Network for Research on Student Substitute Teachers

• Applicant: Dr. Florian Hesse
• Subject Area: General and Domain-Specific Teaching and Learning ; Educational Research on Socialization, Welfare and Professionalism
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 569858208

Like many other countries, Germany is faced with a significant shortage of teachers, which jeopardises the quality of teaching and therefore the quality of the entire education system. As this shortage cannot be compensated for in the short term by regular teacher training, alternative routes into the teaching profession are becoming increasingly important. In addition to forms of lateral entry into the teaching profession, the use of student substitute teachers (SSTs) is becoming increasingly attractive. The latter are student teachers who are employed before completing their studies to cover teaching needs and to support teaching-related activities. Until a few years ago, this phenomenon only occurred in exceptional cases, particularly in subjects with severe shortages, but nowadays SSTs are systematically recruited by the education ministries. In quantitative terms, this means that more than half of the students are already teaching alongside their studies, depending on the place and phase of study. This widespread use of SSTs poses a significant challenge for teacher training. On the one hand, from the perspective of professionalisation theory, it can be questioned to what extent a new form of self-professionalisation is created through substitute teaching, which could diminish the importance of university teacher training and possibly lead to deprofessionalisation due to a lack of supervision. On the other hand, initial findings indicate that, despite the associated work-related stress, SSTs perceive their activities as an important learning opportunity within their professionalisation and are no more critical of university teacher training than students who do not pursue a substitute activity. Against this background, it seems necessary not to condemn substitute teaching activities too quickly, but to examine the potential and challenges of substitute teaching more closely. The proposed network aims to meet this need by enabling a multi-perspective and interdisciplinary examination of the phenomenon by 20 subject teaching and educational researchers at different career levels. Two objectives are pursued: On a theoretical level, the network aims to develop a theoretical framework that has been lacking in the discourse to date, which will enable systematic research into the phenomenon in the future. On an empirical level, following pilot studies from the network, approaches to researching substitute teaching activities are to be established that can serve as a basis for follow-up research grant proposals. In addition to a kick-off and closing event, a total of five working meetings are planned to address (1) the contextual conditions, (2) individual requirements, (3) support, (4) teaching and (5) potential (side) effects.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks
• Co-Investigator: Dr. André Meyer