Individualised transitions and professionalisation processes of non-traditional students of childhood education from a biographical perspective

• Applicant: Dr. André Epp
• Subject Area: Educational Research on Socialization, Welfare and Professionalism
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 536514633

The third educational pathway is currently experiencing an increase in importance. The decision of the Kultusministerkonferenz in Germany on access to higher education for vocationally qualified applicants without school entrance qualifications (Abitur) promotes a change in the structure of qualifications, which is visible in the academization and professionalization in various educational fields. In this context, groups who come to university without an a-level exam (Abitur), via special access routes and admission procedures, are characterized as "non-traditional students". While "normal educational pathways" are often in the focus of research, there are only limited studies on the educational pathways of non-traditional students. The current state of research is predominantly characterised by explorative, basic descriptive and explanatory findings that only rudimentarily take into account the heterogeneity of study subjects and students. In order to gain more meaningful insights into non-traditional students and their professionalization and transition processes, research is needed that focuses more specifically on a study subject and uses qualitative approaches to enable differentiated reconstructions that methodically take into account the heterogeneity of this group. Accordingly, the research project is linked to a specific field of study: It focuses on non-traditional students of childhood education. Furthermore, biography-analytical research approaches are used, which are excellently suited in the context of research on non-traditional students. Those enable to capture detailed information’s about transition and professionalization processes. The focus on non-traditional students of childhood education indicates contributions to profession-related research in this field, which are focused on in the first line of research. Research on the connections between biographical experiences and the development of the professional thinking and acting of childhood educators is still in its infancy. In particular, the project's target group has not yet been considered. Within this framework, the project reconstructs how non-traditional students of childhood education (self-reflexively) access biographical contexts and their significance for thinking and acting. In a second line, the specificity of unusual (educational) transitions in their processuality, which have received only marginal attention in previous transition research, will be focused. It will be investigated how non-traditional students of childhood education actively frame and produce the transition that deviates from the "normal course of education".

• DFG Programme: Research Grants