The future of Russian and foreign education was discussed at Kazan Federal University

 A group of students from the University of Cologne and Moscow Pedagogical State University visited KFU. Future teachers had the opportunity to share knowledge and acquaint their colleagues with the education system of their countries.

The seminar was organized by Tassilo Georg Klemens Küpper, Professor at the University of Cologne. He annually comes with his students to Russia to participate in the Russian-German seminar 'Interdisciplinary relationships in science and mathematics education' as he is interested in studying the experience of the Russian education system.

The system of higher education in Germany integrates over 300 educational institutions. The main distinguishing principle of German higher education is 'academic freedom,' a system that allows each student to independently determine the list of disciplines that will be included in his diploma. The university’s future teacher training consists of three components: the study of two or three school subjects that they will teach at school, the study of pedagogical sciences, and school practice.

The curriculum of the Pedagogy major largely depends on what school the future teacher is going to work at. Thus, the University of Cologne trains teachers who have the right to teach in gymnasiums and vocational schools.

In Germany, upon completion of a Master’s degree, one cannot immediately start teaching at school. Having passed the state exams, a future teacher passes a two-year pedagogical practice - referendariat, professional practical training in school. Two years later, the second exam is taken, which marks the end of teacher training. So, university graduates do not start teaching at school until they are 27-30 years old.

Due to the acute shortage of teachers in Germany, a reform of teacher training has now begun.

Now we are trying to reorganize the system of pedagogical education in Germany due to the influence of modern world trends. And we study the experience of our foreign colleagues, including Russian partners. After all, the organization of educational activities in modern Russia is largely inherited from the Soviet educational system, which was once recognized as one of the best educational systems in the world.

A senior lecturer at the Department of Theory and Methodology of Teaching Physics at Moscow State Pedagogical University, Yulia Pushkareva, explained that many of the projects presented at the seminar were implemented in real school conditions.

The students of our university have been taking part in scientific seminars of the Moscow State Pedagogical University and the University of Cologne for five years already. In Germany they prepare scientific projects, participate in seminars devoted to STEM-technologies in science and mathematics education in cooperation with German students. During their stay in Moscow, students from Cologne present their research projects and talk about the peculiarities of the German education system. This year the Institute for Psychology and Education of the Kazan Federal University has become the platform for the project implementation, and the choice is obvious. As the guests of the university said, this institute is well-known as a leading modern educational center in Russia and abroad.

KFU has been chosen for a special reason: the search for new methods, approaches and strategies in the teacher training system which is being conducted today at KFU, is interesting not only to us, our Russian colleagues, but also to foreign partners. At one time, the scientists of the Physics Department of the Kazan University and our Department of Physics already interacted: they developed a textbook on physics together. And we hope that cooperation will continue.

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