NARIC guide on Higher Education Systems in the European Union

Type 2: General teaching careers at primary level and all secondary level I school types or individual secondary level I
school types
Type 3: Teaching careers at all secondary level I school types or at individual secondary level I school types
Type 4: Teaching careers in the general education subjects at secondary level II or for the Gymnasium
Type 5: Teaching careers in vocational subjects at secondary level II or at vocational schools
Type 6: Teaching careers in special education
Training for any of the teaching careers described above is divided into two phases:
1. a course of study at an institution of higher education (university, technical university, teacher training college, art or
music college, comprehensive university), which, from the outset, is geared towards the subsequent teaching profession
and the required certificates and also includes student teacher practical training components as an integrated part of the
course;
2. a pedagogic-practical training programme in the form of preparatory service (Vorbereitungsdienst) at seminars for
teacher training and training schools.
Entrance to teacher training requires a higher education entrance qualification, which is acquired after 12 or 13 years of
schooling by passing the Abitur examination. In specific cases it can also be acquired in other ways, for example by adults
after successfully completing night school classes, or in certain cases following successful completion of a non-university
training course in the tertiary sector.
II.4.2. Description of training
The first period of training i.e. the course of study, is organised
differently according to the Land and the teaching career, either as:
a specialist component (including subject-oriented teaching methods) with study of at least two subjects/subject areas or
subject groups;
an educational sciences component with compulsory study of educational theory and psychology; plus a choice of
additional study areas (e.g. philosophy, social sciences/politics, theology);
teaching practice, sometimes of several weeks duration, accompanying courses of study.
Here the agreement reached by the Standing Conference of the Ministers for Education and Cultural Affairs sets minimum
standards for the two first-mentioned components, in the form of hours of instruction per week during the semester.
The characteristic elements of courses for the above types of teaching career in the Federal Republic of Germany will be
described below in generalised form applicable to all Länder. Particulars are laid down in study regulations and State training
and examination regulations. These include in particular provisions on:
the subjects/subject areas and combinations that may be chosen for the respective teaching careers;
the scope and content of the course of study in the individual subjects/subject areas, including educational sciences and
subject-oriented teaching methods;
the type of certificates acquired during the course of study, and the type and scope of the individual parts of the
examination and the assessment procedure.
Teaching career type 1
Teaching careers at Grundschulen or primary level
(Teaching careers at Grundschulen; teaching careers at primary level; teaching careers with the emphasis on primary level)