More and more classes being canceled, full classrooms and a lack of young teachers have been affecting the German educational landscape for more than a decade. Saxony has been countering this trend since 2017 with its academic training program for teachers. Moreover, it also offers side-entrants into the profession the opportunity to train as teachers while continuing to work – such as with the Part-time Qualification of Teachers (BQL) program. This qualification measure by TU Dresden’s Center for Teacher Education and Educational Research (ZLSB) has now been awarded the University Pearl of the Month for July 2023 from the German Stifterverband für die deutsche Wissenschaft.

BQL makes an innovative and high-quality contribution to the academic training of side-entrants into teaching. With a success rate of more than 80 percent, approximately 800 teachers have graduated from the program to date. “Due to the massive shortage of teachers, we need many more of these innovative approaches. The Saxon approach shows how teacher training can be designed in a new and sustainable way,” the jury of the Stifterverband said when awarding the University Pearl of the Month for July to the Dresden group.

The BQL program enables participants to qualify on-the-job two days a week at TU Dresden while working in the classroom. On the other three days, they teach at schools in the Free State of Saxony. The innovative combination of school practice and scientific university studies in real time promotes the connection of school activities with scientific and didactic knowledge.

Contact: Dr. Peggy Germer