Research fields

"Economy-technology-budget/social affairs" and the corona crisis - thoughts on subject development and teacher training
by Prof. Dr. Rolf Koerber

In his cultural history of modern times, Egon Friedell pointed out that history is a novel that contemporaries only received as randomly divided sequels. In this respect, the future effects of the crisis cannot yet be foreseen.

However, it is the task of a university-based subject to think about the implications, to anticipate possible consequences and to draw conclusions for the subject, its didactics and the training of teachers.

The subject in Saxony

The subject "Economics, Technology, Household and Social Affairs (WTH)" was introduced in the course of the curriculum reform in the 2004/05 school year in Saxony for the then Mittelschule, now Oberschule. The subject sees itself in the tradition of integrated work studies, but in comparison to similar subjects in other federal states, it has an additional household reference. This emphasizes its practical life component, which thus comes alongside the work orientation. WTH lessons in Saxony are designed to be multi-perspective and supplement vocational orientation with practical, real-life aspects such as food preparation and stockpiling or income and expenditure accounting in a private household.

Teachers for the subject at secondary schools have been trained at TU Dresden since 2012. The subject training was transferred to the Institute for Vocational Didactics and was initially supervised by the chairs of the vocational Departments of Food Nutrition and Home Economics and Metal and Mechanical Engineering. As a result of this and its propaedeutic-occupational approach, the subject didactics of WTH has a close relationship to vocational didactics. Typically, a practical and work-oriented school subject has a didactic approach that is strongly action-oriented. This is also reflected in the broad workshop training at both schools and universities (the subject is taught at the University of Leipzig for the teaching profession at special schools and at Chemnitz University of Technology for the primary school teaching profession).

Currently, over 200 students are studying the subject as undergraduates and a further 80 as part-time teachers.

What is currently emerging - in relation to our subject - in the context of the pandemic?

• Changes in work: WTH is not work studies, but work (both professional and private) has an important role to play: precisely because household and work are merging during the crisis (keyword: working from home), we need to consider the consequences of this. Who else but us (and perhaps ethics) could think about this? What about salutogenesis? What about preventive healthcare?
• Relocalization instead of globalization: Due to the disruption of supply chains and the vulnerability of globalized flows of goods that are not sufficiently diversified, a relocalization of the economy is to be expected: this affects both the global economy and individual (private) households. The crisis also highlights the importance of sustainable household management skills and the need to master cultural techniques such as food preparation.
• Digitalization and distancing of learning: Digitalization will receive an enormous boost, especially in the educational sector. The tools that have been developed in recent decades are now being widely used and it remains to be seen which tools and processes will prevail. This is a technical question, but also a didactic one. Didactics - supported by scientific findings and our own research - must help to ensure that learning does not become less sustainable and effective as a result of digitalization and physical distancing. After all, the knowledge society is not being displaced - on the contrary.
• Social participation and self-realization: What do the political, economic and social changes mean for our students? How can WTH contribute to supporting successful biographies? What skills are our students likely to need in the future in order to lead a self-determined life in a pluralistic society after and during the pandemic?

What do we do with this in the professionalization of future teachers (students and so-called "lateral entrants")?

• Think about what content should be taught and how: Direct implementation, where possible (and necessary), in the sense of a "didactic double-decker": teaching at the university works didactically in such a way that the experiences are also applicable for students in their later professional practice.
• Incorporating our current experience into the upcoming revision of the curricula.
• Identify and fill research gaps: Develop research topics, offer scient. Offer accompanying scientific research, promote own research (e.g. dissertations), acquire research projects (prepare third-party funding applications and research).
• Introduce research results (our own, but also those from our sub-domains) into teaching, demonstrate and test concrete application possibilities and thus contribute to the professionalization of the teaching profession.