Professional Development Subjects
PD topics
The DZLM develops various offers in seven subject areas, such as PD and teaching materials, facilitator PD courses for PD facilitators, teacher PD series for teachers, etc. The DZLM is also responsible for the development of the training and education of teachers. An overview and detailed information about the types of courses on offer and their target groups are compiled under Offers. Here you will find descriptions of the subject areas and accesses to thematically appropriate offers. All offers are in German.
Digital Tools
The use of digital tools is required in many secondary school curricula and is also gaining importance in primary schools. Teachers of PD facilitators must be adequately prepared for this challenge by means of teaching concepts, sensitisation to tasks and didactical background knowledge. Only then can digital tools develop their added value for mathematics learning.
In the DZLM professional development courses, digital media are either the focus of courses for teacher PD and facilitaor PD or play an important role in professional and didactically oriented professional development courses (e.g. stochastics compact).
Language-responsive language teaching
Language proficiency of monolingual and multilingual students significantly influence their mathematics achievement. Supporting and fostering the language in mathematics classrooms is therefore a key factor on promoting equity. Mathematics teachers must therefore be prepared to integrate language education into mathematics instruction. This requires professional development courses for teachers and facilitators.
Heterogeneous & inclusive learning groups
Diagnostic and support skills on the part of the teachers are important prerequisites for further developing the professional and social skills of both low-performing and high-performing students. Therefore, a competent, inclusive approach to diversity is an important influencing factor on individual learning processes and performance as well as on the class atmosphere.
The proportion of students with special educational support needs who are taught integratively or inclusively in primary and secondary schools is rising steadily. Thus, facilitator PD offers for the design of inclusive mathematics instructions are of great importance, among others also for out-of-field teachers such as special needs teachers.
Big mathematical ideas
Studies show that there is a close connection between teachers’ mathematical content knowledge, pedagogical content knoweldge and students’ achievement. When new core curricula are introduced, certain big ideas often have to be taught for the first time - and lead to a high demand for inservice teacher education, for example in the field of stochastics for the upper secondary school in NRW or Thuringia.
Supporting out-of-field teachers
For a variety of reasons, teachers across Germany are employed in mathematics instructions even though they are out-of-field teachers. Empirical studies show that teaching quality and success depend to a large extent on the professional and didactical expertise of the teaching staff. There is an urgent need for PD courses for these teachers who are not trained in mathematics as a teaching subject. These are designed by PD facilitators in a participant and need-oriented way.
Early mathematical education (in day-care centres)
Many children are fascinated by patterns, shapes and numbers from an early age. They encounter mathematical situations in their childhood activities and actively discover mathematics in their environment, because their everyday lives offer them a multitude of opportunities for mathematical experience and discovery. In this sense, mathematical encouragement means: playing, communicating and gaining diverse experiences in a mathematically stimulating environment, accompanied by competent professionals.
This is a challenging task for early education professionals. The question arises: How can it be possible to stimulate mathematical experiences and discoveries as well as to take up the children's interest in mathematics education in order to enable the children to learn mathematics in a child-friendly, appropriate and adaptable way?
(Further) building blocks for good teaching
Occasionally we develop further offers which are not to be assigned to our six DZLM-topics of PD courses, but generally represent building blocks of good instruction. In most cases, these are topics that go beyond the main mathematical ideas (e.g. factual calculations), process-related competencies (e.g. problem solving) or selected teaching phases (productive practice).
