This chapter contains information on the initial education, conditions of service and continuing professional development of pedagogic staff in the early childhood sector and teachers working in school education, of teaching staff in tertiary education as well as of teachers and trainers working in adult education and training.

Pedagogic staff in early childhood education and care

Pedagogic staff in the German early childhood sector do not have the training and status of teachers. The pedagogic staff in the early childhood sector consists mainly of Erzieher/Erzieherinnen (state-recognised youth or child-care workers).

Teachers

Training of teachers at all types of schools is regulated by Land legislation. The relevant statutory provisions include laws and regulations for teacher training, Studienordnungen (study regulations) for teacher training courses, Prüfungsordnungen (examination regulations) for the Erste Staatsprüfung (First State Examination) or for Bachelor’s and Master’s examinations, Ausbildungsordnungen (training regulations) for the Vorbereitungsdienst (preparatory service) and examination regulations for the Second State Examination. The framework agreements of the Standing Conference for six types of teaching profession create the prerequisite for mutual recognition of training and examinations for the various teaching careers.

Responsibility for teacher training rests with the Ministries of Education and Cultural Affairs and Ministries of Science  of the Länder which regulate training through study regulations or training regulations and examination regulations or corresponding statutory provisions. The First and the Second State Examination are conducted by the state examination authorities or boards of the Länder. In Bachelor’s and Master’s study courses which provide the qualifications required for admission to the preparatory service, the state responsibility for content requirements in teacher training is ensured through the involvement of a representative of the highest Land education authority for the school system in the accreditation procedure; any accreditation of individual study courses requires the approval of this representative. The accreditation procedure particularly involves monitoring the compliance with subject-specific requirements in teacher training valid for all Länder as well as with Länder-specific specifications concerning the content and structure. The subject-specific requirements valid for all Länder embrace the “Standards for teacher training: Educational sciences (‘Standards für die Lehrerbildung: Bildungswissenschaften’) and the “Content requirements for subject-related studies and subject-related didactics in teacher training which apply to all Länder” (‘Ländergemeinsame inhaltliche Anforderungen für die Fachwissenschaften und Fachdidaktiken in der Lehrerbildung’).

A compilation of the statutory requirements of all Länder for teacher training is available on the website of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (Kultusministerkonferenz).