Model projects of Lehramt.International at a Glance
BMBF welcoming address
Dear readers,
I am pleased on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to invite you to read this online publication and discover what the title ‘Innovation, Cooperation, Impact: Lehramt.International – a programme takes stock’ has to reveal.
Since 2019, the BMBF has deployed the DAAD ‘Lehramt.International’ Programme to underpin the international orientation of teacher education at German universities. This topic is especially
Ministerial Director Peter Greisler, Head of the BMBF’s Higher Education Directorate Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
relevant: future teachers will be working in an ever more diverse environment. International experience and intercultural skills are therefore indispensable prerequisites for dealing with diversity in the classroom. This is exactly where the programme concept behind ‘Lehramt.International’ comes in. It firstly addresses a targeted group of students who have previously been less internationally mobile. Secondly, it enables the universities to expedite and implement the required curricular changes in all necessary subject areas relating to teacher education. The programme means that universities and students are able to take advantage of various funding modules that can be used individually or in complementary fashion. Policy dialogue activities that can be used to address the various education and science ministries in the different federal states also form part of this funding programme. The required internationalisation of teacher training can succeed given this overarching funding approach.
The 36 model projects at German universities form the core of the funding programme and are the focus of this online publication. The articles provide varied insights into the successful project outcomes that the universities have achieved over the last five years together with their cooperation partners in over 50 countries around the world. Read on to learn what students take away from their experiences abroad or how student teachers are already being prepared to communicate theirintercultural skills at their home institution in Germany. Texts, videos and testimonials in the project articles demonstrate how the internationalisation of curricula is being achieved and how interaction and networking among projects is functioning successfully. Alumni activities and accompanying research are moreover further important aspects of these project activities.
I am grateful to all participants for their commitment to this internationalisation process. Your work and what you have achieved clearly indicates that sustainable internationalisation in teacher training is worthwhile. We as the BMBF would like to provide further support to this process. The ‘Lehramt.International’ programme will therefore continue for another five years from 2025 onwards, so that what has been achieved to date can be sustainably perpetuated with new impetus.
DAAD welcoming address
Time for a progress review
Successful Internationalisation of teacher education
This online presentation impressively shows how universities are successfully addressing the difficult process of internationalising teacher training. Networking among university projects not only enables experience to be discussed, it also facilitates tangible academic collaborations – both in and beyond the home federal state. This creates underlying institutional and structural conditions that advance sustainable internationalisation of the teacher training at German universities.Dr Andreas Hoeschen, Head of Division P4 ‘Internationalisation of Higher Education in Germany’ DAAD
Individual, institutional and structural support
Successful internationalisation of teacher education (Module A)
Since 2019, the Lehramt.International programme has supported over 36 German universities in the internationalisation of their teacher education programmes. Innovative model projects strengthen global collaborations and integrate international structures. This publication showcases impressive results and key topics that highlight the progress of internationalisation.
Using international experience to competently face diversity in schools (Module B)
The ‘Lehramt.International’ Individual Scholarship Programme supports prospective teachers through study-related stays abroad that strengthen intercultural competencies and foster professional development. With over 6,600 applications since 2019 and positive feedback from participants, the success of this programme is evident, offering teacher education students valuable international experiences.
Marketing materials for German universities (Module C)
The marketing offers for the individual scholarships within the Lehramt.International program help German universities inform teacher education students about the wide range of opportunities for studying abroad. The goal is to increase awareness of the scholarships and encourage students to actively participate.
Information, consultation, programme dialogue (Module C)
To sustainably strengthen the internationalisation of teacher education, it is essential to foster not only individual and institutional support but also knowledge-based exchanges with stakeholders in teacher education. This exchange helps drive improvements in higher education policies and frameworks. This article provides an overview of how this has been achieved through Lehramt.International in recent years.
The Lehramt.International model projects
Subject area 1: Internationalisation at Home (I@H)
University of Jena: IDEAS
The development of intercultural competencies in teacher education students is becoming increasingly important in the German higher education landscape. But how can these strongly practice-based skills be stimulated in as large a target group as possible? International and digital-based simulation games can be a low-threshold, inexpensive and effective way to meet the specific needs of teacher training programs and will be presented in the following overview.
