Do you want to give all young people the best possible education? As a teacher at lower secondary schools, intermediate secondary schools, secondary modern schools and community schools, you encourage the talents and interests of ten to seventeen-year-olds and support them in developing important future skills and their own personality.
This Master's degree programme is the second stage on your path to becoming a teacher at lower secondary level: here you will deepen the skills acquired in your Bachelor's degree. You will study the science and didactics of your two subjects intensively and in a research-based manner, expand your knowledge of educational science and gain extensive teaching practice in a supervised semester placement.
Better together: The Master of Education with the profile lines Teaching Qualification Secondary Level I and Teaching Qualification Grammar School is a joint degree programme offered by the Heidelberg University of Education and Heidelberg University. You will therefore benefit from the traditional and future-oriented expertise of both institutions!
As a secondary school teacher, you actively shape education and take on social responsibility. You give young people guidance and change biographies. The M. Ed. Sek I is therefore more than just a degree programme - it qualifies you for a profession with impact. We are looking for bright minds, strong personalities and real commitment.
As a joint degree programme offered by the PH and the university, this M. Ed. not only provides you with research-based specialist knowledge, but also important interdisciplinary skills in the areas of interculturality, inclusion, sustainability and media education. This will enable you to confidently support heterogeneous learning groups later on.
At secondary level, we work closely with the University of Heidelberg: This is a joint degree programme with the profile lines Teaching Qualification Secondary Level I and Teaching Qualification Grammar School.
Your advantage: with us, you will acquire comprehensive and practical expertise in didactics and educational science, while at the university you will deepen your knowledge in the subject-specific sciences - combining the best of both worlds to create a strong foundation for your career start in secondary education.
The prerequisite is a completed Bachelor's degree programme with two subjects and teaching-related elements (subject didactics, educational sciences and practical school studies).
If you have not yet completed your Bachelor's degree at the time of application, you can still apply for admission: as a rule, you must provide proof of at least 150 ECTS from a teaching-related Bachelor's degree programme.
The Master of Education with the profile lines Teaching Qualification Secondary Level I and Teaching Qualification Grammar School is a joint degree programme offered by the University of Education and Heidelberg University, which is coordinated by the Heidelberg School of Education. Therefore, once you have been admitted to the Secondary Level I Teacher Training programme, you will also be enrolled at Heidelberg University as a so-called Nebenhörer:in. The same applies if you are studying to become a grammar school teacher at Heidelberg University: Once you have been admitted to the Master's programme by the university, you will also be enrolled with us at the University of Education as a so-called Nebenhörer:in. This means you can also use the university's services, such as the library, and take part in university courses in many subjects.
Better together
We are convinced that teacher training is always education for society and that you, as prospective teachers, are crucial to its future viability. In view of major social upheavals, there are currently many reasons to think together and proactively about the future of teacher training. We are doing this together with Heidelberg University as part of the Heidelberg School of Education (HSE). As a cross-university academic institution for teacher training in Heidelberg, it pools our respective expertise in subject-specific science, subject-specific didactics and educational science and ensures that both universities can cooperate successfully in teacher training and benefit from each other.
In the Master of Education, Secondary Level I Teacher Training programme, you will prepare yourself specifically for an exciting and responsible task: accompanying and supporting young people aged 9 to 17, who have very different cognitive, linguistic and cultural needs and prerequisites, on their educational path.
To do this, you will deepen your subject-specific knowledge during your studies and dovetail it further with concepts of research-based specialised didactics. This will enable you to organise your lessons in a reflective manner and respond to the different requirements of different school types and age groups.
You will also expand your expertise in educational science - from diagnostics and differentiation to counselling, evaluation and school development. You will learn to use heterogeneity in the classroom as an opportunity and to respond to your students individually.
In the practical phases, you will put your knowledge into practice in real teaching situations and hone your professional skills. The interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary orientation of the degree programme also opens up new perspectives for you to productively combine content and methods from different subject areas.
This degree programme prepares you for a fulfilling career as a teacher at secondary modern and lower secondary schools, intermediate secondary schools and comprehensive schools - or for an entry into academic fields of work that help shape education in a future-oriented way.
