of the Rainbow”, which was primarily directed against the aspect of acceptance of sexual diversity in the draft . Stängle criticized too strong a focus on the mere stringing together of various lobbyist interests under newly created catchphrases such as " LGBTTI " and "sexual diversity" and assessed the anchoring of the acceptance of sexual diversity in the classroom as "educational, moral and ideological re-education in general schools."

The petition specifically called for:

"A clear sign [...] to responsible sex education and a no to overemphasizing individual groups [...]"
"The maintenance of the trusting relationship between school and home and the immediate stop of a propagating new sexual morality."
"An unreserved yes to the principle of science in [the] school [...]" and the rejection of "ideological battle concepts"
"Orientation towards the values of our Basic Law, which defends the protection of marriage and family [...]"
"To name the suicide risk in homosexual adolescents not only as a problem report, but to research their causes and to point out preventive measures. [...]"
"A violence prevention against all forms of exclusion that does not first create a climate of" victims "and" perpetrators "and then presents itself as their solution. [...]"

A first version of the petition accused the so-called LGBTTI “lobby groups” of “ideological re-education” and “imprisonment” of the teaching staff, whose fight against homophobia would promote structural violence. In this form, it violated the operator's terms of use and had to be revised.

The petition was handed over to the chairman of the petition committee of the Baden-Württemberg state parliament on January 27, 2014 . According to Stängle, 192,000 people signed the petition, including around 82,000 from Baden-Württemberg. 49,505 people handwritten the petition.

The petition was also promoted by the Baden-Württemberg state association of the AfD and the pietistic German Evangelical Alliance . Most of the votes were won via the petition website bildungsplan2015.de, which is run by supporters of Stängles, followed by the Internet platform Politically Incorrect and Spiegel Online.

Criticism of the petition against the education plan

The Ministry of Culture criticized the petition suggesting "that the proposed guiding principles should be viewed in their entirety from the aspect of sexual diversity". However, this is just one topic among many. The petition creates a mood against openness and tolerance, draws distorted images and tries to stir up fears about the new education plan. The claim that the Ministry of Education wants to re-educate the pupils both educationally and morally is completely “absurd”. Such an assertion and choice of words show the dogmatic background of the authors.

In response to Gabriel Stängle's petition, a counter-petition and a “Diversity Wins” campaign initiated by Campact were launched in January 2014 . The counter-petition found over 92,000 signatures, the Campact campaign “Diversity wins” reached approx. 142,000 signatures.

The network LSBTTIQ Baden-Württemberg criticized the petition and sees the homophobic and transphobic comments under it as a sign of the extent of corresponding attitudes in society. Doro Mitz, chairwoman of the education and science union , criticized the petition's discriminatory attitude.

Criticism of the draft education plan

The parliamentary group leader of the CDU in the state parliament Peter Hauk said that he could understand the fears of the opponents of the educational plan. If you lead the discussion about tolerance in the education plan, you also have to be tolerant of those who hold different views. Referring to the working paper, the education journalist Heike Schmoll commented : "Anyone reading this will hardly be able to avoid the impression that it is more of a party program converted into the curriculum than of educational goals." The education politician Sabine Kurtz (CDU) criticized the too prominent position of homosexuality and demanded, together with FDP parliamentary group leader Hans-Ulrich Rülke , a focus on heterosexual relationships and marriage.

The Association of Philologists expressed itself in principle in favor of the goal of acceptance of sexual diversity. However, he demanded that tolerance towards different religious or ideological points of view, different origins or physical impairments should be given an equally high priority in the curriculum.

The churches in Baden-Württemberg took a critical stance towards the guiding principles of the curriculum and refused to object to “instrumentalization, ideologization and indoctrination”, especially “in the sensitive area of sexual identity”. However, the churches explicitly did not support the Stängles petition. Church representatives criticized the fact that the reference framework of the Christian image of man was not recognizable in the education plan, and referred to corresponding paragraphs of the state constitution . The German Evangelical Alliance also criticized the equal representation of homosexuality with marriage and family, which is aimed at in the education plan, which contradicts the Basic Law, and called for support for the Stängles petition.

Proponents of the draft curriculum

Minister of Education Andreas Stoch ( SPD ) criticized allegations of the opponents of the educational plan that the discussion of sexual diversity would lead to an early sexualization of the students or would question the classic family model as defamation. It was not planned, the textbook sex education diversity of Elisabeth Tuider use to which the opponents had made up on these allegations as part of the education plan in school. Furthermore, " ' gender mainstreaming ' and thus the ' deconstruction of value structures' should not be the basis of the education plan."

