The core area of the school sector, which is also represented within the Didactic Centre, makes a significant contribution to a comprehensive range of in-service training and further education programmes for teachers and educators of all kinds.

Whilst the Oldenburg Centre for Continuing Professional Development (OFZ) specialises in particular in bridging the gap between university theory and school practice – which is often quite different – the Diz also offers further education opportunities that enable teachers, as is currently the case in the field of special educational needs, to engage with entirely new bodies of knowledge and contact them in their professional practice.

The diz designs and coordinates further education programmes for teachers. These programmes, which involve training in an (additional) subject or an (additional) specialism, aim to lead to the award of a qualification or certificate that documents the teacher’s licence or teaching qualification. As a rule, these further education programmes are undertaken on a part-time basis alongside work.

Through these programmes in the third phase of teacher training, the diz is responding to the current requirements and needs of schools and teaching staff. The content of the further education programmes is generally developed in close co-operation with colleagues from the fields of educational sciences and subject-specific didactics at the University of Oldenburg. Where necessary, external experts are commissioned to deliver parts of the further education.

• In order to provide adequate support for working with pupils with specific educational needs in mainstream schools, the Didactic Centre, in close co-operation with the Institute of Special Needs Education and Rehabilitation, offers the further education programme ‘Pedagogy and Didactics for Learning Difficulties and Challenges in Emotional and Social Development’.