You can find out exactly which subject-specific, interdisciplinary and career-related qualification goals the University of Education and Heidelberg University are pursuing with their joint degree programme in the graduate profile.
The study period of four semesters in the Master's phase serves to deepen your research-based subject knowledge in both subjects. In addition, you will acquire didactic theories and concepts as well as educational science knowledge for your future teaching activities. During the practical semester, you will test your previously acquired skills in the professional field and reflect on them academically. A special feature of the cooperative degree programme are the so-called interlinking modules, which systematically combine subject-specific content with concepts of research-based subject didactics. In this way, they offer you the opportunity to develop your own professional options for action. You can write your Master's thesis in one of the two subjects or in the educational sciences.
You also have the opportunity to study a third subject as part of the Extension Subject programme in the M. Ed. profile line Secondary Level I Teacher Training. This enables you to teach the subject you have studied with a certificate. If you complete the extension subject with an additional Master's thesis instead of a certificate, you can also choose it as a school subject for the preparatory service.
about the M. Ed. extension subject in the Secondary Level I Teacher Training programme (PHHD)
Standard period of study: 4 semesters
The programme comprises 120 credit points. One credit point corresponds to around 30 hours of student work (attendance, preparation and follow-up work, independent study, examination).
Due to the two individually selectable subjects, various combinations are possible. For this reason, there is also a module handbook tailored to the respective subject combination, which contains the respective study and examination regulations. You can find the module handbook for your personal combination of subjects at ISI, the Individual Study Information.
In the M. Ed. profile line Teaching Qualification Secondary Level I, you will complete courses in the following areas:
- Educational sciences (educational sciences, psychology)
- Practical school studies (the integrated semester internship)
- Master's thesis
- two subjects (each including subject-specific science, subject-specific didactics and methodology)
You can later teach these two subjects as school subjects once you have successfully completed the M. Ed. and the subsequent preparatory service.
You can also study a third subject as part of an extension master's programme.
We offer the following subjects at the PH Heidelberg:
You can study an extension subject in the M. Ed. profile line Secondary Level I during or after your studies. You will study your chosen subject for 90 ECTS including specialised studies and didactics. There are two degree options available to you:
- Graduation with an additional Master's thesis: You acquire the academic qualification to teach the subject you have studied and can choose it as a teaching subject in the preparatory service.
- Graduation with a certificate: You acquire the academic qualification to teach the subject you have studied and thus expand your professional profile.
In both cases, you will benefit from a broad, specialised qualification profile and better employment opportunities, e.g. for internal job advertisements at schools.
About the extension subject in the M. Ed. profile line Secondary Level I (PHHD)
So that you can apply the theoretical principles from your degree programme directly in practice and authentically experience everyday life in the teaching profession, you will complete a 17-week practical semester during your studies, the so-called integrated semester internship. At our training schools, you will familiarise yourself with the entire field of activity of a teacher and gain valuable practical school experience. Thanks to our large network, you can also do your internship abroad.
To the Centre for Practical School Studies
The degree programme offers you the opportunity to integrate a stay abroad into your studies - either via an exchange programme or self-organised. If you would like to venture beyond Germany, you can study abroad for a semester at a university or complete an internship, for example.
The International Office can provide you with information and advice on the various options and scholarship programmes.
To the International Office
You will graduate with the academic degree "Master of Education (M. Ed.)". This degree qualifies you in particular for a traineeship or a career in a pedagogical field such as educational and family counselling, all-day school supervision or in educational centres. Important: You are not yet a teacher when you complete this degree!
If you would like to teach as a teacher at Werkrealschulen, Hauptschulen, Realschulen and Gemeinschaftsschulen, you must complete an 18-month traineeship (Referendariat). As soon as you have successfully completed your traineeship, you are a qualified teacher and can work in schools.
It is best to find out about the application, the general conditions and the programme of the traineeship at an early stage. Once a year, the Student Orientation and Counselling Service (SOBS) organises the information event "Ab ins REF!", where contact persons from the participating departments will provide you with detailed advice.
How about democracy education, information and media skills or intercultural learning support? These are just three examples of the attractive additional qualifications that you can acquire as a prospective teacher at the Heidelberg University of Education. You usually complete these additional qualifications with a certificate.
To the overview of additional qualifications
