Schulpädagogik und Schulentwicklung

• Modeling, Explaining, Experimenting, and Receiving Feedback: Studies on the Acquisition of Core Practices in the Training of Prospective Teachers
• Trico School Development and Leadership: Building a Network for School Development and Leadership
• V-Reflect and V-Feedback: Studies on the Effectiveness of Online and Classroom-Video-Based Video Feedback During Teacher Candidates’ School Practicums.
• PLUS – Practice-Oriented Learning at the University School
   

New Project PLUS – Practice-Oriented Learning at the University School Launches – Apply Now
Starting July 1, 2026, the PLUS project will launch, funded by “The World Is My Campus” (https://stiftung-hochschullehre.de, e, grant amount: 3.4 million euros). We are breaking new ground in teacher education and designing a pilot degree program with a focus on practice-oriented learning starting in the first semester. We are professionalizing teachers in accordance with the Core Practice approach and, through the Leuphana University School, creating a learning environment that enables prospective teachers to act in an evidence-based manner. At the University School, new technological possibilities for Core Practice training (e.g., virtual reality simulations or video feedback) are being implemented and researched. Ultimately, we aim to implement a model transformation process at a school serving grades 1–13 (optimizing school development, research, and teacher education and professional development). Would you like to apply to join this project as a staff member, or are you interested in learning more? Please feel free to contact us now. Prof. Dr. Marc Kleinknecht

The seminar “What Makes a Good Campus and University School? How Can They Be Further Developed?” explores over the course of three semesters what distinguishes good campus and university schools. In the first semester, using the “research-based learning” teaching format, students had the opportunity to network with school administrators and teachers, plan joint projects, and gain insights from guest speakers on successful school projects and visions for the school of the future. International perspectives and those from teaching quality research—such as the lectures by Prof. em. Urban Fraefel  (Switzerland) and Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. em. Eckhard Klieme (Frankfurt)—were also incorporated.
In the second semester, we will examine the projects that have emerged at our campus schools, which are intended to further develop the schools and facilitate the professional development of students. The last highlight in this summer: Kathrin Erdmann (NDR) will speak on July 3, 26, at 2:00 p.m. about schools and teacher education in Japan in Lecture Hall 3.

In Lüneburg, an idea for Northern Germany’s first university school is taking shape. Leuphana University Lüneburg and numerous school administrators in the city are championing this initiative.
University schools are not a new concept—but recently, new locations have emerged in cities such as Dresden and Cologne. What expectations are placed on university schools today? What challenges do school administrators, teachers, and academics face in establishing such a school?
We have set out to discuss these questions together with school administrators and city representatives and to develop ideas for a sustainable university-affiliated school. Further information can be found here.

Building on the successfully implemented concept of campus schools, Leuphana University is currently developing ideas for establishing a university school and for designing a new pilot degree program focused on practice-oriented learning in accordance with the Core Practice approach. This approach aims to develop key professional competencies such as explaining subject-specific content, designing Feedback processes, building respectful teacher-student relationships, and assessing learning processes and outcomes. The project is investigating the extent to which a university school can serve as a practical teaching context for testing new technological, methodological, and idactic approaches (e.g., virtual reality, systematic video feedback, microteaching formats) in teacher education. The aim is to empirically investigate and further develop the effectiveness of these methods in order to find evidence-based solutions to the challenges of teacher education. At the same time, a university school will be established and used as a research site for empirical educational research to systematically improve the quality of teacher education.
 

In the interdisciplinary development team “Campus and University School at Leuphana” (ECUL), researchers, school administrators, students, and other stakeholders are working together on sustainable and innovative ideas for the university school and a potential organizational, legal, educational-theoretical, and didactic framework.
On September 16, 2025, the team met for the first time during Leuphana’s Communicorn Conference and developed initial proposals with the expertise of Prof. Dr. Martin Heinrich from Bielefeld University.
On February 23, 2026, we interviewed Prof. Dr. Christian Timo Zenke from RWTH Aachen University about national and international networks of university schools.
On February 17, 2026, we met with school administrators in Lüneburg to inform them about the university school and encourage their participation.
If you are interested or have questions about the development team, please feel free to contact Prof. Dr. Marc Kleinknecht.

For theses, we offer topics from our research projects, which are announced by January 15 of each year. Information on the application process and an overview of the topics can be found here: Theses in the field of “Teacher Education and School Development”.