DoProfiL receives further funding

TU Dortmund University has received the go-ahead to continue the project “DoProfiL – Dortmund Profile for Inclusion-Oriented Teacher Training”. The project, which – within the framework of the joint “Teacher Training Quality Campaign” of the Federal Government and the states (Länder) – has been supported out of funds of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research since 2016, was positively assessed in the interim review and recommended for the second funding phase of the quality campaign. TU Dortmund University will receive further funding from mid-2019 until the end of 2023.

DoProfiL presented its broad spectrum of work already in summer 2018 with an anthology and a film. “We are proud that so many people – professors, doctoral students, postdocs and students – in Dortmund are involved in shaping the future of teacher training for the changing demands of the present and future. The increasingly diverse society, for which future teachers must be carefully and reflectively trained, deserves particular mention. To this end, DoProfiL not only develops new teaching concepts but also conducts basic research,” said Professor Barbara Welzel, Vice President Diversity Management and co-manager of the project. 

“The success of the North Rhine-Westphalian universities confirms the high quality of teacher training in the state. With further funding, universities can continue their promising projects and further improve teacher education at a high level – especially in the important areas of inclusion and digitization,” said Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen, NRW Minister of Culture and Science.

In the context of strategic change management, DoProfiL pursues the goal of increasing the overall quality of teacher training as well as profiling and optimizing it for the changed social requirements resulting from inclusion and the increasing perception of diversity. This is done in close cooperation with all key players involved in teacher training at TU Dortmund University: (young) academics, as well as the Rectorate and the Teacher Training Center (DoKoLL). Inclusion orientation – related to diversity aspects in their entire breadth – thus becomes an integral part of teacher training. Yvonne Gebauer, NRW Minister of Education said: “Without well-trained teachers, excellent education is not possible. The ‘Teacher Training Quality Campaign’ strengthens the importance and effectiveness of teacher training in universities. This  serves as a basis for future teachers to address the key issues facing our schools in the future, such as how to deal with heterogeneity in schools and the opportunities and challenges associated with the digital transformation.”

The second funding phase offers the opportunity to broaden and intensify what has been achieved so far in three ways. On a structural level, the extension consists in the integration of all the teacher training departments of TU Dortmund University. On the level of research and development, a thematic focus is aimed at specific aspects of diversity as well as at the four main topics “adaptive learning situations”, “cultural participation”, “video-based casework” and “inclusion-oriented subject-didactic development research”. In addition to theories and concepts, specific elements for inclusion-oriented teacher training are to be developed that can be used by university lecturers of all subjects in teaching. Finally, from a sustainability perspective, the research and development efforts are to be sustained through coherent concept and material development and design, institutionalized forms of communication and broad-based further qualification of university teachers in all subjects related to the teaching profession.

“This will enable us to further intensify our efforts to correlate theory and practice and to link research and teaching more closely,” said Professor Stephan Hußmann, project manager of DoProfiL.

TU Dortmund University to begin second funding phase with DoProfiL

With the “ Teacher Training Quality Campaign”, the Federal Government and the states want to support and accelerate reforms in teacher training at universities. Up to 500 million euros have been allocated to fund teacher training projects from 2015 to 2018 (first funding phase) and are earmarked for the second funding phase from 2019 to 2023.

In June 2018, the Federal Government and the states also decided to provide additional funding of 64 million euros for the “Teacher Training Quality Campaign” focusing on “Digitization in Teacher Training” and/or “Teacher Training for Vocational Schools”.

For the first funding phase, TU Dortmund University had raised around 5.7 million euros in funding for its DoProfiL project in 2015. On the basis of initial results, a nationwide academic committee has now decided on further funding from 2019 and evaluated the projects of the eight North Rhine-Westphalian universities positively, so that now another 40 million euros in funding shall flow into the project.