Study structure

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Background of the study program

Education as a whole has gained attention and importance since the publication of the first PISA study results in 2000. For more than 20 years now, a variety of dynamics have been found in the field. Early education, educational processes of young children before they start school, has received special attention. In addition, the European strategy of "Lifelong Learning" has been created, which highlights the high relevance of continuing education and training for modern professions.
Consequently, social work is challenged in different fields and in different ways to prove its contribution to the education and qualification of children and young people - which also means: the importance of schooling and education has increased enormously for social work.
Since pedagogical offers can only be as good as the trained specialist staff, the training of instructors and further and advanced trainers has become an issue - and the political pressure is increasing: since about the mid-2010s, professional and trade associations for vocational, social pedagogical training have been demanding that not only the personnel requirements for teachers be secured, but also the quality of their training (for example, AGJ, DJI or BöfAE).
This is where the master's program comes in: The goal is to qualify students for the area of training, continuing education and further education of social pedagogical professions - in subject theory, subject science and especially in subject didactics and professional practice. The program is based on the successful completion of a six-semester undergraduate degree in social work (or similar degrees such as social pedagogy, social work or social work). The theoretical knowledge acquired in the undergraduate studies is deepened during the master's program by focusing on (subject-) didactic issues.

The study program

The basic idea of this Master's program is to prepare students for a qualified position at vocational schools and in institutions of further education and training by combining theoretical, (school) pedagogical and  (subject) didactical knowledge. This knowledge can be related to each other in an internship in the third semester. The internship semester enables students to become active first as participating observers and then, building on this, to gain initial experience in teaching social pedagogical content as lecturers.

In accordance with the program, the courses offered are, on the one hand, exclusively for students of the Master's program and, on the other hand, linked to other courses, both internal and external to the department. Thus, seminars are offered together with the departmental Master's program "Diversity - Research - Social Work". Students will also attend modules from other institutes and departments within the educational and social science core curriculum, which is the central building block of all teacher:in-service training programs at the University of Kassel. Building on a broad theoretical qualification in the first university degree successfully completed by the students, this scientific knowledge is to be deepened and specified in the master's program.

Faculty in the study program

The Institute of Social Work is responsible for the Master's program, so that many of the lecturers and researchers here are active in the Master's program "Social Pedagogy in Training, Further and Continuing Education" and offer seminars depending on the research and teaching focus. In addition, with the claim of linking theory and practice, lecturers with special expertise from the professional practice fields of vocational schools as well as further, continuing and adult education are engaged.

In seminars and lectures, which are offered interdisciplinary in the core studies of social and educational sciences, there are representatives from a variety of relevant disciplines, such as (developmental) psychology, vocational education or school pedagogy.

Sample study plan

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