Asterisks and pauses: The legal dispute over gender-neutral language in Berlin schools is entering the next round. The father, who failed at the end of March before the administrative court with an urgent application against the practice at his daughters’ school, now wants to appeal to the higher administrative court. This was announced by the German Language Association on Thursday, which supports the lawsuit.
The plaintiff objects to the fact that teachers at his daughters’ school sometimes leave pauses when speaking to point out that the word teacher should not only include men. Sometimes asterisks or an inside I are used in emails to parents or in school assignments. The plaintiff and the association refer to this as an ideology.
“Teachers and schools have to be neutral,” explained the association’s chairman, Walter Krämer. “Students of all ages have to learn a language that is standardized and understood everywhere.” The gender spelling differs from the official spelling and violates the principle of neutrality.
The Berlin administrative court decided otherwise. Against the background of the state’s educational mandate, it is not clear that the school supervisory board has to intervene against gender-appropriate language. The court clarified that the school management had given teachers the option of gendering in the classroom and at the same time pointed out that the spelling rules had to be observed. The use of gender-neutral language in teaching materials does not go beyond the scope granted by the framework curricula. Gender-neutral communication with parents and students is also not objectionable. (dpa)
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