Great interest in new teacher training program

More than two thirds of the applications for the new elementary school teacher training program come from Brandenburg, almost a quarter from the surrounding states of Saxony and Berlin, but there are also international applicants from all over Germany.

"We are very pleased about the great interest - we had not expected such a rush," says Prof. Dr. Peer Schmidt, Vice-President for Academic Affairs at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. How does he explain this success? "It certainly has to do with the innovative approach of our study programme, which we designed to be particularly practice-oriented and have now implemented within just ten months. Starting in their first semester, students go into schools on a fixed day each week and thus have contact with students from the very beginning. These practical school studies are an integral part of the teacher training program, for which the BTU cooperates with around 100 partner schools in the region.

The first cohort of student teachers will begin with the subject combination of German and Mathematics, and next year other subjects will be added: English, Art, Music, Physical Education and Sports. "Then we will also be able to offer more study places, probably 120 in total," explains Peer Schmidt, who has to fill - on an interim basis - five substitute professorships for the chairs in Elementary Education, Education Sciences, Mathematics, German and English until the start of the semester. At the same time, the advertisements for the regular professorships will be launched, who will then be in service from the winter semester 2024/25. The internship office will also be staffed until the first student teachers arrive in Senftenberg.

Those who did not receive a place on the primary teaching degree program at the BTU this year can still hope for the move-up procedure or enroll in an Orientation Studies Programme and get a taste of university life in Cottbus or Senftenberg. But also gaining practical experience, e.g. in a voluntary social year, creates good conditions for a future (new) application.