A strong voice for teacher training Nationwide networking: the goal of coherent and comprehensive training

By 2030, Germany is expected to have a shortage of up to 68,000 teachers. Tackling this shortage while guaranteeing high-quality training across the three phases of teacher training is an important task for the future. How this can be achieved was the topic of a nationwide networking meeting in Braunschweig, hosted by the Stifterverband and Professor Katja Koch, Vice President for Teacher Education at TU Braunschweig.

Professor Katja Koch, Vice President for Teacher Education at TU Braunschweig, had invited to the networking meeting in Braunschweig together with the Stifterverband. Photo credit: Silja Klemenz/TU Braunschweig

On 18 October, around 60 scientific directors of the centres for teacher education and schools of education, pro-rectors and vice-presidents responsible for teacher education, and other stakeholders in university teacher education came together. The meeting was supported by the Stifterverband, which, with its future-oriented mission in the field of education, brings together stakeholders from business, science and civil society who want to shape teacher training and boldly rethink, promote and further develop it.

The goal: to establish a German Society for Teacher Education

The association is convinced that an important prerequisite for strong teacher education is to optimally align the various training areas and phases and to interlink undergraduate studies, teaching practice, and continuing education. The strategic capability of the Centres for Teacher Education and Schools of Education must be further strengthened and professional, cross-phase and integrative communication structures must be created at the national and state level.

Around 60 scientific directors of the centres for teacher education and Schools of Education, pro-rectors and vice-presidents responsible for teacher education, as well as other stakeholders in university teacher education, came together at TU Braunschweig. Photo credits: Silja Klemenz/TU Braunschweig

The networking meeting was therefore intended to provide the impetus for the establishment of a nationwide association for teacher education that combines all three phases of teacher education and represents a viable network structure. This goal was actively supported by those present. By the end of the event, more than ten of the universities present were prepared to support the society financially as founding members.

“At the end of the event, this was a strong signal in favour of high-quality, coherent and, above all, research-based teacher training,” says Professor Katja Koch, who had prepared the meeting together with a group of colleagues from various federal states.