Teacher Education Programme: secondary education (Mittelschule)

Students at a round table in the Learning Innovation Lab

Corridor of the central library with bookshelves

Qualification awarded	First State Examination for Teachers
Duration	7 semesters
Starts in	April (summer semester) and October (winter semester)
Language of instruction	German

Qualification awarded	First State Examination for Teachers
Duration	7 semesters
Starts in	April (summer semester) and October (winter semester)
Language of instruction	German

About the programme

One of three types of secondary school in Germany, Mittelschule continues from primary school and provides vocational education. Mittelschulen offer full-day teaching and cooperate systematically with Berufsschule schools, regional employers and the German federal employment agency. Upon completion of their Mittelschule education, pupils receive the Mittelschule school-leaving certificate and have the opportunity to gain the intermediate Mittlere Reife school leaving certificate. As a future Mittelschule teacher you will teach from 5th to 10th year at Mittelschule schools, accompanying your pupils from the late stages of childhood through their puberty. As a result, education and advice is a key role of the Mittelschule, in addition to imparting knowledge and providing vocational orientation.

For details, please consult the Academic Advice Service's infosheet [German content]. The module catalogues [German content] list the exact courses you have to take in your teaching subjects, didactics subjects and educational sciences.

Features

International outlook: The University offers you a wide range of opportunities to go abroad during your studies. In addition to the classic exchange programmes at over 250 partner universities, you can complete internships or practice teaching at schools abroad and take part in a wide range of excursions.
Strong link between theory and practice: innovative teaching-and-learning formats at the University combine didactic, academic and practical school content using digital media.
Learning Innovation Labs: You can develop and test new teaching and learning concepts in rooms equipped with state-of-the-art technology, such as the "classroom and teacher room of the future".
The Future: Careers and Competencies Section offers free seminars – particularly for teacher education students – that prepare you for everyday professional life, e.g. "Being Well-prepared as a Teacher for Consultation Hours with Parents" or "Achieving a more Peaceful Classroom: Mediation at Schools".
The Teacher Education Centre (ZLF) is the coordinating centre for teacher education (teacher training) at the University of Passau. The Teacher Education Programme Coordinators support you individually during your studies with a comprehensive range of advisory and information services.

After graduating, you will complete a two-year practical teaching phase – the so-called Vorbereitungsdienst– before sitting the Second State Examination. The Bavarian State Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs regularly publishes statements on recruitment prospects [German content] for teachers.

Once you have completed the state examinations you are also fully qualified for occupations outside the public education sector. For example, you can work as an instructor for education providers, in the non-school youth education sector, in professional development, as a pedagogue for specialist publishers and much more. Depending your chosen subject combination, a wide range of opportunities will be open to you in the general labour market and in the business world. In order to unlock these professional fields, you should strive to gain work experience outside of the school system, even during your studies, e.g. by completing internships or studying or working abroad for a while.

Additionally, if you complete various certificate programmes in parallel to your degree studies you can also gain specific skills and competencies for working in non-school, pedagogical fields of action. The University currently offers the following certificate programmes:

"Museum education" – museums as places of learning
"Integration, Interculturality and Diversity" – shaping social diversity
"Education management" – education as a lifelong process
"Information and Media Literacy" – the networked and hyper-medialised information and knowledge society

The University also offers the M.A. Teaching and Learning Processes programme where you will not only acquire an internationally recognised teaching degree but also qualify for doctoral study in educational science or subject didactics. This Master's programme also includes various modules preparing students non-school areas of work.

The curriculum of the modular programme is laid down in the Lehramtsprüfungsordnung I (LPO I, the teacher training regulation for the State of Bavaria). You will accumulate 210 ECTS credits by studying the following modules:

Subject discipline modules amounting to 54 ECTS credits
Associated subject didactics , amounting to 12 ECTS credits
Didactics modules of a Mittelschule subject group (three triple didactics worth 18 ECTS credits each, Mittelschule Pedagogy and Didactics worth 6 ECTS credits, vocational orientation worth 5 ECTS credits and practice teaching worth 5 ECTS credits)
Educational Science
Practice teaching at schools and one internship to be completed at a company
Dissertation (admission paper for the state exam) worth 10 ECTS credits
Free module area (additional courses from the field of educational sciences, didactics or the teaching subject)

Complementary subject:
You can additionally take another of the teaching subjects offered, Ethics or Media Education as well as Primary School Didactics.

Didactics of a group of subjects for Mittelschule:
You will study your chosen teaching subject, together with the subject didactics of a Mittelschule subject group consisting of three didactics subjects and Mittelschule Pedagogy.

Educational Science:
This module includes the following subjects: General Pedagogy, School Pedagogy, Psychology and one social science in combination with Theology or Philosophy.

Practice teaching and internship:

Orientation practice (ideally completed prior to starting on the programme)
Practice teaching at a school to develop pedagogical and didactic skills (this is a two-part teaching practice) or Exercitium Paedagogicum
first teaching-subject-specific part-time internship (accompanying coursework)
second teaching-subject-specific part-time internship (accompanying coursework)
an internship at a non-school organisation or business

The First Examination for Teachers consists of module examinations, which are adminstered by the University and should be completed while studying the course, and the First State Examination, which will take place after the degree programme has been completed. (Please note that foreign language qualifications and basic qualifications in Physical Education are now a requirement for admission to the First State Examination, unless Physical Education is part of your teaching subject combination.)

For information on courses you have to complete in the various subjects, please refer to the module catalogues [German content].

For further details, please consult the infosheet [German content] from the Academic Advice Service.

In your future teaching career, you will increasingly be teaching diverse groups of pupils from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Study or work abroad can help you prepare for this. You will broaden your horizons and leave your comfort zone. You will learn a new language and culture and gain valuable life experience. While this strengthens your intercultural skills, it also allows you to develop your pedagogical competencies. More than a third of University of Passau students spend at least one semester abroad.

The Erasmus+ scholarship programme is open to you for study and internships in Europe. Other scholarship programmes and university partnerships are available for sojourns further afield, such as the DAAD-funded scholarship programme "global.trex Passau" for student teachers, which enables you to study at a foreign partner university and gain practical experience at a school abroad.

You will need German language skills at level B2 CEFR or higher to study this degree programme. If German was the language of instruction for your secondary school education or prior tertiary education, your academic certificates suffice as proof of your language skills. Otherwise, you will have to provide a recognised German language certificate along with your application for a place of study.

If you can provide recognised certificates for German language skills at level B1 CEFR at the time when you apply for a place of study, you may receive a conditional offer. In that case, you will be required to provide a recognised language certificate at level B2 CEFR by the time you enrol on the degree programme.

If you would like to learn German or advance your language skills, the University's Language Centre and its German Courses Passau division offer a variety of German language classes. However, if you would like to apply for a place of study on one of the University's German-taught degree programmes, you must meet the stated language requirements before you apply.

This programme begins in April and October each year.

The teaching subject Physical Education can only be started in the winter semester.

Furthermore, if you choose Art [German content] or Physical Education [German content] as a teaching subject, you will have to complete an aptitude test [German content]. You should apply for this as early as possible, as these tests are carried out before the start of your degree programme. Passing the aptitude test is a prerequisite for taking up studies in the teaching subjects Art or Physical Education.

If you have chosen Mathematics or Computer Science as teaching subjects, it is recommended that you begin your programme in the winter semester.

With abitur or European qualifications

Prospective students with a higher education entrance qualification from Germany or the EEA region (e.g. German abitur or the Austrian matura) can enrol directly for this degree programme during the enrolment period.