Personal development in the training of preschool teachers and childhood educators: A comparison of academic degree programs and vocational college training programs

Personal development in the training of preschool teachers and childhood educators: A comparison of academic degree programs and vocational college training programs

For several years now, profound processes of change have characterized the field of qualification for pedagogical professionals working with children aged 0 to 10 or 12 in Germany. Political, institutional, structural, and content-related aspects interact here: at the same time, there has been an expansion of the requirements for early childhood education, which is also reflected in the daycare laws of the federal states, while the professionalization and academization of training are being advanced.

Personal development is regarded as fundamental to the professional capacity to act of preschool teachers and childhood educators. Accordingly, it is considered an educational objective in the discussion surrounding the reform of traditional preschool teacher training. Although general vocational pedagogy offers theoretical considerations on how this learning objective should be achieved for pedagogical professionals, there are still no empirically grounded didactic approaches and methods for the concrete implementation of this objective. The significance of one’s own biographical experiences for the professional practice of childhood education professionals has also been insufficiently researched in this context.

The research project therefore focuses on the question of how the task of personal development, identified as central, is pursued in the academic and non-academic training of childhood education professionals, and what results can be identified in this regard.

In the first phase of the project, an analysis of the curricular content relating to personal development in childhood education degree and training programs was carried out.

In the second phase of the project, the perspectives of various stakeholders (teaching staff, students, graduates) on the development of professional competence for action were to be examined.

Project management: Prof. Dr. Janne Fengler, Prof. Dr. Charlotte Heinritz (†), Dr. Alexander Röhler

Research associate: Dr. Stephanie Conein

The research project was funded by third-party grants.