Information for future teachers with a disability/chronic illness

Student aiming to become teachers with chronic illnesses or disabilities often come to the disability counselling service with their questions. For this reason, the counsellor has compiled the following information following several discussions with a district representative of severely disabled employees at schools at the Osnabrück State Education Authority.

Recruitment / appointment

The health check is the same for all applicants, regardless of whether they are severely disabled, chronically ill or non-disabled.

The applicant must be fit to practise the teaching profession according to their current state of health.

Severely disabled applicants have the advantage that the medical officer only has to certify their suitability for a shorter period of time and not until retirement age:
Exact wording in the Lower Saxony Ministerial Gazette (source see below): "The suitability of severely disabled persons will generally still be able to be regarded as given even if they are only suitable for the performance of certain posts in the relevant career and, taking this circumstance into account, it can be assumed with a high degree of probability that no permanent incapacity to work is likely to occur before the end of the probationary period (author's addition: 3-5 years for civil servants). The same applies if severely disabled applicants are to be immediately appointed as civil servants for life and are not incapacitated at the time of appointment. For recruitment to the preparatory service in the event of a training monopoly of the state, it is sufficient if it can be expected at the time of recruitment that the applicants will be in good health to complete the training."

A severe disability can, but does not have to be declared. Even completed therapies and illnesses do not have to have a negative effect on the examination by the public health officer. What is important here is what exactly is asked by the examining medical officer (see below) and what must be answered accordingly.

Chronically ill applicants

For a long time, chronically ill applicants were at a disadvantage compared to severely disabled people when it came to being made a civil servant. Due to the so-called merit principle derived from Article 33 (2) of the Basic Law, it was assumed that they did not have the health suitability for a civil service appointment. The employer, with the support of the responsible public health officer, uses a strict assessment standard to determine whether or not the applicant for a probationary or lifetime appointment has the health suitability. A prognostic decision is made as to whether future illnesses and permanent premature incapacity to work can be ruled out with a high degree of probability. For applicants with chronic illnesses, the prognosis decision was almost always negative.
Fortunately, there was positive, trend-setting case law here.

Job allocation

When awarding positions, applicants with severe disabilities (from 50 GdB) or equivalent (from 30 GdB on application) are given preferential consideration if they are equally qualified. However, the combination of subjects and the type of school play an important role here, as there must be a position for which the applicant is suitable. Furthermore, a special quota can be set up for severely disabled applicants.

Compensation for disadvantages during studies / traineeship

As no comparison of health-related data may take place between the different authorities, the state education authority is not informed if the student has received BAföG, a waiver of tuition fees or examination modifications for a longer period of time due to health problems, for example. If health-related data is passed on despite data protection, you can insist on the deletion of this data, e.g. on a notification.

In general, the school authorities only have an interest in whether the applicant is fit to work and has the necessary qualifications.
There are also disadvantage compensations expressly provided for in the traineeship, e.g. extension of the processing time for examinations for candidates with motor impairments or an extension of the entire traineeship period. More details can be found in the Lower Saxony Ministerial Gazette (points 4. and 8., source see below)
A part-time position is also possible in the teaching profession.
However, the psychological pressure in the teaching profession is very high. Teachers must be able to stand up to pupils, parents, colleagues and school management, often with their backs against the wall. Most drop-outs during studies, traineeships or later happen because someone is unable to cope with the psychological pressure. This advice is not intended to frighten, but simply to emphasise this aspect.

Visit to the public health officer, e.g. to obtain a certificate for exemption from long-term tuition fees

Students are usually not worried that the documents from the public health officer will automatically or on request be sent to the state education authority and could stand in the way of a civil service appointment. Both (state education authority and medical officer) belong to different authorities that do not compare data.
However, it can become problematic if the same public health officer who has issued a certificate for exemption from long-term tuition fees, for example, carries out the health check prior to appointment. He can check whether there is already a file with past examinations. If, for example, a mental illness was given as a reason for compensation for a disadvantage during your studies, they will check whether this illness currently stands in the way of a civil servant status. Especially if there is no severe disability or equalisation, a detailed health check will be carried out.

Lower Saxony Ministerial Gazette and further contact person

You can read some of this information in more detail in the Lower Saxony Ministerial Gazette of 4 October 2022: Guidelines on the equal and self-determined participation of severely disabled people and people with equivalent status in working life in the public sector. Available online here.

The Dortmund Centre for Studies and Disability has published a very good compilation on the school preparatory service and teaching profession with a disability or chronic illness . The information is still up to date and can also be applied to Lower Saxony.
The podcast"You need a certain resilience - two blind teachers report" by the German Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired about their experiences in the teaching profession and the role of teachers with disabilities in inclusion is also very interesting.

If you have any further questions, you can also contact the representative body for the severely disabled directly:

Tobias Hey
District representative for severely disabled employees at schools at the Osnabrück state education authority department
P.O. Box 3569
49024 Osnabrück
Tobias.Hey(at)rlsb-os.niedersachsen.de
Tel: 0541/77046-270

Disabled or chronically ill student teachers, trainee teachers or teachers can contact him at any time, preferably by telephone.
If he cannot be reached in person, you can leave a message on his machine. He also visits the various regions and can also offer counselling in this context. Counselling for a group is also possible. Mr Hey can also attend seminars and examinations in the event of problems in the seminar (traineeship).

The addresses of all district counsellors as well as the counsellors at the local level and further information can be downloaded.