Quality Development

Quality Management at the Leibniz School of Education

The Leibniz University Hannover offers teacher education courses for three different kinds of educational institutions (university-track secondary schools, vocational schools and special needs education), allowing students to take approximately 220 combinations of classes. Six out of the nine faculties of the Leibniz University Hannover participate in teacher education. The Leibniz School of Education coordinates this course of study at the university. This includes continuous evaluations of coursework for quality assurance.

The quality management procedures of the Leibniz School of Education are integrated into the quality assurance system of the Leibniz University Hannover.  The quality management representative of the Leibniz School of Education regularly participates in the university-wide working groups Quality Assurance, EvaSys and Recognition. These are overseen by the Department of Quality Assurance of the head office for the Quality Development in Academics and Teaching (Zentrale Einrichtung für Qualitätsentwicklung in Studium und Lehre – ZQS/QS).

The Leibniz University Hannover is a accredited institution for teacher education since Autumn 2017 and, thus, takes responsibility for the accreditation of their degree programs.

The quality assurance of the Teacher Education Course occurs in the subjects themselves as well as on an interdisciplinary level. The interdisciplinary level falls in the area of responsibility of the Leibniz School of Education. On one hand the interdisciplinarity of teacher education at the LUH  is realized through the advancement of the curriculum through research projects and the Quality Campaign “Teacher Education”. On the other hand, the Leibniz School of Education ensures the interdisciplinarity of teacher education through the annual data-based guidance of curriculuar quality in the Quality Management Group for Teacher Education (Q-M Zirkel Lehramt).

Quality management for teacher education falls under the responsibility of the Directors of Academic Affairs and is a central tenet of the Leibniz School of Education. It is ensured through the Quality Management Group for Teacher Education. In this group, the discussion about the quality of the Teacher Education Course in the Leibniz School of Education takes place on an interdisciplinary level.

The Quality Management group consists of the following members [1].

• a student commission of the Leibniz School of Education as well as an additional student member from the Group of Student Representatives

• the deputy of the College for Music, Drama and Media Hannover (Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover - HMTMH)

• a quality management representative for the Leibniz School of Education

• the Coordinators of Teacher Education for university-track secondary schools, vocational schools, special needs education, career practice/work experience and internationalisation

The members of the student commission of the Leibniz School of Education and the deputy of the HMTMH are entitled to vote, whereas the two last mentioned members (i.e. the members of the Quality Management Group) have an advisory role. As needed additional advisory experts may also be consulted.

The deputy of the HMTMH supports the university in the Teacher Education Course from university-track secondary schools and special needs education at the meeting of the QM-group. The QM representative coordinates the QM-group’s consultation services and is the contact for concerns regarding the curriculum accreditation within the Leibniz School of Education. The coordinators contribute their knowledge about their respective areas of teacher education to curricular issues that arise.

The goal of the meetings of the QM-group is to identify required measures on an interdisciplinary level and to discuss and initiate possible solutions. This is done on the basis of noticeable problems of the annual quality reports from the disciplines, the interdisciplinary data roundups and survey outcomes that are carried out especially for teacher education.

The annual report on the quality of the Teacher Education Course with regard to its interdisciplinary aspects is based on the recommendations of the QM-group for Teacher Education and are made available to the vice president for academic affairs and ensure the curriculum remains in line with the university-wide quality management system.

[1] Advised by the study commision on 02.11.2016, Enactment through the board of the Leibniz School of Education on the 16.11.2016.

Since 2015 the Leibniz School of Education, with the support of the Department of School Planning and Controlling, annually releases the Flyer “Das Lehramt an der Leibniz Universität Hannover in Zahlen” (The teacher education degree at the Leibniz University Hannover in Numbers).