The joint project with the University of Osnabrück aims to promote (self-)reflection skills as a hinge between theoretical-systematic and experience-based, practical knowledge in the first phase of teacher training for vocational schools. (Self-)reflection skills are necessary as a central dimension of a teacher's professional competence in order to (1) continuously improve their own teaching activities, (2) adapt lessons to new developments such as inclusion, sustainable management, digitalisation, dealing with heterogeneity and (3) actively innovate the school framework and beyond. To this end, a seminar concept for the general school internship (B. A.) and the specialised internship (M. Ed.) will be developed, tested and evaluated in a classic experimental and control group design.

The underlying intervention study takes up the competence area of teaching as a core task of teachers and combines this with the competence area of innovation. To this end, the study utilises the possibilities and potential of digital media by using video-based learning sequences and case studies as well as digital diaries, which serve to link the theoretical content back to complex and authentic practical situations in the preparation for the internship. During the practical phases, the diary encourages students to interweave theory and practice in vocational schools by means of open, subject-related occasions for reflection. At the same time, the reflection prompts embedded in the diary and analysed in conjunction with a multiple-choice test to be constructed on (subject) didactic and educational science knowledge as well as an attitude questionnaire on the perception of relevance of study content make it possible to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention measure.

Further information can also be found on the BMBF project website.