A trainee teacher who repeatedly attends events organised by an organisation classified as far-right by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution may therefore be excluded from the training programme. It is not necessary for the individual to hold civil servant status for this to apply. This was decided by the Saxon Higher Administrative Court (OVG), which upheld the revocation of an admission to the trainee teaching programme that had already been granted (Ref.: 2 B 264/26 of 21 September 2026).

The applicant had initially been admitted to the pre-service training programme for teaching at grammar schools in the subjects of German and music. After the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution had reported that she had attended several events organised by the Institute for State Policy (IfS) between 2022 and 2025, the State Office for Schools and Education withdrew her admission with immediate effect. The Dresden Administrative Court had already rejected the applicant’s application for interim relief. Her appeal before the Higher Administrative Court was also unsuccessful.

The Second Senate confirmed that a minimum level of loyalty to the Constitution is required not only in the civil service but also in a training relationship governed by public law where the trainee does not have civil servant status. In doing so, it referred to the case law of the Federal Administrative Court concerning the legal traineeship (Ref.: 2 C 15.23 of 10 October 2024). This standard applies to trainee teachers because of their special role in relation to school-age children and young people, who are unable to escape the influence of the teaching staff. Admittedly, the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution had been unable to produce any lists of participants or other evidence of the applicant’s active participation in the IfS events. However, in the Senate’s view, the mere fact that she was repeatedly present at closed events accessible only to registered participants is sufficient to raise doubts as to her loyalty to the Constitution. Her claim, however, that she had merely passed through the premises whilst visiting her parents, did not convince the Senate.

„The ruling provides grounds for public authorities to examine particularly carefully, right from the recruitment stage, whether applicants are likely to fulfil their duty of loyalty to the Constitution – regardless of whether they ultimately become civil servants or are recruited under a training or employment contract governed by public law,“ explains lawyer Kristina Gottschalk.

The decision is final; admission to the legal traineeship will now be decided in the appeal proceedings.