Germany: Recruitment and training of teachers - designing additional pathways to teaching

In June 2024, the Standing Conference agreed on further measures to ensure the supply of teaching staff by implementing the concept ‘Measures to Attract Additional Teachers and Structurally Enhance Teacher Training’. The resolution ‘Designing Additional Pathways to Teaching’ created a specific common framework for the design of qualification pathways.
The Standing Conference plans to enhance the recruitment and training of teachers by implementing ‘Measures to Attract Additional Teachers and Structurally Enhance Teacher Training’ (‘Maßnahmen zur Gewinnung zusätzlicher Lehrkräfte und zur strukturellen Ergänzung der Lehrkräftebildung’). Furthermore, the resolution titled ‘Designing Additional Pathways to Teaching’ (‘Gestaltung von zusätzlichen Wegen ins Lehramt’) has established a unified framework for creating qualification pathways for single-subject teachers. It also includes the introduction of lateral entry master's programs and dual study programs.
These are intended to supplement, but not replace, initial teacher education by enabling people to achieve a comparable or equivalent qualification for a teaching profession or for the teaching profession. The following order of precedence is recommended for access to the preparatory service for the Land-specific regulations:
- state examination or Master of Education
- lateral entry with two derivable subjects
- lateral entry with one derivable subject
One of the aims of the current decision is to integrate graduates of alternative teacher training programmes as seamlessly as possible into the preparatory service or into teaching at school, even if they move to another federal state. It is intended to make a decisive contribution to facilitating the cross-border mobility of teachers recruited through the additional measures.
For more information, see:
Source: Eurydice Unit Germany (Länder)