The professor of history didactics Martin Lücke welcomed the planned interdisciplinary theming of the topic of gender identities, as there is currently hardly any material for corresponding teaching units in school books.

The educational plan and its contents were endorsed by the state parents' council and the state student council, among others . Both advocated addressing sexual diversity in schools and saw no risk of “ indoctrination ” from the curriculum.

The Education and Science Union (GEW), whose working group helped to develop the criticized sections of the working paper, also supported the education plan. In the course of the debate, the GEW also advocated a more general tolerance guideline, which should include sexual diversity among other aspects, and called for the education plan to be tested and postponed.

Consequences and Effects

Several administrative complaints and a criminal complaint for sedition were filed against petitioner Stängle, all of which, however, were rejected or discontinued. In January 2014, Stängele resigned from his position as head of department at the Baden-Württemberg secondary school teachers association, which had distanced himself from the content of the petition.

On March 27, 2014, Prime Minister Kretschmann met with leading representatives of the evangelical and pietist movement in Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart for an exchange. Kretschmann rated the conversation as open and trusting. It led to the "objectification of the debate about the importance of sexual diversity". Although he reaffirmed his government's plan to deal with the topic more intensively and across disciplines in schools in the future, he announced that it would be revised before the education plan was heard and voted in front of the state parliament.

In April 2014 the state government changed its draft for the education plan and announced that it no longer wanted to give the topic of “sexual diversity” a “solitary role”. The previously planned five “guiding principles” have been renamed “guiding perspectives” and a sixth “Education for tolerance and acceptance of diversity” has been added, which includes tolerance for sexual minorities on an equal footing with tolerance for ethnic, national, religious or ideological minorities. The opposition CDU was cautious about the corrections declared by the Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs, speaking of “cosmetic corrections”, and the citizens would also question the “arbitrarily set” five guiding principles.

The education policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Timm Kern , reacted benevolently to the announcement: "Now is the chance that the debate becomes more objective." For the discussion, which is also marked by great emotions, the state government itself is due to its "clumsy behavior." responsible".

On April 24, 2014, the state government finally decided to postpone and rewrite the education plan to the 2016/2017 school year. In particular, the “leading perspectives” are to be comprehensively revised.

Protests: demo for everyone

Demonstrators of the "Demo for All" in front of an art action by the Stuttgart Opera for (sexual) diversity

In the course of the debate, there were several rallies and demonstrations by critics of the education plan in downtown Stuttgart, which in turn provoked some violent counter-demonstrations.

The demonstrations critical of the educational plan were initially organized by the initiative Worried Parents Baden-Württemberg , but later mainly by the family protection initiative and its chairman, the activist Hedwig von Beverfoerde . The demonstrations were supported by, among others, AfD politician and colleague Beverfoerdes Beatrix von Storch as well as the German Association for Christian Culture by Mathias von Gersdorff and journalists Birgit Kelle and Gabriele Kuby . In some cases right-wing extremist groups also took part, such as B. the Identitarian Movement , at the protests, from which the initiators distanced themselves. Both in terms of content and appearance, these demonstrations were clearly based on the French La Manif pour tous movement and took place under the name of the German translation “Demo for All”. In terms of content, they positioned themselves primarily against the education plan and against “ early sexualization ” of children, but later also against the action plan for acceptance and equal rights of the green-red state government, which is directed against the discrimination of LGBTTIQ people . Other positions were the demand for general protection of traditional marriage and the rejection of same-sex marriage . At the demonstration in April 2014, greetings from opposition politicians Peter Hauk (CDU) and Hans-Ulrich Rülke (FDP) were read, in which the draft for the education plan was criticized. The greetings were criticized by individual MPs of the green-red government parties as "fishing for votes on the right edge". According to Angelika Strube, “the Stuttgart“ Demo for All ”in relation to the election successes of the AfD in Baden-Wuerttemberg fulfills a promotional function similar to that in Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, not in spite of, but because of its otherness Performing performances by Björn Höcke. "

Position taken against these demonstrations and their content was, among others, by the Greens , the Left , Christopher Street Day (CSD) Stuttgart, the State Women's Council , the Stuttgart Opera, the Left Youth Solid and the Green Mayor Fritz Kuhn . In terms of content, these groups positioned themselves primarily against homophobia and for the acceptance of sexual diversity as well as for an opening up of marriage and for an adoption right for homosexuals . These groups organized counter-demonstrations, some of which led to blockades of the “Demo for All” and in some cases to violence against their demonstrators and police officers as well as arrests. Similar demonstrations and counter-demonstrations, partly organized by the same actors and in the context of similar debates on school policy, took place in Hanover .

