As part of the UoC Insights series, we would like to draw your attention to a new interview with Prof. Dr. Johannes König on the emerging group ‘Proving the Effectiveness of Teacher Education’. It provides exciting insights into the group's research, as well as the challenges they face and their future plans.

The latest IZeF Newsletter has been published and is available for download here.

We are pleased to invite you to the 22nd IZeF workshop on the topic of ‘Transferring scientific findings from the IZeF to schools, teacher training and society’ on 7 November. Further information on the programme and registration will follow here. Please save the date – we look forward to your participation and to sharing ideas with you!

The University of Cologne Teacher Education Hub provides a new structure for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary cooperation between all stakeholders in teacher education in research, study, teaching and innovation. Aware of the high social relevance of education, the platform promotes internal networking at the University of Cologne and enables regional and global cooperation in society as well as national and international networking, also with regard to the professionalisation of teachers. We are delighted that the IZeF was accepted as a new institutional member and assigned to the platform at its constituent meeting on 25 June 2025. We look forward to this collaboration with great interest and enthusiasm.

The Journal of Curriculum Studies has recently published a special issue on the topic of "Teacher Education Effectiveness, featuring several contributions from the Emerging Group: Proving the Effectiveness of Teacher Education. More information and access to the articles can be found here.

Sample contributions:

• König, J., Heine, S., Kramer, C., Weyers, J., Becker-Mrotzek, M., Großschedl, J., Hanisch, Ch., Hanke, P., Hennemann, Th., Jost, J., Kaspar, K. Rott, B., & Strauß, S. (2023). Teacher education effectiveness as an emerging research paradigm: a synthesis of reviews of empirical studies published over three decades (1993–2023). Journal of Curriculum Studies, 56(4), 371–391. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2023.2268702
• Rauterkus, H., Hennemann, T., Hagen, T., Krull, J., Nitz, J., Eiben, K., Kulawiak, P. R., Verbeck, L., & Hanisch, C. (2024). Teachers’ ability to regulate their emotions predicts their levels of stress in primary schools in Germany. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 56(4), 468–479. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2024.2312391
• Weyers, J., Ligtvoet, R., & König, J. (2024). How does pre-service teachers’ general pedagogical knowledge develop during university teacher education? Examining the impact of learning opportunities and entry characteristics over five time points using longitudinal models. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 56(4), 448–467. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2024.2355923

During the practical semester, students can obtain digitally supported, criteria-based feedback on the quality of their pupils' teaching. The feedback can be used for the further development of the lessons, for the study project or the final examination as well as for the assessment and perspective discussion.

You can find more information here and the CAP publication here.

On the occasion of IZeF's 10th anniversary, it is time for a summary of core results from various research projects. The anniversary volume provides an overview of what has been achieved, analyses examples in greater depth and at the same time highlights the IZeF's key development prospects for the coming years. The thematic focus of the IZeF lies in the areas of competence measurement and effectiveness of teacher education, media and digitalisation, language education, persistence and change in schools, teaching and the teaching profession as well as mental health in educational institutions. Two research projects from each of these five areas are presented as examples in this volume. Two further chapters reflect and summarise the interdisciplinary research carried out by the IZeF to date from a special educational and didactic perspective.

König, J., Hanisch, C.,  Hanke, P.,  Hennemann, T.,  Kaspar,  K., Martens, M., & Strauß, S. (Hrsg.) (2024). Auf die Lehrperson und ihren Unterricht kommt es an. Zehn Jahre empirische Professions- und Unterrichtsforschung im IZeF der Universität zu Köln. Münster: Waxmann. Download