University of Potsdam: UP Network for Sustainable Teacher Education
A promising approach to the internationalisation of teaching is its connection with topics related to the SDGs within the framework of Internationalisation at Home. The presented examples of an international, interdisciplinary summer school and a project week on sustainability topics highlight the positive effects on the internationalisation of teacher education programmes.
University of Erfurt: ELsA
The ‘Schule weltweit’ series of events organised by the DAAD-funded project ‘Erfurter Lehramtsstudierende im Ausland (ELsA)’ was continuously planned, implemented and expanded over the course of the project. The offer provided Erfurt students with intercultural learning opportunities in line with Internationalisation@home to further their personal and career-related extracurricular education.
University of Hildesheim: TRANSLANG
The TRANSLANG project enables student teachers to engage with language-sensitive pedagogy in a multidimensional, cooperative way through research-based learning and to connect with an international and multilingual community of practice as part of the Teacher Translanguaging Camps.
University of Mainz: LPlus
The Mainz GO projects offer attractive short-term mobility programmes for students from our partners in Scotland and Ireland. They combine theory and practice and enable intercultural dialogue on socially relevant topics such as migration and climate change. In this way, they make a valuable contribution to internationalisation at home, the active cultivation of partnerships and the connection between schools and universities in Rhineland-Palatinate. Last but not least, by presenting the results at the ‘Scot-t Fest’ at JGU Mainz, they also reach a broad public and achieve media resonance in radio, television and social media.
University of Bamberg: BaTEG
This article presents three examples from the BaTEG project that demonstrate strategies for integrating internationalisation experiences into the curriculum: The establishment of the international summer schools as recognised seminars, the implementation of intercultural training within the compulsory elective area, and the integration of international guest lectures into teaching.
University of Oldenburg: Dimensions of Diversity in Teacher Education
Teaching Across Borders breaks down geographical and technical barriers and enables student teachers from South Africa, Germany and the Netherlands to work together, gain an insight into their school systems, learn the basics of lesson planning with a view to similarities and differences and develop a lesson together. Almost everything that an internship abroad has to offer!
Pedagogical University of Freiburg L!NT
In order to further promote the internationalisation of our university, we are funding teaching stays at partner universities through our project ‘L!NT – Lehramt International!’ In addition, we support summer schools that include a curriculum-based virtual preparation and follow-up phase, as well as a two-week on-site phase at PH Freiburg, featuring seminars, workshops, school visits, and excursions.
Subject area 2: Preparation/follow-up, mentoring and reflection on stays abroad
Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
The cross-phase support of student teachers during stays abroad (before, during and after) is a focus of the DAAD model project. Blended mobility elements complement and enhance the study and practical phases abroad. The Teacher Training Certificate Programme intercultural (LAIK) thus contributes to intercultural, subject-specific and pedagogical professionalisation in a variety of ways.
University of Passau: global.trex
‘Teaching in English’ – a language course+. CLIL (content and language integrated learning) as an approach to action-orientated language preparation for teaching placements abroad.
University of Tübingen: Global Awareness for Future Teachers
The portfolio course ‘Global Learning Abroad – Education in Exchange’ is an example of how incoming/outgoing students can be supported through a professionalisation programme. The intercultural skills of future teachers are to be promoted using the didactic and individualised portfolio concept of the Tübingen School of Education.
University of Würzburg: GoTEd
In the ‘Global Teacher Education’ project of the Professional School of Education at the University of Würzburg, pre- and post-study intercultural training sessions together with an online meeting for interim assessment and a final meeting for reflection as well as peer-to-peer experience exchanges have proven to be have proven to be important for successful study and internship stays.
