Initial Education Overestimated – Continuing Education Neglected: Status and Perspectives of Continuing Professional Development of Teachers in Germany.

Terhart, E

Abstract

This chapter starts with a short overview of teacher education in Germany. While initial teacher education in Germany is very demanding and includes several steps of licensing, in-service teacher education, not to speak about continuous professional development, is underdeveloped. An overview of research on in-service teacher education is presented which shows that the situation is very heterogeneous in the different 16 federal states of Germany and that, in fact, there is no clear and precise picture of the realities of in-service teacher education. On the federal level, there exist standards for the organization of learning processes in in-service teacher education (micro level), but there are no standards for the governance of the system of in-service teacher education (macro level). In general, the system of in-service teacher education in Germany deserves more attention and needs more resources in terms of money, manpower, and governance.