Shine a spotlight on the preparatory service within science teacher education in Germany: A systematic review

Abstract

Due to the lack of success of German students in recent program for international student assessment (PISA) studies since 2001, the question arises whether German teacher training has an impact on this performance. This publication is based on a systematic review which deals with German-language publications of various PISA-relevant areas within the preparatory service in Germany. The results show that there is a clear need for action in the areas of scientific literacy, nature of science as well as media and information literacy. In addition, the structure of the preparatory service as well as the psychological stress of prospective (science) teachers in Germany are explained in more detail. Despite being limited to German publications and individual competencies of PISA surveys, the study identifies a need for action for the German preparatory service. The aim of this publication is to provide a basic description of the German preparatory service in relation to science teacher education to compare German teacher education with better performing teacher training according to PISA.