Teachers, Teacher Education, and Professional Development
The individual states in Germany regulate teacher education, although a resolution agreed on by the Standing Conference guarantees recognition of university examinations for the teaching profession in the different states. Teacher education in Germany is structured into two phases—university based study and partially supervised pedagogical training in school classrooms (Referendariat) lasting from one to two years. The first phase was restructured recently from a course of study ending with state examinations into a course of study generally comprising 10 semesters (5 years) and culminating in a master’s degree in education (B.Ed. & M.Ed). The Standing Conference in 2004 issued national teacher education standards specifying key requirements and general competencies (teaching, education, assessment, and innovation) as well as subject-specific competencies. 23,24
Teacher Education Specific to Mathematics and Science
Generally, for fourth grade and eighth grade teachers alike, teacher education requires courses in educational sciences and two specific academic subjects, original empirical scholarship, a school internship, and a practicum semester. In North Rhine-Westphalia, primary school teacher education comprises at least 40 percent mathematics and German and 21 percent educational science. No specific amount of science education is required.25 The national teacher education standards for primary school science (Sachunterricht) teachers require formal education in multiple disciplinary perspectives, including the study of space, time, sociocultural communication and understanding, natural sciences, and technology, as well as the study of science-oriented pedagogical techniques, such as model construction, experimentation, interviewing, and documentation. The national teacher education standards for primary school mathematics teachers require formal education in the number systems, displays, and patterns in their cultural development and structural meaning for elementary arithmetic and number theory; geometry and measurement; functions as universal tools in different applied contexts; and data analysis and probability modeling.26
In North Rhine-Westphalia, secondary school mathematics and science teachers spend at least 27 percent of their total time studying their first major subject, another 27 percent studying their second major subject, and at least 20 percent studying educational science. National teacher education standards for eighth grade science teachers include subject-specific course requirements in biology, chemistry, geography, or physics, whereas mathematics includes topics in arithmetic and algebra, geometry, linear algebra, analysis of functions, stoichiometry, applied mathematics and mathematical technology, and mathematics didactics.27
Requirements for Ongoing Professional Development
To ensure ongoing professional development, teachers are required to participate regularly in training and development. In-service training for teachers is located in the state where they are tenured, and regulated by state law. Professional development opportunities are provided at the local, regional, and central levels, and are organized by supervisory authorities (Schulämter) under the jurisdiction of the Standing Conference.28 In-service training focuses on keeping teachers up to date in the subjects they teach and the teaching methods they use, as well as in the broader fields of psychology and sociology of education.