Shaping transitions: Attracting vocationally qualified people to study to become teachers at vocational schools

Considering the present need for teachers and the founding of new universities, a cooperative continuing education program that aims to facilitate the transition between vocational and university education was developed and tested in a collaboration between the Historisch-Ökologische Bildungsstätte in Papenburg, the Ludwig-Windthorst-Haus in Lingen and the University of Osnabrück. The project “(Neue) Wege in den Lehrer/innenberuf” (“(New) paths to the teaching profession”, abbreviated to: NeWeLe) , funded by the European Social Fund, focused on vocationally qualified individuals with an interest in vocational teaching. The results show that the format is a sustainable variant for promoting permeability between vocational and higher education. Within the group of participants, a lively interest in the teaching profession was observed. However, the path via full-time studies represents a considerable obstacle for the professionally qualified group of people.