In the context of this debate, an arson attack was carried out on a company from Beverfoerdes at the business address of Demo für Alle . Von Storch and von Beverfoerde, along with other activists and politicians, featured in the provocative play Fear by director Falk Richter , which critically examines the rise of right-wing nationalist and Christian fundamentalist movements, and tried unsuccessfully to take legal action against it.

Adoption and content of the curriculum

As one of his last official acts, the outgoing Baden-Württemberg Minister of Education, Andreas Stoch , signed the revised education plan at the end of March 2016, which came into force in August 2016. The curriculum was presented to teachers and school principals before the start of the new school year. What is new is that an education plan applies equally to Hauptschule and Werkrealschulen , Realschulen and Community schools , while separate plans apply to grammar schools and elementary schools . Transitions between the types of school are to be made easier by dissolving related subjects into individual subjects. For secondary schools, secondary schools, community schools and grammar schools, the new subject economics / professional and study orientation is introduced.

The “acceptance of sexual diversity”, which had provoked criticism and protests in the draft, was included in a general guiding perspective “tolerance and acceptance of diversity”. Their core concern is to “promote respect as well as mutual respect and appreciation of differences. The foundations are human dignity, the Christian image of man and the state constitution with the special protection of marriage and family ”(see also Art. 6 GG ).

Comparison with other federal states

In addition to the federal state of Baden-Württemberg , the federal states of Bremen , Berlin , North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate , among others, have revised their respective educational plans and the topic of sexual diversity with the associated topic of homosexuality as a sexual orientation and its acceptance in their educational plans recorded. In these federal states, the topic is treated in an interdisciplinary and age-appropriate manner.

The state of Lower Saxony followed suit in 2014 and reformed its education and curriculum, according to which in future sexual diversity should be taught in an age-appropriate manner. In Hesse , too , an action plan for acceptance and diversity should be drawn up in accordance with the coalition agreement between the CDU and Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen.

literature

Annedore Prengel : Pedagogy of Diversity. Diversity and equality in intercultural, feminist and integrative pedagogy (school and society). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2006.
Andreas Kemper , nucleus of the nation. Part 2. How parties and movements for conservative family values, against tolerance and diversity and against progressive gender politics are radicalizing in Europe , 2014, Friedrich Ebert Foundation
Lucie Billmann (ed.), Unholy Alliance. The interweaving of Christian fundamentalists and the political right using the example of resistance to the education plan in Baden-Württemberg (PDF), 2015, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
Sabine Hark , Paula-Irene Villa : Anti-Genderism. Sexuality and gender as sites of current political disputes . Transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2015.

Web links

Commons : Education Plan Controversy 2015 - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Amory Burchhard, Tilmann Warnecke, Sylvia Vogt, Anja Kühne and Andreas Böhme, why is the curriculum so controversial? , Tagesspiegel , January 13, 2014
Rüdiger Soldt, Controversial Sex Education - Fear of “pornography” in schools , FAZ , November 11, 2014
[1]

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Working paper for the hand of the educational plan commissions as a basis and orientation for anchoring the guiding principles ( Memento of January 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), draft version of the working paper

↑ Rüdiger Soldt: From the variety and the simplicity. In: FAZ.net . January 13, 2014, accessed March 11, 2016 .

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Petition: Future - Responsibility - Learning: No education plan 2015 under the ideology of the rainbow . In: openpetition.de. December 9, 2013, accessed March 11, 2016 .

↑ Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Stuttgart, Germany: Petition against education plan: How much sexual diversity can the classroom handle? - Stuttgarter Nachrichten. In: stuttgarter-nachrichten.de. Retrieved March 11, 2016 .

↑ Secondary school teacher submits a petition to stuttgarter-nachrichten.de

↑ AfD wants to support petition against sexual diversity in schools ( Memento from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

↑ Thomas Vitzthum: Uprising of the honest men . In: The world . January 19, 2014, p. 2 ( online [accessed January 25, 2014]).

↑ EAD appeal: Baden-Württemberg: Education plan wants "Acceptance of sexual diversity" ( Memento from December 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

↑ kultusportal-bw.de Ministry of Schools in Baden-Württemberg, Opinion: Acceptance of Sexual Diversity

↑ counter petition

↑ Campact: Diversity wins

↑ Lena Müssigmann: Sexual diversity in the classroom: Mr. Stängle senses lack of freedom. In: taz.de . October 11, 2014, accessed March 11, 2016 .

