Jun 27, 2025
Enrolment extended: Alternative Teaching Internship at Selected Secondary Schools in East Saxony
Late registration for the semester-accompanying school internship is possible in the OPAL course "Semester-accompanying block internship A" until August 15, 2025.
The number of participating schools also depends on the number of bindingly enrolled students. It is not only the new schools in the project that require a certain amount of preparation time. Ideally, they will be able to start finalizing their plans before the summer break. In order to enable timely enrolment and because the school year and the academic year do not have the same rhythm, the accompanying seminar is planned across semesters.
The alternative teaching internship at selected schools in Eastern Saxony (ALSO) was launched at TU Dresden in summer 2024 with 13 future teachers at two schools as a project to test a better theory-practice link in the teacher training program. In the 2024/25 school year, 44 students traveled to a school in Neusalza-Spremberg, Görlitz, Zittau or Löbau every Friday after the autumn vacations and accompanied a school class in a team of four for a whole day of learning each week.
The hours worked are credited for the compulsory internship, but all additional hours are also remunerated on a pro rata basis. This is a good way to combine professional practice and a student job. All details on enrolment and the project process to date are available on the website for the semester-accompanying block internship A.
In the semester-accompanying internship, participating students can grow into the role of teacher and learning support and are supported in their professionalization through events at TU Dresden. In addition to an accompanying seminar, this is the collegial case consultation (KFB) of the Educational Science Teaching and Research Workshop (ELF). Here, prospective teachers can develop their professional skills in a peer setting, reflect on their own pedagogical approaches and improve teaching methods.
In the programme, the teachers in training do not teach subject-specific lessons, but support students with additional learning opportunities in smaller learning groups. The content includes, for example, reading promotion, project work or independent work in so-called learning offices.
In the alternative teaching internship at selected secondary schools in eastern Saxony, students benefit from the experience with the semester-long internship at Dresden University School. Prof. Anke Langner is continuously developing this format together with the school community and students to improve the link between theory and practice early on in the course.
About the University School Dresden
Dresden University School is a joint project of the state capital of Dresden and the TUD Dresden University of Technology. It is a public and free community school run by the city, where innovative forms of teaching and learning are tested under academic supervision. In addition, it is a training school for future teachers and, in the future, a further education school for teachers. The school trial is being scientifically supported by the ForUS research center at TU Dresden.
Information on the research project at TU Dresden: https: //tu-dresden.de/gsw/unischule
Information on the Dresden University School: http://universitaetsschule.org
You can find insights into the research project and everyday school life on various social media channels under @unischuleTUD: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. News from the University School Dresden project can be found regularly in the GSW newsletter.
Starting in the 2024–25 school year, student teachers at TU Dresden will be able to gain ongoing experience in schools through the project ALSO — Alternative Teaching Practicum, reflect on these experiences under guidance, and connect them to theories from their university education. This is made possible by a revised practicum format and close collaboration between TU Dresden and the partner schools— beginning as early as the first year of study but also in later semesters.
During the semester-long school practicum, students are supported by the Chair of Education / Inclusive Education (EWIB). During their placement, which begins after the fall break and continues throughout the remainder of the school year, students work in teams of four to jointly design a learning day each week for their 5th-grade class. In the A-Internship, the focus is on building a pedagogical relationship, structuring the learning day, and analyzing and reflecting on teaching-and-learning processes; while the B internship focuses on implementing subject-specific teaching and learning approaches using innovative teaching and learning formats, as tested and researched in the Dresden University School pilot project.
- ALSO-project page of the Chair of Education / Inclusive Education
- ALSO-Media Review
- News of the University School Research Unit (ForUS)
- zur Einschreibung im OPAL-Kurs "ALSO - Alternatives Lehramtspraktikum Ostsachsen"
- General information about the practical training phases (school-based practical studies) on the ZLSB website