University of Hamburg: DiCoT
In the DiCoT project, students are prepared for and accompanied on school internships in Germany and abroad through anti-bias seminars. This means that not only theory, but also students’ experiences and emotions become the subject of the seminars. Supplementary one-off workshops are offered to outgoing students before and after their internship abroadIn the DiCoT project, students are prepared and supported for school internships at home and abroad through anti-bias seminars. This means that not only theory, but also students’ experiences and emotions become the subject of the seminars. Supplementary one-off workshops offer departing students a space for critical (self-)reflection and dialogue before and after their internship abroad.
Subject area 3: (Accompanying) research and publications
University of Hamburg: TTT
This interview study focuses on the experiences of student teachers from a German, Ghanaian and US university during their stay abroad as part of a joint exchange programme. The aim is to find out how the students deal with uncertainty and irritation and what role this plays in their future careers.
University of Flensburg: Partners in Mobility
Student teachers were surveyed over a period of three years about their interest in a study-related stay abroad and the obstacles they perceived to this. Quantitative differences were found for the aspects of study component, specialised knowledge, career development, personal development and personal circumstances. Measures to increase the attractiveness of mobility are derived from this.
Subject area 4: Curricular assimilation and recognition of internationalisation experiences
University of Vechta: MAPS
The MAPS project of the Universities of Vechta, Tallinn and Bolzano aims to internationalise teacher training. The integration of internationally orientated seminars and a summer school promotes the development of professional competence. Despite challenges such as recognition practice, the results of the project to date show a positive trend and increasing interest. Further measures are planned.
University of Education Weingarten: Internationalisation of teacher education
A ‘digital toolbox’ for recognising credits earned abroad is presented. This includes: a) (digital) information documents and information events and b) a concept for extra-curricular recognition (certificate). This is intended to address both students and teaching staff. The aim is to improve information, communication and opportunities with regard to recognition.
University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU): Secondary School Teacher Training German/French
Curricular anchoring and recognition of the work done abroad in two compulsory summer schools, which take place in Paris in the first Bachelor’s year and in Landau in the second Bachelor’s year. Both summer schools form a separate compulsory module, including examinations, for the respective Bachelor’s programme year.
Heidelberg University of Education (PH Heidelberg): ProMobiL
The mandatory recognition of academic achievements from abroad is one of the key factors that encourage student teachers to decide in favour of studying abroad without extending their study period. The recognition database is an important planning tool. Close supervision at the home and host universities also plays a key role in the success of the programme.
Humboldt University Berlin: HIT
The article illustrates the possibility of research-based learning in the teaching profession using the example of a model project in which students at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin carried out their ‘learning research project’ on the topics of ‘inclusion’, ‘multilingualism’ and ‘historical awareness’ in cooperation with partner universities in South Africa as part of their Master’s degree programme.
University of Erlangen: FAU
At Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, students can complete a teacher training programme with a dedicated international profile. The additional studies ‘FAU Lehramt International’ anchor the international dimension in the curriculum and prepare teachers for pedagogical action in a globalised world and for the tasks involved in international school development.
Subject area 5: Establishing and maintaining sustainable collaborations
Technische Universität Braunschweig: ‘Go out, Come in’
In the ‘Go out, Come in’ project for the institutionalisation of exchange structures in teacher training at the TU Braunschweig, the sustainable development of cooperation through the individualised provision of short-term faculty-led programmes consisting of teaching, work shadowing and cultural offers as a basis for negotiating exchange places at partner universities has proven to be successful and promising.
Heidelberg University: Mobility in International Teacher Education
Internationalisation is relationship work – especially when it comes to cooperation from the ground up. In 2019, the DAAD project ‘Mobil sein in der internationalen Lehrerbildung’ was launched with Teachers College (TC) at Columbia University. The highlight was the digital Autumn School ‘Transculturality in Teacher Education’, which promoted relationships at eye level and facilitated dialogue between students and lecturers.
University of Hannover: Transformative Horizons 2.0
The goal of institutionalised international cooperation meets the challenges of different structures in teacher training. In the Transformative Horizons 2.0. project at Leibniz University Hannover, contacts at university level are used to establish teacher training-related partnerships. These take into account specifics, e.g. in vocational teacher training and cross-cutting topics.
