TIME TO START - What Children and Schools Really Need to Secure the Future of Education

  • What needs to be done so children can finally learn better: Clear answers to the education crisis - from one of the country's most successful education ministers.
  • An expert’s roadmap to fixing the school system, focusing on results rather than ideology.

The figures are alarming: every fifth schoolchild in Germany struggles so significantly with reading and arithmetic that they are unlikely to obtain a school-leaving qualification. In the most recent PISA study, Germany’s results were the weakest they have ever been. Nothing less than the future of our country is at stake.

Ties Rabe, former Hamburg Minister of Education and a teacher himself, knows the German school system inside out. He contends that the "education crisis" has been tackled under completely wrong premises for years. Whether it’s school types, grading systems, or frontal versus group instruction - the topics currently fueling heated debates have little impact on learning success. Instead, as Rabe demonstrates, we must focus much more heavily on the acquisition of key competencies: more instructional hours, additional afternoon support, starting the learning process as early as daycare, and rigorous monitoring of teaching quality.

With compelling clarity, he gets to the bottom of the situation, explains the root causes of learning difficulties, and develops concrete, feasible proposals for daycare centers and schools.
This is a vital book for the future of our children - and our society.

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  • Publisher: Rowohlt Berlin
  • Release: 14.08.2026
  • ISBN: 978-3-7371-0252-0
  • 256 Pages
  • Author: Ties Rabe

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Ties Rabe TIME TO START - What Children and Schools Really Need to Secure the Future of Education
Portrait von Ties Rabe
© Michael Zapf
Ties Rabe

Ties Rabe , born in 1960, served as the Minister of Education in Hamburg from 2011 to 2024. The successes of his educational policies continue to be debated nationwide. A trained teacher, he taught at a secondary school (Gymnasium) before fully committing to a political career. Rabe was active in state and federal politics for more than two decades, serving as President, Vice President, and a board member of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs. He also acted as the coordinator for school policy across all SPD-governed federal states and as a lead negotiator between the federal and state governments.