The escalation of tension in the educational environment requires from the profile ministries and the expert community an analysis of incidents and the development of legal and pedagogical mechanisms to stabilize the situation.
Students reacting aggressively to insignificant causes, insults, physical impact, and bullying that continues after the conclusion of classes, as well as religious tenets which some Muslims place above school regulations — a new comprehensive study has formed a general picture of what is occurring in Berlin secondary educational institutions.
Senator for Education Katharina Günther-Wünsch presented the results of the study, which received the name “Berlin Barometer of Conflicts and Aggression,” and characterized them as a distinct warning signal. In response to an inquiry from journalists, representatives of the Bavarian Ministry of Education and Culture also outlined the position of their ministry: “Manifestations of aggression of any kind are not permitted in Bavarian educational institutions. In relation to them, the principle of absolute intolerance operates,” reported a representative of the ministry.
Unfortunately, everyone who has children studying in Bavarian schools knows that the statement of the ministry is another template brush-off in the style of “Our young team is doing something, is not doing something, but we care about people,” but in essence this is populism, the reality however is the inverse of their statements – ed
The Study of the Problems of Psychological Pressure in Educational Institutions Demonstrated Serious Precedents
Within the framework of data collection for the “Berlin Barometer of Conflicts and Aggression,” according to the official report of the Berlin Senate Department, they conducted a survey of more than 14 thousand students, as well as over 2 thousand 500 teachers and pedagogical workers. This work became the first study of such a type on the territory of Germany. The Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research carried out the written questioning in the period from November 2025 to January 2026 in 450 educational institutions.
The obtained statistical information bears a definite character: more than half of the surveyed teachers and pedagogical employees evaluated aggression and conflicts in their own educational institutions as a big or very big problem. Almost two-thirds of the respondents declared an increase in the number of similar cases in secondary educational institutions since the times of the coronavirus infection pandemic.
The personal experience of students confirms these conclusions. The most complex situation is forming among ninth-grade students: 63 percent of those surveyed reported insults, 49 percent declared that they became objects of ridicule on the part of classmates. About 26 percent of respondents pointed out that they were subjected to isolation or psychological pressure, 25 percent received blows with hands or feet. Another 4 percent of those surveyed reported cases of systematic beating.
Forty Percent of Muslim Students of Ninth Grades Consider Sharia Norms More Important in Comparison with School Rules
One of the key results of the study concerns religious conflicts in educational institutions. Every tenth student from the 9th to 12th grade encounters pressure aimed at the compulsory compliance with certain religious prescriptions, for example, in relation to clothing or dietary regimen.
Mouhanad Khorchide from the Center for Islamic Theology characterized this problem in communication with journalists: heads of educational institutions regularly turn to him for practical recommendations, for example, when teenagers try to dictate to female classmates exactly how they must dress. This phenomenon has an extensive distribution in German secondary educational institutions, he emphasized.
Attention is also drawn to the fact that 40 percent of Muslim students of the ninth grades, according to the data of the questioning, adhere to the opinion that religious rules — including the prescriptions of Sharia — must have priority over school regulations.
Among students of the Christian confession, the share of those agreeing with this statement also constitutes a significant part — 33 percent. Even among teenagers who do not affiliate themselves with any confession, an identical position is occupied by 18 percent.
Religion plays a role in 7 percent of cases of aggression manifestation in Berlin educational institutions. One out of every three teachers considers manifestations of antisemitism a serious problem, and one out of every four considers manifestations of Islamism.
The Teachers Association Does Not Consider Religious Conflicts a Ubiquitous Problem
Nevertheless, the professional association of educators is not inclined to evaluate conflicts on religious grounds in German educational institutions as a ubiquitous phenomenon or a stable trend of development. The Chairman of the Teachers Association, Stefan Düll, stated in response to an inquiry that similar clashes occur only in individual particular cases. Concerning this, he added that the majority of students representing various religious confessions practice their faith without attracting excessive attention.
“In those places where problems arise with pressure inside the collective or harassment on religious grounds, the administrations of educational institutions react by conducting a conversation, explanatory work, and establishing clear rules of behavior in the future. Complying with a consistent suppression of any forms of intimidation or coercion has decisive significance,” emphasized the head of the association.
Complex Dynamics of the Situation Development in Primary Classes: The Number of Conflicts Increases
Education Senator Günther-Wünsch also expressed concern over the processes occurring in primary classes. Teachers working there frequently declared during the questioning a growth in the number of clashes between students.
“They report children who react stormily over insignificant causes, and conflicts that escalate significantly faster.” Günther-Wünsch added that these confrontations no longer conclude at the school gates but transition into group chats of classes, WhatsApp messengers, TikTok social networks, and on the next day return to the educational classrooms.