University of Bremen: Mainstreaming Diversity & Inclusion
The Bremen project ‘Lehramtsstudium International: Mainstreaming Diversity and Inclusion’ project
Diversity sensitivity is strengthened as a central aspect of the professionalisation of prospective teachers and awareness of the connection between internationality, heterogeneity in migration society and inclusion from an intersectional perspective is expanded among all participants. A special feature of the programme is the close professional exchange with the participating partner universities in Austria, Canada and Namibia. This not only forms a sustainable basis for cooperation at seminar level and ensures the quality of support for international study-practice stays, but also provides content-related impetus for the further development of teaching and research on teacher education for inclusive schools in the migration society.
Ludwigsburg University of Education (PH Ludwigsburg): INVITE
The INVITE project has provided long-term support for the development of a European strategic partnership with Oslo Metropolitan University with a package of measures. The DAAD has not only made it possible to subsequently admit the partner, to finance school visits and teacher and student exchanges, but also to set the first milestones for anchoring the study visits in the curricula.
University of Marburg: LiMa
The LiMa – Lehramt international in Marburg project, which is funded by the DAAD from 2021 to 2024 at Philipps-Universität Marburg (UMR), has started with three pilot subjects: Biology, Geography and Educational Sciences. However, it was designed from the outset to involve other subjects in the cooperation where the content fits and there is interest. We show how this has resulted in an international research co-operation in political didactics.
University of Göttingen: BEST Exchange
As the only project partner in the Global South, it was particularly important to us to sustainably intensify our cooperation with the Instituto Ivoti. This was made possible by internal project adjustments and synergy effects in the form of further, partly DAAD-funded projects (Virtual Exchange, Study Visits) and initial transfer services at the University of Regensburg.
Ruhr University Bochum: PiStE
Guest lecturers and lecturers from Ruhr University Bochum offer learning opportunities for student teachers and pupils from neighbouring schools in the Alfried Krupp School Lab. As part of a project seminar, there are programmes on the topic of diversity in Ecuador. In addition to the creation of materials, the focus is on intercultural teaching and learning opportunities for students and pupils.
Technische Universität Darmstadt: PraxisPro
The ‘Lehramt.International Hessen’ network offers workshops, lectures and summer schools for students and other interested parties to promote diversity, methodological and specialist skills as part of internationalisation@home. Other topics, such as ESD/sustainability, are planned for future work.
Subject area 6: Peer-to-peer mentoring, testimonials and alumni activities
University of Cologne (UoC): UNITE Cologne
UNITE Cologne PEERS – Peer Engagement in Education – Respectful & Sustainable is an indispensable
building block in the internationalisation of teacher training. The low-threshold support provided by peers before, during and after the stay abroad takes the individual needs of the target group into account to a high degree. Academic and intercultural competences of the students are sustainably promoted.
Dresden University of Technology: IMPRESS 2.0
Contact forums as a format for an efficient exchange between international Alumni Germany, former scholarship holders and student teachers are an effective way of individualised planning of stays abroad.
Subject area 7: Selected lesson subjects and types of schools
University of Wuppertal: L-GrIn
The internationalisation of primary school teaching requires special measures, as the target group of primary school teacher training students is not very mobile and studying several subjects requires increased organisational effort. Special support programmes are needed here to alleviate financial fears, worries about leaving one’s social environment and an extension of study time.
MOVE IT!: Technische Universität Berlin
In a national comparison, students studying to become vocational school teachers are less mobile abroad than average. In addition to the specifics of the German vocational education and training system, this is due in particular to the fact that this group differs from other (teacher training) students in terms of characteristics and needs. Successful programmes must therefore be designed in a diversity-sensitive and target group-specific way.
University of Giessen: IMPACCT
The internationalisation of subjects beyond foreign languages is an important aspect of the internationalisation of teacher training. This is precisely what we are focusing on in the IMPACCT project (International Mobility with Partner Abroad for Culturaly Competent Teachers), thereby supporting an important interreligious and intercultural dialogue.