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History of the Teacher Education in Hannover

History of the Teacher Education in Hannover

In the summer term of 2017, the Board of the Leibniz School of Educationdeployed a commission of experts to research the history of teacher education in Hannover. Head of the commission is the former dean of the faculty of Humanities Prof. Dr. Friedrich Johannsen.


  • Im Moore 11: Sitz der Geschäftsstelle der LSE seit Oktober 2023

  • Ansicht des Gebäudes Appelstraße 11a © C. Schröder

    Appelstraße 11a: Sitz der Geschäftsstelle der LSE 2020 von bis 2023

  • Ansicht des Gebäudes Im Moore 17c © LSE

    Im Moore 17c: Sitz der Geschäftsstelle des ZfLs/ der LSE von 2010 bis 2020

  • Ansicht des Gebäudes Schloßwender Straße 11 © C.Schröder

    Schloßwender Straße 1: Sitz des ZfLs von 2007 bis 2010

  • Ansicht des Gebäudes Bisbarckstraße 1 © C.Schröder

    Bismarckstraße 1: Sitz des ZfLs von 2006 bis 2007

Chronological Development of Teacher Education

  • 1751 Foundation of the teacher seminar by Ernst Christoph Böttcher (until 1926)

  • 1831 Foundation of the “Higher vocational school of Hannover” by Karl Karmarsch

  • 1831 Foundation of the Institute of Technology (Technische Hochschule, TH)

  • 1921 Re-Opening of the Institute of Technology with three faculties (Mathematics and Sciences, Architecture, Mechanical Engineering)

  • 1929 Stone Ceremony for the construction of the Evangelical Pedagogic Academy (Completion of the Building in the Bismarckstraße in 1935)

  • 1934 Opening of College for (female) Teacher Education

  • 1942 Opening of educational establishment for (female) Teacher Education (Closure 1944)

  • 1946 Opening of teachers College / Minister-Becker-College

  • 1951 Establishment of the first remedial (special needs) teacher professorship in the BRD

  • 1963 relocation of the first Teachers College for technical instructors Wilhelmshaven to the Institute of Technology Hannover / Transfer of the “teacher education degree for Technical Education – Vocational School Teaching”  

  • 1968 Renaming of the Institute of Technology Hannover / Transfer of the teacher education degree for University-Track Secondary Schools and Vocational Schools to the newly-founded “Faculty of Humanities and Political Sciences”

  • 1969 Founding of the Teachers College Lower-Saxony Department Hannover

  • 1978 Opening of the Special Division “Educational Science I” of the Technical University of Hannover

  • 1995 Creation of a Faculty of Education (Union of both Faculties of Education I and II)

  • 2002 Founding of the nds. Joint project on teacher education with the aim of supporting the conversion of university teacher education in Lower Saxony to bachelor's/master's structures. The members of the association are representatives of all Lower Saxony universities involved in teacher training, the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture and the Lower Saxony Ministry of Education. The office at the LUH was set up from 2002 to the end of 2007 to coordinate the association.

  • 2002 Founding of the “Bachelor/Master Structures Coordination Office”, which supports the conversion of the state examination courses into Bachelor/Master structures at the LUH.

  • 2004 Relocation of the GHR courses to Hildesheim/implementation of the Bologna process for the remaining teacher training courses

  • 2005 Founding of the Faculty of Philosophy


  • 2006 Founding of the Center for Teacher Education (ZfL) It is divided into a "study office" and a "research office". The "Bachelor/Master Structures Coordination Office", which supports the conversion of the state examination courses into Bachelor/Master structures at the LUH, is merged into the ZfL.
  • 2006 The office of the Lower Saxony joint project for teacher training, to which all universities in Lower Saxony involved in teacher training, as well as the ministries for science and culture and the Ministry of Education belong, is connected to the ZfL. The network deals with current developments and reforms in the field of university teacher training and with possibilities for their practical implementation. The University of Hanover has been in charge of the association since 2002. To the Lower Saxony Association for Teacher Training
  • 2007 At the end of the year, the "joint project of Lower Saxony universities to convert teacher training to bachelor's/master's structures" with the office at the LUH expires. From 2008 to 2015, the association under the leadership of various nds. Universities self-organized until 2015 when the office was set up again at the LUH.
  • 2010 For the 2010/11 winter semester, the ZfL becomes "Department 2: Teacher Education" and thus part of the newly established Central Facility for Teaching, Study and Further Education (ZEL) at the LUH.