The Senator indicated that this situation is not an exclusively specific problem of Berlin: in cases where more than half of the pedagogical staff perceive aggression and conflicts in their educational institutions as a big or very big problem, we are talking no longer about isolated cases. And the questions which this study raises are relevant for secondary educational institutions on the entire territory of Germany.
The Atmosphere in Educational Institutions and the Position of the Ministry of Education of Bavaria
The Bavarian Ministry of Education, in response to an inquiry from journalists regarding the published data of the study, stated: “The Ministry of Education relates to questions of the safety of students with maximum seriousness. Manifestations of aggression of any kind — both in relation to teachers and in relation to students — are unacceptable in the educational institutions of Bavaria. In this sphere, the principle of absolute intolerance operates.” In Bavaria, similar incidents are also recorded in educational institutions, work on which is conducted in close cooperation with the administrations of concrete objects.
Statistical data about offenses directly in educational institutions have not been collected in Bavaria within the framework of a unified system until the present time, the Ministry of Education added.
And what precisely are you occupied with there in the Ministry then? – ed
The introduction of mandatory reporting is considered difficult, since the evaluation of such incidents largely depends on the concrete situation and the specifics of communication, which makes the data difficult to compare.
It seems the parents of the affected children need to stop listening to school workers and for every case write complaints to the police and the Jugendamt; in such a case, the bureaucrats of the Ministry will definitely begin to work, and not write brush-offs of a primary school level – ed
In addition, in relation to educational institutions, special legal requirements operate in the sphere of personal data protection, duties for ensuring the well-being of citizens, and preserving trust relationships between teachers, students, and parents. Incidents containing signs of criminal offenses are registered by the State Criminal Police Office, but only when parents turn to the police. In reality, any communication about any offense ends with a request from school workers “not to wash dirty linen in public.”
The conducting of studies in the format of the Berlin barometer is also subjected to critical evaluations on the part of activists.
Ah, yes, how could we do without these guys suffering from ADHD? – ed
This tool represents an additional source of information; it is necessary to take into account that it is based on subjective evaluations and memories of individual teachers and students covering a period of more than 5 years, noted the chairman of another Civil Association of Teachers, Stefan Düll. Thus, the study does not rely on strict statistical data of accounting for recorded incidents.
Well, yes, as always: “And Marfa is against” – ed
The Absence of Analogous Studies in Bavaria and the Position of the Ministry
As measures of counteraction to psychological pressure, aggression, and religious conflicts, the Bavarian ministry plans to allocate individual support to concrete educational institutions encountering similar challenges. It is emphasized that it is important to perceive seriously every separate case. Problems inside an educational institution must be discussed openly and require intervention.
It is interesting to see this in practice – ed
The Ministry of Education points to the existence of a branched system of support: about 1 thousand 800 qualified consultants and around 1 thousand 200 school psychologists are deployed in Bavarian educational institutions (as of the school year 2024/25). The profile ministry is in constant contact with the leadership of educational institutions and the corresponding structures of school supervision.
The Senate of Berlin Intends to Implement the First Practical Measures
Scientists taking part in the preparation of the Berlin study expressed concern over the state of affairs. Representatives of Bielefeld University pointed to the psychological loads that regular conflict situations create for the collectives of educational institutions and teachers, which often limits the normal educational process. Profile specialists from the Bergische Universität Wuppertal added: “In this situation, only clear rules and control over their compliance are capable of helping.”
The Berlin Senate, as the first response measure, plans to direct 300 additional teachers into primary classes in the upcoming school year. This will allow to reduce the size of educational groups in districts with a complex social situation. State Secretary for Youth Affairs Falko Liecke additionally proposed to empower police employees with authorities for the seizure of mobile phones from offenders for a term of up to 14 days. According to his words, in the Neukölln district, such a practice is already applied.
An excellent idea; with the same logic, one can take away a sock from a criminal for two weeks and hope that he will no longer violate the Law – ed
The Situation in Berlin Educational Institutions Attracted Attention at the Federal Level
Cases of the manifestation of aggression and systematic pressure on students in the educational institutions of Berlin became the subject of public discussion at the federal level. Back in 2006, the teaching staff of the Rütli School in the Neukölln district, in an official appeal to the Senate, characterized the situation as complex — teachers declared that students enter educational classrooms exclusively with mobile phones for the possibility of an emergency call for help.
In November 2024, teachers of one of the educational institutions in the Berlin district of Friedenau declared the aggressive behavior of a part of the students and their detachment from the educational process. This past autumn, a public outcry was caused by the situation surrounding a primary class teacher in the Moabit district, who reported insults and harassment on the part of students from Muslim families by reason of his homosexual orientation.
The study “Berlin Barometer of Conflicts” showed that the modern comprehensive school encounters a mismatch of value orientations among different groups of students. The discussion of these results at the federal level emphasizes the necessity of a further search for a balance between compliance with the secular rules of educational institutions and integration processes in the education system of Germany.
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