Research funding by teacher training institutions

Historically, research funding provided by teacher training centres has generally been viewed primarily as an indirect and academic service offered by a centre. Today, however, centres are increasingly required to distinguish themselves through research. In many cases, Schools of Education constitute a separate branch specifically designed to support research in particular fields. At various locations across Germany, professorships are even being established at teacher training centres specifically to carry out research tasks. Owing to these very different approaches to promoting research, the question of establishing independent research at teacher training centres has sparked some debate within universities. This is because there are fears that independent research carried out by such an institution might compete with that of the university’s Schools or departments. Consequently, negotiation processes are necessary and co-operation must be initiated.

During the workshop, examples will be used to illustrate how research activities – whether research support services or research itself – are carried out at various locations. The aim is to draw inspiration from these examples for establishing research at teacher training centres of various types.

Speakers: Dr Annegret Hilligus/Prof. Dr Bardo Herzig, Paderborn

Dr Annegret Hilligus has been Managing Director of the Centre for Educational Research and Teacher Education (PLAZ) since 2002. In the course of her work, she focuses intensively on issues relating to the development of teacher education centres and on research funding by teacher education institutions.

The expert report on practical phases in teacher education, published in 2012, allows conclusions to be drawn regarding the design of long-term placements. The report shows that there are different ways in which long-term placements are structured and integrated across Germany. This is precisely why the fundamental question arises as to how long-term placements should be designed so that they can contribute to the professional development of future teachers. These considerations relate not only to the theoretically sound integration of ‘school placements’ into the curriculum, but also to the provision of staff available for the preparation, supervision and reflection on, as well as the organisation of, these ‘school placements’. The central thesis is that only the comprehensive integration of ‘school placements’ into the overall curriculum will benefit students’ training.

During the workshop, the findings of the aforementioned expert report will first be presented, followed by an evaluation of the conditions for success that can be derived for effective long-term placements. This will be followed by a discussion of the role that organisational units within teacher education (ZfL or schools) can play in fulfilling the conditions for the success of long-term placements.

Advisor: Prof. Dr Ulrike Weyland, Bielefeld

Prof. Dr Ulrike Weyland is involved in teaching and research in the field of education, particularly vocational education for healthcare professions and educational psychology. At the University of Osnabrück, she served for several years as a board member of the Centre for Teacher Education; she now teaches and conducts research at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences.
Her research focuses in particular on professionalisation in the context of teacher education, as well as on learning processes during degree programmes and internships through inquiry-based learning.

Research into the effectiveness of teacher in-service further education and professional development has gained significant importance in recent years. Recent studies indicate that further education programmes do indeed have the potential to broaden teachers’ knowledge and practice, and to have an impact right down to the level of the pupils. However, the effectiveness of teacher in-service training programmes appears to depend on certain structural and content-related/didactic characteristics of the programmes on offer. Structurally speaking, successful teacher in-service training programmes extend over a longer period and involve external experts. In terms of content and pedagogy, successful professional development programmes often have a narrow subject-specific pedagogical focus, which prioritises pupils’ learning processes as well as their subject-related concepts, ideas and ways of thinking, thereby expanding teachers’ subject-specific pedagogical and diagnostic knowledge.

As part of the workshop, the conditions for the success of effective teacher training will be presented and discussed. As so-called ‘centres of excellence’ for teacher training have been established in Lower Saxony since January 2012 to provide teachers with evidence-based and needs-oriented training, the workshop will also discuss ways of linking teacher training to universities in a meaningful and quality-enhancing manner. Finally, consideration will be given to the contribution that teacher education institutions (ZfL or Schools) can make towards the meaningful further development of teacher training.

Speaker: Prof. Dr Frank Lipowsky, Kassel

Prof. Dr Frank Lipowsky is a professor of educational science at the University of Kassel. His research interests include empirical classroom research in primary and lower secondary education, teacher research, general didactics and school research. As part of his research projects, he focuses intensively on empirical research into teacher continuing professional development.

What’s going on? Findings from the experience and evaluation of seven practice semester cohorts

The Jena model of teacher training was launched in the winter semester of 2007/2008. As part of this, the Schools Act made the training of future teachers for all schools in Thuringia compulsory within the framework of a practical semester. For the past seven semesters, 250 teacher training students from Jena have spent at least five hours a day in schools for five months per intake. On the university side, students are supported through courses in four modules and compulsory consultations. The Jena Model has been evaluated regularly since 2007.

Dr Peter Holtz, who heads the accompanying research into the Jena model, has highlighted further research and development questions for the practical semester based on the findings now available:

• Do students experience a significant increase in competence during the practical semester, and how does this affect their motivation to study and their identification with the teaching profession?
• To what extent do students experience the ‘contradiction’ between theory and practice during the practical semester?
• How can this contradiction be overcome or mitigated, if necessary?

In this workshop, we will first report on our experiences of supporting students and the schools that host student teachers. Secondly, we will present selected findings from Dr Holtz’s studies. We would like to discuss with you the theory-practice problem associated with practical placements in university teacher training.

PD Dr Karin Kleinespel, Frank Ahrens, Dr Peter Holtz, Jena

Dr Karin Kleinespel is the Research Director at the Centre for Teacher Education and Didactics Research at the University of Jena. Her work at the centre focuses primarily on the conceptual development of teaching, schools and teacher education, covering the following areas: schools, society and education; teaching and school development from both a general didactic and a subject-specific didactic perspective; research within the context of the current debate on school development; and teacher professionalism and training.

Frank Ahrens works at the Centre for Teacher Education and Didactics Research at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and is also a member of staff at the Teaching Practice Office. Since 2007, he has been responsible for the preparation and delivery of the supervised block lab course and the Jena practical semester.

Dr Peter Holtz works as a research assistant at the Centre for Teacher Education and Didactics Research at the University of Jena. Between 2002 and 2006, Dr Holtz completed his PhD in psychology (thesis topic: ‘What is music? Subjective theories of music-making artists’). He is also involved in the evaluation of the Jena practical semester.

‘Aptitude counselling’ in teacher education?

At many of the teacher training centres established in recent years, a great deal of time and effort is now being invested in developing concepts, procedures and training programmes designed to enable students to reassess their choice of degree programme at a very early stage of their studies. The frequently raised question of individual “suitability” suggests that the aptitudes required for teaching have the status of relatively stable characteristics that are already firmly anchored in the personality structure of young adults. In reality, however, the professional skills and knowledge essential for teaching are, to a large extent, only acquired during training and consolidated in the workplace. It is therefore necessary to view the Bachelor’s phase of teacher training as the starting point for a lifelong process of competence development within one’s professional career, and to offer students early opportunities to gain practical experience and to reflect on those experiences in a scientifically sound manner.

Speaker: Prof. Dr Hermann Veith, Göttingen

Prof. Dr Hermann Veith works in the field of pedagogical socialisation research. His focus is on educational and socialisation processes, taking into account the entire educational context, both within and outside school. His research aims to examine the various dimensions of competence and personality development during the formative years of adolescence. Among other things, Prof. Veith engages intensively with the issue of guidance on the competences required for the teaching profession.