New School of Education, new Master of Education

Teacher training reform will be complete by the 2018/2019 winter term. The collaboration between the University and the University of Education Freiburg (PH) has reached new heights through its Master of Education. The universities have signed an agreement to further develop their collaborative network Freiburg Advanced Center of Education (FACE) founded in 2015 to become the School of Education FACE.

“The cooperation in our collaborative network has allowed our partnership and mutual trust to grow in leaps and bounds in the past few years. The founding of the School of Education FACE is a logical step in uniquely uniting our collective strengths. It also provides participants in the teacher training program to have an even better education,” says Prof. Dr. Hans-Jochen Schiewer, Rector for the University of Freiburg. "Another focus of FACE will be on empirical education and teaching research, networking with teacher education stakeholders - such as the state seminars, schools and the regional council - as well as the continuing education of teachers," adds Prof. Dr. Ulrich Druwe, Rector for PH Freiburg.

The School of Education FACE is a permanent, multidisciplinary institution with its own committees and its own office. It will work closely with the competent committees of both universities: Its task will be to bring together the different activities in teaching, research and school practice on-site in Freiburg. Above all, it will coordinate cooperation within the teacher training programs: the polyvalent double major bachelor’s degree program with a teacher training option and the Master of Education for high school teaching located at the University as well as the bachelor’s degree program for teachers at the secondary level I and the Master of Education for secondary level I teaching located at PH. In terms of joint courses, the University primarily showcases its subject-related expertise while PH primarily applies its subject-specific didactic expertise. In addition, the School of Education FACE will continue to develop teacher training and provide impetus with the aim of optimally coordinating and implementing content from various disciplines, educational sciences, subject-related didactics and the practical phases of the bachelor's and master's programs.

Another important objective for the new teacher training program is to increase teachers’ academic focus. “Excellent teacher training involves not only expertise in the specific subject areas, but also current didactic and pedagogical methods,” emphasizes Prof. Dr. Timo Leuders, vice rector for research at PH Freiburg. “At FACE, these disciplines will be represented by excellent scientists whose didactic and pedagogical research has attracted international attention and who have acquired a variety of research projects in educational research." A few years before FACE was founded, empirical education and teaching research (KEBU) at the University and PH joined forces in a joint competence network to conduct research on educational processes in school and at the university. This cooperation and the close connection to science-based teaching will be further pursued and intensified at the School of Education FACE. It has planned to form a research group on inclusion, for instance.

In addition, the further work of the "Freiburger Praxiskolleg", which includes schools and state seminars on didactics and teacher training, will be coordinated at the School of Education FACE. It aims, among other things, to promote exchange, initiate further cooperation projects between schools and colleges and, in collaboration with the “Zentrum für Lehrerfortbildung” (ZELF) (Center for Teacher Training), to develop and offer certification courses for continuing education for teachers.

The four-semester Master of Education program, which will start during the 2018/2019 winter term, focuses on subject-oriented content, especially educational sciences. In the first two semesters, the modules “teaching,” "assessing and promoting" and "educating" form the basis for the twelve-week school practice, which takes place in the third semester. The students then write their master's theses in one of the two subjects or in educational sciences.

The six-semester double major bachelor’s degree program focuses on specific subject areas so that it qualifies students not only for the Master of Education, but also for subject-specific master’s degree programs or an immediate step into a different occupational field. “With the bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, the University and PH have jointly created an overall coherent structure for teacher training. The goal is to prepare our students as optimally as possible for their teacher traineeship and their profession,” says Prof. Dr. Juliane Besters-Dilger, Vice-President for Academic Affairs at the University of Freiburg. The application deadline for the Master of Education at the University is July 15, 2018, at PH it was May 15, 2018.

For more information

• FACE
• Teacher training program at the University of Freiburg
• Teacher training program at the University of Education Freiburg