BASIS PLUS

BASIS PLUS is a peer coaching project for student teachers. It offers students the opportunity to reflect on their development as teachers at the beginning, in the middle and towards the end of their studies and to learn to work on it in a goal-oriented way. The project includes the elements: (1) reflection assignments and (2) peer coaching in a group setting.

At the beginning of the study: basic text and reflection assignment

At the beginning of their teaching studies, students receive two documents in the introductory lecture: first, the assignment to create a learning biography (reflection assignment 1) and second, a basic text on the topic of aptitude and competence development including a reflection assignment based on this (reflection assignment 2). Both are aimed at encouraging students to reflect on their decision to study teaching and the career goal of 'teacher' that is usually associated with it. In doing so, they address the following key questions: What motivated you to want to become a teacher? What does a teacher actually need, i.e. what competencies does a teacher require? Which competencies do you already bring with you to your studies? Which competencies would you like to develop by the time you become a teacher? How?

Preparation for peer coaching: reflection assignment and videos

In the middle of their studies, more precisely: during the internship semester - at least if the respective lecturer integrates BASIS PLUS into his/her accompanying course - the students revisit their reflection from the beginning of their studies. In this reflection assignment, the aim is for students to recall and reflect on their formulated areas of development beforehand in order to bring them "up to date". In doing so, the questions arise: Is there already a change evident in the development of competencies? If so, which ones? The reflection assignment serves as preparation for the peer coaching in the group setting.

Peer coaching in a group setting

After the students have reflected on their areas of development and written them down, they take part in a peer coaching session in a group setting, provided that their instructor participates in BASIS PLUS. In this coaching they learn how to formulate concrete development goals from the development areas as well as how to work on these goals.

After the peer coaching

Finally, selected reflection questions are dealt with again and for the last time. The goal is for the students to reflect on their developmental tasks one last time towards the end of their studies and to formulate concrete developmental goals for the second phase of teacher:ing.

Forteachers conducting internship support sessions:

If you have any questions or if you are offering an internship support course for student teachers and are interested in integrating the three-hour peer coaching in a group setting into your seminar, please feel free to send an email to self[at]uni-kassel[dot]de.

Accompanying research

The BASIS PLUS project is accompanied by research. For this purpose, a qualitative-reconstructive evaluation of the peer coaching sessions in the group setting is carried out. The thematic focus of the evaluation is on the topics: Reflection (competence), structures of peer coaching as well as possibilities and limits of peer coaching in teacher education.

BASIS PLUS was assigned as a sub-project of Pronet2 Professionalization through networking - continuation and potentiation to the field of action I, measure 1: aptitude reflection and counseling from the beginning of studies to the second phase.Further information can be found here:https://www.uni-kassel.de/einrichtung/zlb/forschung-innovationsprojekte/pronet2/projektbeschreibung/handlungsfeld-i/p-06