↑ Homosexuality in the classroom. In: mainpost.de. Retrieved March 11, 2016 .

↑ Churches against more homosexuality in class. In: welt.de . January 10, 2014.

↑ Heike Schmoll: Green-red pedagogy | The ethos curriculum , in: FAZ from January 23, 2014

↑ Fabian Ziehe: Dispute about homosexuality as a topic in the new education plan. In: swp.de. January 10, 2014, accessed April 8, 2016 .

↑ Sir / dpa: Homosexuality in the classroom: education plan continues to provide fuel - Stuttgarter Zeitung. In: stuttgarter-zeitung.de. January 11, 2014, accessed March 10, 2016 .

↑ Philologists Association Baden-Württemberg: Statement by the Philologists Association Baden-Württemberg on the trial version of the 2015 education plan. (PDF) January 31, 2014, archived from the original on March 10, 2016 ; accessed on March 10, 2016 .

↑ Baden-Württemberg: Churches defend themselves against homosexuality on the curriculum. In: zeit.de . January 10, 2014, accessed March 11, 2016 .

^ Daniel Meier: On the discussion about anchoring the topic of homosexuality in the education plan. Evangelical Church in Baden, January 12, 2014.

↑ ^a ^b F.AZ: Bishop July calls for overhaul of the education plan. In: FAZ.net . March 23, 2014, accessed March 11, 2016 .

↑ ^a ^b ^c Rüdiger Soldt: State school student council against scare tactics about "sexual diversity". In: FAZ.net . January 10, 2014, accessed March 11, 2016 .

↑ EAD appeal: Baden-Württemberg: Education plan wants "Acceptance of sexual diversity" ( Memento from December 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

↑ Jenny Howald: A girl is a girl is not a girl? Possible meanings of “Queer Theory” for feminist girls' education. In: Deconstructive Pedagogy. Educational debates from a post-structuralist perspective (Eds. Hartmann, Fritzsche, Tervooren, Schmidt). Wiesbaden 2001, p. 304 f: “First of all it makes sense to take a closer look at how identity, sexuality, being a girl, heteronormativity are thematized in the individual concepts and programs of feminist work with girls . [...] So far there have been very few publications on a kind of queer pedagogy. In practice, the question of what constitutes a girl is important and - in order to enable a changeable concept of identity - how the construct of a girl is to be deconstructed . Deconstructing the term girl means recognizing the existence of the gender category as a social reality, but no longer being able to define what girls are. The term no longer has any essence, but can be interpreted differently. For work with girls, this means that partisanship has a strategic function for girls. On the other hand, there is the possibility within the work with girls to work with an idea of gender and sexuality that goes beyond fixed identity constructions . "

^ FAZ, Rüdiger Soldt, April 1, 2015: Minister of Education Stoch does not want early sexualization

↑ Sexual diversity in class: why is the curriculum so controversial? - Page 0 - Politics - Tagesspiegel. In: tagesspiegel.de . Retrieved April 8, 2016 .

^ Educational plans in Baden-Württemberg: Parents demand more sexual tolerance. In: taz.de . January 17, 2014, accessed March 11, 2016 .

^ ^A ^b Education plan in Baden-Württemberg: Churches reject “sexual diversity” in class. In: Spiegel Online . January 10, 2014, accessed March 9, 2016 .

↑ ^a ^b From: After the dispute over sexual diversity: GEW for postponing the education plan - Stuttgarter Zeitung. In: stuttgarter-zeitung.de. March 7, 2014, accessed March 11, 2016 .

↑ Gew - The Education Union: Diversity Wins! In: gew.de. March 8, 2016, accessed March 9, 2016 .

^ Johanna Bruckner: Against tolerance. Süddeutsche Zeitung, January 10, 2014, accessed on January 27, 2014 .

^ Petition initiator Stängle rehabilitated , in: Schwäbische Zeitung (online) of February 28, 2014

↑ Debate about “sexual diversity”: initiator of the petition gives up post , in: Stuttgarter Zeitung (online) of January 14, 2014

↑ epd.de: Streit-um-bildungsplan-kretschmann-meets-sich-mit-evangelikal ( Memento from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

^ Pro-Medienmagazin: Conversation between Kretschmann and Evangelicals

↑ ^a ^b Rüdiger Soldt: Green-Red suggests corrections to the education plan. In: FAZ.net . April 8, 2014, accessed April 8, 2016 .

