Future Sorbian/Wendish teachers are starting their degree courses at the BTU

Among the 138 first-year students on the Teaching Degree for Primary Education study programmes – which now offer 13 subject combinations – are the first five to have chosen the Mathematics – Sorbian/Wendish or English – Sorbian/Wendish combinations. Following a joint welcome for all first-semester students, featuring valuable information from the study programme’s teaching staff led by Prof. Maximilian Piotraschke, they attended an introductory Sorbian language session, where they were introduced – including their lecturer Julia Běrink, who has joined the BTU from the Sorbian Institute.

A collaboration between many highly committed stakeholders 

For the first time, an undergraduate programme for training teachers of Lower Sorbian in primary schools is now available as part of the teacher training programme at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, situated within the Sorbian/Wendish settlement area of Brandenburg. This has been made possible through the highly committed collaboration of many stakeholders – including the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture, the Council for Sorbian/Wendish Affairs (RASW), the Sorbian Institute, as well as local authorities and schools in Lower Lusatia. There is an urgent need for these teachers in the region.

Practice-integrated Bachelor’s degree programme

The programme is designed as a practice-integrated Bachelor’s degree and is intended to be followed by a dual Master’s programme. Students can choose between the subject combinations of Mathematics – Sorbian/Wendish or English – Sorbian/Wendish. Twelve places are planned annually, six for each subject combination. The teaching placement component is organised in collaboration with the WITAJ schools and schools offering Sorbian/Wendish as a foreign or second language.

The Teaching Degree for Primary Education, developed in record time, was launched on 9 October 2023 at the Brandenburg University of Technology in Senftenberg in close collaboration with the Brandenburg Ministry of Science and the Ministry of Education, in order to better meet the high demand for well-trained primary school teachers in the state.
Today, a total of around 400 young people are studying here on bachelor’s and, more recently, master’s degree programmes. The BTU offers teacher training students a completely new approach to preparing for their future careers as primary school teachers, by having them work actively in selected partner schools from the very start and learn the profession in a real-world setting – supported by theoretical and pedagogical knowledge, which is imparted to them professionally at the university in so-called ‘learning workshops’.