Lehrer kann jeder! (2022)

Richard, a PhD mathematician, is separated from his wife, Anke, and has lost his job at an insurance company. Since then, he has been drifting through life. At a parent-teacher meeting at his daughter’s school, where Anke also works as a teacher, he learns about the serious teacher shortage there. This gives him the idea of applying as a career changer, and he is hired immediately. Secretly, he also hopes this will help him win Anke back. She is not exactly pleased by the unexpected surprise, and their daughter Isa also struggles with the fact that her father now works at her school too. Richard’s new life as a teacher has little in common with the basic-science-focused work routines he is used to. Not everyone on the staff welcomes him, the students’ behavior puts him under considerable strain, and supervisor Pizek has him doing mostly gardening work. In class, Richard increasingly earns his students’ trust. He recognizes that Filiz is exceptionally gifted in mathematics and tries to encourage her. But Filiz rejects his support and instead tells him that Anke has started something with the sports teacher, Christoph Geiger. This comes just as Richard had begun getting along better with Anke and Isa again. Richard considers quitting, but returns to the classroom and continues teaching. At the school’s open house, Richard speaks with Anke and tells her that the most important thing is for them to be good parents to their daughter. The two embrace, which makes Geiger jealous. He throws a basketball at Richard, and a fight breaks out in front of Dr. Bach, the representative of the state school authority. As a consequence, the career changer is dismissed. Richard goes to see his supervisor, who gives him a good recommendation. As Richard is about to leave, he finds the entire staff gathered outside the door; they hold a celebration with Pizek there every year. Richard learns that the staff and students made a short film about the fight and presented it as training material for violence prevention, which impressed Dr. Bach. Richard has nothing to worry about and can apply for a teaching job at any school again. A little later, Richard is back in the school’s staff room. He has applied there again and returns to his old class, where he looks after his students. Isa is happy to have her father back at school, while Anke seems less than certain about her relationship with Geiger. In the final scene, Richard and Anke smile at each other outside the school.