School | The place where people learn to teach (again)

Faced with a shortage of qualified teachers, Swiss schools are starting to recruit people without formal qualifications. The University of Teacher Education, PHBern, provides novices with numerous means to equip themselves for the challenge. Its Institut für Weiterbildung und Dienstleistungen (IWD) department offers three interlinked training blocks to help students familiarise themselves with the key aspects of pedagogical and didactic practice, and gain a good practical grounding. Training block 1 is also available to complete as part of a summer camp.

Those who are already qualified but hold a foreign teaching diploma can also benefit from the wide-ranging advice, courses and further training offered at PHBern, which empower participants in their daily work, create opportunities for networking and enhance professionalism. The “Unterrichten mit ausländischem Lehrdiplom” (Teaching with a foreign teaching diploma) pathway – the only course of its kind in Switzerland to date – deserves special mention. This programme provides an essential understanding of the Swiss education and school system, and focuses on the specialist and cross-disciplinary skills relevant for teaching in Switzerland.

If you already have a Swiss teaching qualification and want to return to the classroom after taking time out, you are advised to take the modular “Wiedereinstieg” refresher course, which prepares you for school life again, helps you to plan your lessons and informs you of important changes.

Further information (in German):
PHBern: Angebote für Unterrichtende ohne Lehrdiplom 
PHBern: CAS Unterrichten mit ausländischem Lehrdiplom
PHBern: Wiedereinstieg
PHBern: Studium