Bielefeld School of Education - BiSEd

In the Winter semester, the students' assignment in the respective support concept usually starts after the fall vacations and lasts until the beginning of February. In the Summer semester, the support classes usually start after the Easter vacations and last until the summer vacations. A weekly rhythm is intended, i.e. the pupils are at school one day a week.

The framework is right

The focus is on diagnosis and support in small groups or individual support of pupils In addition, students should gain a broad insight into the reality of school and also be able to pursue further questions. For example, it is expected that:

• The students will gain insight into the pupils' support concepts.
• The students will have the opportunity to observe regular German, English and mathematics lessons.
• The school is open to a variety of teaching methods.
• The students are perceived as future colleagues.
• The school is open to research-oriented learning by the pupils and is open to cooperation with researchers from the university.
• Often, for reasons of university didactics and research interests, the support should be documented by means of video recordings. Therefore, the school must ensure that the appropriate consent forms are obtained from the pupils' parents.

The equipment is sufficient

Support lessons in small groups or support lessons must be possible largely undisturbed. An adequate supply of space is important.

Flexibility in scheduling

Students are primarily students and only secondarily interns in remedial classes. It will be a task of the internship office to coordinate the schedules of the pupils with the time windows of the schools. This will only work if the leeway on the school side is not too tight and increases with the distance to the university. By the way: "Flexibility" does not mean that agreements are changed on a current basis. It is simply a matter of taking students' schedules and other obligations into account when determining the time schedule.

Responsible persons on site

Students are not professionals, but they should become professionals. The university provides regular staff to prepare students and also provides funding for paid teaching positions for experienced faculty to accompany students during the practicum period. In addition, however, teachers at the respective schools are needed as persons to contact for the pupils, who are available for organizational and content-related questions.

Students can be used in tandem

In principle, the interns can carry out the remedial teaching as a tandem. They can plan together, support each other and reflect together. Another advantage: If one of the tandem partners is absent (e.g. due to illness), the other one can continue the remedial teaching on his/her own for a short period of time. If the students' schedules allow it, the tandem option should also be used.

Size of the support groups

The project focuses on a competence dimension for the teaching profession: individual learning of pupils, diagnosis of strengths and weaknesses of individual pupils, and targeted individual support. Small group work with pupils is the rule; the number "six" is a guideline. It may happen that six particularly difficult pupils are too many for a tandem and it may happen that ten unproblematic pupils are still acceptable for a tandem. The school should keep an eye on the processes and be able to react flexibly.

As an alternative to the support at school, the practical phase can also take place in the project "remedial teaching for pupils whose language of origin is not German"(FörBi) project. FörBi has set itself the task of supporting pupils whose language of origin is not German with their problems at school in the subjects German, English and mathematics. In this context, students already acquire initial competencies in the area of German as a Second Language and build up first elementary support diagnostic competencies in the context of multilingualism and interculturality.

Since the winter semester 2017/18, students of all teaching professions and subjects have the opportunity to complete the practical phase in cooperation with the Education Office of the City of Bielefeld in the project "We tell" project. The project pursues the goal of a demand-oriented language support as a concept in educationally heavily burdened urban areas. In doing so, storytelling is used as an approval for language use and language competence. By learning the cultural technique of oral storytelling, students can expand their own linguistic register by going into schools and daycare centers as storytellers and examining the role that storytelling can play in subject lessons and how it can be integrated into them.

In the subject of biology, there is the possibility of completing the practical phase as part of the project "Columbus Kids" project with a focus on "diagnosis and support". In this regional project, gifted pupils from more than 20 high schools are supported in the natural sciences in extracurricular courses. Students acquire initial competencies in support diagnosis in the context of giftedness support.

The practical project is continued as part of the occupational practice studies (LABG diction: Berufsfeldpraktikum).

This theory-in-practice course is part of the advanced Bachelor course and is modularly anchored in the educational sciences program. As one of several module elements, however, it is essentially organized, carried out and accompanied by the subjects and thus offers the possibility of linking subject didactic and educational sciences content more closely than before.

The occupational practice studies will not be limited to teaching competencies, but will focus on all teacher dimensions and the school as a whole, preparing students for the requirements of the practical semester with preparatory training in the master's program. This is achieved by means of theory-in-practice courses designed to promote competence and by providing good quantitative and qualitative support for students.

Responsible for the coordination and your contact person is Anke Schöning, head of the working area Conception and Management Theory-in-practice courses. She is supported by student and research assistants.