Research On Teacher Education In Germany

During the seventeenth and the eighteenth century, the teachers’profession began to be specialized in Germany. At the same time, the appearance of the various teacher training institutions and the teaching certificate examination both contributed to the specialization of the profession of teachers in Germany at that time. Therefore, this period can be called as the specialized stage. Entering into the nineteenth century, the development of teacher education in Germany that time can be called as the institutionalized stage. Because the official teaching certificate examination was established during that time, on the mean time, the number of the teacher training institutions were increased greatly and the formal teacher training system was also be established that time. Since the twentieth century, before the German Reunification, the development of teacher education in Germany has experienced a long period of various reforms, such as the establishment of the new system of teacher education during Weimar Republic, the backwards of teacher education under the control of Nazi government, the universitization of the training of primary teachers, the one-phase experiment of teacher education etc. After the Germany Reunification in the1990s, confronting the challenges from domestic and international changes, the development of teacher education in Germany has undergone through the integration of East and West Germany teacher education systems, the integration of the European teacher education and the integration of the teacher education system itself etc. So, this phase can be called as the integration development of teacher education in Germany.Since the World War Ⅱ, the development of the Germany teacher education policy has experienced several important phases, such as the Starting Phase, the Institutionalized Phase, the Further Development Phase and the Overall Development Phase etc. During these phases, the number of the policies issued by the German government increased greatly, the themes of these policies are also gradually expanded. In order to promote the scientifically and intentionally development of the teacher education career, the current policy content of teacher education issued by the German government concentrate on several important topics, such as improve the teacher education standards; integrate the teacher education and teaching certificate types between different State and enforce the mutual recognition; promote the integration reform of the teacher education in the context of European Integration; encourage the domestic and internationally mobility of student teachers and teachers etc. In a word, the making and the publication of the Germany teacher education policy is actually revolves around improving the quality of teacher education and the promotion of the well-balanced development of teacher education in different State.According to the provisions of the basic law of Germany, the "Grundgesetz fur die Bundesrepublik Deutschland", the administrative authority of the general education affairs belongs to the states governments, the Federal Government of Germany only enjoys privilege in the cross-states educational affairs, cross-areas educational affairs and the framework management of the higher education affairs. Therefore, the mainly administrative privilege in teacher education affairs belongs to the states government. On the federal level, the current administrative bodies mainly conclude the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Lander in the Federal Republic of Germany (Standige Konferenz der Kultusminister der Lander. KMK), Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung,BMBF), German Rector’s Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz, HRK) and German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAAD) etc; On the state level, the teacher education affairs are mainly belongs to the State Ministry of Education.At the beginning of the21st century, the influence of the standards construction in the teacher education area gradually became greater and greater. At the same time, the Germany government was concerned by the PISA shock in2000and the quality of teacher education in Germany then became the hot topic of the German Society. In order to improve the quality of teacher education and the whole education enterprise, the Germany government published the first teacher education standard in the year2004, and then, concerning the special phases of teacher education in Germany, the Germany government continued to publish other three teacher education standards after2004. Nowadays, the teacher education standards in Germany are constituted by4policy documents, such as the Teacher education standard:educational science; the major and the didactic standards in teacher education; the second states examination for teaching certificate and the trainee phase standards; the ability test for student teachers etc.The teacher education in Germany is constituted by three important phases; they are the studium phase, the trainee phase and the in-service professional development phase. The stadium phase is carried out by the higher education institutions and then this phase is responsible by the higher education institutions themselves. The learning content of this phase contains the major and the major didactic study, the educational science study, the educational practice and the writing of the degree thesis etc. Under the influence of the Bologna Process, the teacher education model in Germany is also reformed, currently, there are mainly two kinds of teacher education models in Germany, and they are the Traditional Magister Teacher Education Model and the Bologna Bachelor and Master Teacher Education Model. According to the regulation of KMK, there are six types of teacher education programs in Germany; the organization of the teacher education programs is based on these regulations. At the end of the studium phase, the student teachers need to participate in the first states examination for teaching certificate (or the Master degree).When they passed through this examination or was granted the Master degree, then they can apply to the state ministry of education to start the service for the trainee phase. The trainee phase is organized by the state ministry of education, the trainee student teacher need to finish12-24months’service depend on the different types of teacher education programs. At the end of this phase, the trainee student teachers need to participate in the second state examination for the teaching certificate. The in-service professional development phase is the stage that teachers work formally in schools, during this phase, teachers can participate in the school-based professional development activities, and they can also participate in the state-level professional development activities or apply to enter the tertiary institutions to receive higher level degree, such as Master or PhD degree.In a word, there are some important experiences that we can learn from the Germany in teacher education area, such as the coordination between different subjects, the connection between theory and practice etc. But there are also some problems that confronted by the Germany teacher education, such as the shortage and the aging phenomenon of teachers; the connection between studium and trainee phases etc.