The institute's internal research colloquium takes place six times per semester. Planned, ongoing or completed research projects are presented and discussed. In this way, a research-related exchange between the lecturers of the subject is facilitated. In addition, relevant topics are discussed in certain sessions on the basis of research literature. In addition to teaching staff, students on Master's degree programmes in all teaching disciplines are also invited to the research colloquium.
From 2011 to 2021, we carried out a joint project on language support at primary schools and early secondary schools at the Heidelberg University of Education. Together with our partners (Institute for German as a Foreign Language Philology at the University of Heidelberg, the Education Office of the City of Heidelberg and the Päd-aktiv association), we have further developed and practically tested language support in four sub-projects.
Since 2021, language support has been firmly anchored at primary schools in Heidelberg and is carried out by the Päd-aktiv association with funding from the city of Heidelberg. Concepts, tools and materials developed at the Heidelberg University of Education and Heidelberg University are still in use.
We will soon be providing further information on the concepts and sponsors here and will be offering support materials for download.
To the project page
The aim of the project is to support primary school pupils in the acquisition of written language and to strengthen teachers in their important professional work with children and in dealing with heterogeneity. The idea arose against the backdrop of the enormous challenges currently facing our educational landscape. Children's educational opportunities still depend heavily on their individual family background, which leads to unequal opportunities. At the same time, primary school classes are increasingly heterogeneous in terms of language, which places particular demands on learning in the classroom. The University of Teacher Education would like to make a contribution to the region and support children in their early language learning processes.
The project is primarily aimed at primary school children in their first and second year. In a seminar on the acquisition of written language, Bachelor students develop specialised content on early reading and writing. They design professionally supervised teaching materials that can be used to stimulate language learning processes in the competence areas of German lessons. During the lecture period, the students visit the school six times by individual arrangement with the teachers. They work with a small group of two to four children who need support in learning to read and write. The teacher's only task is to agree with the students on the times of the school visits and the composition of the small groups; the students do the technical work and report back to the teacher.
Project duration: summer semester 2026-summer semester 2028
Project management: Dr Christina Bär
A cooperation project with the University of Erfurt (Prof'in Dr Daniela Merklinger) and the University of Koblenz (Dr Sandra Last)
Supported by the Heidelberg University of Education, the Heidelberg Community Foundation, the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung and the Mannheim State Education Authority