  • 2012 Relocation of teacher education in Lower Saxony to the universities The uniplus competence center is responsible for the conception, organization and evaluation of further training and qualification offers in the regions of Hanover, Nienburg and Schaumburg. Within this framework, current findings from research and teaching can flow directly into further training events - and thus also into school practice. Uniplus is part of the LSE at the LUH. To the uniplus website

  • 2014 Dissolution of the Central Facility for Teaching, Studies and Further Education (ZEL) The ZfL becomes an independent central facility at Leibniz Universität Hannover again

  • 2015 Establishment of the office of the Lower Saxony Association for Teacher Education The association includes all universities in Lower Saxony involved in teacher education, as well as the ministries for science and culture and the Ministry of Education. The network deals with current developments and reforms in the field of university teacher education and with possibilities for their practical implementation. The association is based as a self-governing unit in the long term at the LSE.

  • 2015 Two LUH projects were recommended for funding in the first approval round of the “Quality Campaign for Teacher Education” (QLB) funded by the federal and state governments. The project "Theoria cum praxi: Promotion of reflective ability to act as a Leibniz principle of teacher training" at the former Center for Teacher Education (ZfL) and the joint application by Leibniz University and Osnabrück University "Perspective for teaching as a new opportunity (Plan C)". Period of the first QLB funding phase from the beginning of 2015 to the end of 2018. To the QLB website 2016 Founding of the Leibniz School of Education (LSE) as an academically self-governing institution in accordance with the university's constitution. Representatives from all faculties involved in teacher training are involved in the LSE.

  • 2019 A LUH project was also recommended for funding in the second approval round of the "Quality Campaign for Teacher Education" funded by the federal and state governments. The aim of the Leibniz principle is to further develop cross-faculty structures at the university and thereby contribute to a sustainable improvement in the quality of Hanover's teacher education.

  • 2019 The project "Leibniz works 4.0: Changing learning and working environments in vocational teacher training" is part of an additional funding round of the federal-state initiative "Quality Offensive Teacher Education" (QLB). The focus of the funding round is on the topics of "digitization in teacher training" and "teacher education for vocational schools". The profession-theoretical goal of Leibniz works 4.0 is the training of reflected ability to act in vocational contexts. To Leibniz works 4.0

  • 2019 affiliation of uniKIK school projects to the LSE uniKIK school projects is the interface between school and university and always works in cooperation with all faculties to design interesting and easily accessible, but also challenging projects in order to give pupils an authentic picture of studying and scientific work admit. UniKIK was founded in 1998 as an interface between the university and students, teachers and prospective students. School projects web portal

  • 2021 Establishment of the Robotics Competence Center at the LSE As part of the "Human-Robot Collaboration Robonatives" project, 66 secondary schools received funding to set up robot laboratories. The "Competence Center Robotics" started its work in August 2021 to support the project schools in working with the new robot systems and to qualify the teachers. The "Robonatives" project runs from August 4, 2021 to July 31, 2023 under the overall coordination of the state initiative n-21, Hanover. To the Competence Center Robotics


Project: History of Teacher Education in Hannover

The idea of the project is to reappraise the varied history of the education of teachers in Hannover and to make it available for the public. The focus of the research lies on the people responsible (teachers and students), institutions, buildings as well as the evolution of the teacher education. The reviewing of the historical source material is furthermore aided through interviews with witnesses as well as participants of teacher education in Hannover. Publication of the research is planned with the inauguration of the new building for the Leibniz School of Education.