↑ Postponed to the school year 2016/17 - The education plan is late in the Stuttgarter Zeitung on April 24, 2014

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Hundreds demonstrate for and against education plan in Stuttgart ( Memento from February 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Schwäbische Zeitung , published: February 1, 2014, accessed on February 13, 2014

^ Educational plan opponents thwarted , Stuttgarter Zeitung , accessed on February 3, 2014

↑ 400 police officers protect demo , Stuttgarter Zeitung

^ Educational plan opponents back on the street , Stuttgarter Nachrichten

^ Matthias Bury: Demo in Stuttgart: Again protest against sexual diversity in the education plan. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung . June 21, 2015, accessed July 10, 2015 .

↑ ^a ^b ^c Lucius Teidelbaum: A “demo for everyone” against the “gender ideology” - haGalil. In: hagalil.com. March 1, 2016, accessed April 14, 2016 .

↑ ^a ^b Demonstration of opponents of the educational plan accompanied by protest. In: welt.de . June 22, 2015, accessed April 14, 2016 .

↑ Gabriele Renz: Politics: Others pull the strings. In: suedkurier.de. March 24, 2015, accessed April 14, 2016 .

↑ Norbert Blech: Beatrix von Storch: I organize the 'Demos for All'. In: queer.de. November 22, 2014, accessed April 14, 2016 .

↑ Lucius Teidelbaum: Minority threatens majority? In: hagalil.com. March 12, 2014, accessed April 15, 2016 .

↑ The opponents protest again . Stuttgarter Zeitung, June 28, 2014

↑ Lucius Teidelbaum: Demo for everyone. In: hagalil.com. October 14, 2015, accessed April 13, 2016 .

↑ Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Stuttgart, Germany: Homosexuality and education plan: “Demo for everyone” attracts nationalists on the Internet - Stuttgarter Nachrichten. In: stuttgarter-nachrichten.de. Retrieved April 8, 2016 .

^ Demonstration against education plan: Thousands against sexual diversity - Baden-Württemberg - News. In: swr.de. June 21, 2015, accessed April 27, 2016 .

↑ Sabine Hark, Paula-Irene Villa, Anti-Genderism - Sexuality and Gender as Scenes of Current Political Disputes, 2015, Transcript Verlag

↑ Demo under massive police protection

↑ Sonja Angelika Strube: Christian supporters of the AfD. Milieus, intersections, alliances. , in: Stefan Orth, Volker Resing: AfD, Pegida and Co .: Attack on religion? Herder Verlag, 2017, p. 41

↑ dpa: Südwest: Two demos on equality - badische-zeitung.de. In: badische-zeitung.de. February 29, 2016, accessed March 8, 2016 .

↑ Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Stuttgart, Germany: Demo for everyone in Stuttgart: Opera shows the flag for gay marriage - Stuttgarter Nachrichten. In: stuttgarter-nachrichten.de. Retrieved March 8, 2016 .

↑ The dispute over the education plan is shifting to the streets , SWR Landesschau aktuell Baden-Württemberg, published: February 1, 2014, accessed on February 13, 2014

↑ stuttgarter newspaper: OB sees “no handle”. In: stuttgarter newspaper. January 22, 2016, accessed March 8, 2016 .

↑ From: Education plan opponents in Stuttgart: Demo under massive police protection - Stuttgarter Zeitung. In: stuttgarter-zeitung.de. April 5, 2014, accessed March 6, 2016 .

↑ From: Education plan demos in Stuttgart: 400 police officers protect demo - Stuttgarter Zeitung. In: stuttgarter-zeitung.de. March 1, 2014, accessed March 6, 2016 .

↑ Two demos between indoctrination and normality. In: welt.de . March 2, 2014, accessed March 6, 2016 .

↑ Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Stuttgart, Germany: Education plan demo in Stuttgart: "Degree of escalation higher than ever before" - Stuttgarter Nachrichten. In: stuttgarter-nachrichten.de. Retrieved March 8, 2016 .

↑ Andreas Speit: Conservative “Demo for Everyone” in Hanover: “No red-green early sexualization”. In: taz.de . November 23, 2014, accessed April 8, 2016 .

↑ Tobias Morchner: Right and left end demo in Hanover prematurely - HAZ - Hannoversche Allgemeine. In: haz.de. April 8, 2016, Retrieved April 8, 2016 .

↑ mdr.de: How arson turned into an attack - MDR.DE. In: mdr.de. November 6, 2015, archived from the original on April 8, 2016 ; Retrieved April 8, 2016 .