Bremen is taking a nationwide pioneering step: Starting in the 2025/26 school year, the city will launch a pilot project for digital working time tracking for teachers.
Supported by the Deutsche Telekom Stiftung, the project aims to explore how transparent time management can change, relieve, and structure work in schools.
Why Time Tracking in Schools Is Necessary
The reality in German schools has been one of enormous workload for years.
Officially, teacher work is measured almost exclusively by Deputats — the number of teaching hours.
But a teacher’s work doesn’t end when students leave the classroom:
- Lesson preparation and follow-up
- Parent meetings
- Grading and corrections
- Conferences and professional development
- Participation in school projects
All of these time-intensive tasks remain largely invisible in the system.
This lack of transparency contributes to overload, the feeling of constant external control, and challenges in organizing school work fairly and efficiently.
The pilot project addresses this gap: By digitally tracking time, it makes actual work reality visible.
Insights from Expertise: Beyond Teaching Hours
A 2023 study by education expert Mark Rackles, commissioned by Telekom Stiftung, highlighted that the Deputat model no longer meets the demands of modern schools.
- It hinders flexibility
- Prevents teamwork
- Fails to reward tasks essential for school development, such as collaborative work or managing digital projects
Systematically tracking all tasks creates the opportunity to distribute workload fairly, identify bottlenecks, and create space for new initiatives.
Opportunities for School Leadership and Teams
The Bremen pilot project opens three key learning areas for schools:
1. Creating Transparency
Teachers can see for the first time exactly how their time is spent.
This transparency allows schools to identify peak workload periods and intervene more effectively.
2. Targeted Use of Resources
School leaders gain a solid foundation to organize working hours based on actual tasks, not just teaching hours.
This enables fairer workload distribution and creates space for team collaboration, often overlooked in daily routines.
3. Developing New Organizational Models
With the collected data, schools can rethink the traditional Deputat model.
Models that include project-based work, flexible scheduling, or greater integration of multi-professional teams become more feasible.
Relieving Teachers, Modernizing Schools
Time tracking is not an end in itself. Its purpose is to create space for pedagogical work.
Teachers could reserve dedicated times for collaboration or innovation projects, instead of squeezing them into already crowded schedules.
Analysis can clarify which tasks must remain with teachers and where other professionals — like school social workers, administrative staff, or IT support — can provide effective support.
Data Privacy and Trust as a Foundation
For time tracking to be accepted, sensitive handling of data is crucial.
- Data must be used only for organizational improvement, not individual performance control.
- Trust between teachers and school leadership is essential for the project to be perceived as an opportunity, not a burden.
Practical Experience: Haptic Solutions like TimeSpin
Experience shows that digital time tracking doesn’t have to be limited to software.
- Systems like TimeSpin have gained high acceptance in the education sector.
- The key: haptic devices that teachers can operate intuitively — without constant screen interaction.
- Data can be used online and offline, combining ease of use, clear visualization, and secure synchronization.
Experience from multiple projects demonstrates:
"The simpler the solution, the more willing teachers are to integrate it into daily practice."
This approach could help Bremen’s pilot project sustain acceptance and impact over time.
Conclusion: Bremen as a Pioneer
The pilot project sends a strong signal: schools should no longer be measured solely in teaching hours.
Modern education requires transparent, flexible, and fair time management — one that considers teacher workloads while enabling new organizational models.
If successful, the experiment could become a model for other federal states, paving the way for schools that track working hours realistically and create real space for pedagogical quality.
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