Potentials of Internet-Based Qualification Systems for Teachers in Federal Education Systems: Experiences From the Field of Economic Education

Education Policy Framework / Baseline

Developing a system of qualification for staff in economic education within the general education system of a federally organised education system, like that of the Federal Republic of Germany, brings with its special challenges that can only be met with the help of specific strategies.

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  There is far-reaching curricular heterogeneity in the German system (Schlösser & Weber, 1999). The relevant curricula in the school context and framework requirements in the area of economic education, but also in other areas, differ––at times strikingly––between the German federal states. This applies to both the hours allocated to the subject and also the content characteristics and priorities. This means that a centrally required system of qualification needs a high degree of modularisation to be able to meet the different demands of the teaching staff.

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  At the same time, the establishment of appropriate systems of further education and training in the framework of implementing new content in schools are very important. Graduates of programs of study that are set up parallel to curriculum incorporation are usually available after approximately 6 to 8 years. Therefore, ideas need to be implemented which enable existing teaching staff to gain subject and didactic qualifications in an appropriate manner alongside their everyday teaching job, ideas which can simultaneously be used to design programmes of study (Kaminski, 2014).

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  The teaching staff, in turn, do not only gain qualifications. In the view of lesson design, teaching staff should also be equipped with ideas, didactical materials (e.g. lesson steps, worksheets, podcasts, etc.), support structures and exchange possibilities to guarantee the actual goal of ensuring good quality lessons in schools. In that respect, permanent access opportunities are to be provided (Kaminski, 2014).

These three points alone reveal that only Internet-based approaches can provide the appropriate course packages. In establishing complex online databases, systems of qualification may be constructed which can be centrally organized and jointly financed on the one hand while at the same time allowing the consideration of specific content, specialist didactic and methodological requirements of each of the sixteen German federal states.