The B.Ed. in Social Studies is an undergraduate academic degree program that leads to a first academic degree qualifying for a profession. It contains subject-specific and didactic elements that prepare students for the teaching profession at secondary schools. As part of the teacher training course for secondary schools, the B.Ed. in Social Studies must be combined with a second subject and the subject of educational science. A subsequent M.Ed. in Social Studies is a prerequisite for becoming a teacher.

Module Structure:

ModulesCHWCredit points
Fundamentals of political science and its neighboring disciplines810
Democracy and society in Germany
Political theory
Comparison of political systems
Economy and society
International relations/foreign policy		6
6
6
6
6		9
9
9
9
9
Didactics of Social Studies610
All4465

The detailed module plan can be found in the module handbook.

Attendance is compulsory in the following courses at the Department of Political Science:

Module 1: “Fundamentals of Political Science and its neighboring disciplines”K Scientific work
Module 2: “Democracy and society in Germany”S The political system of the FRG
Module 3: “Political Theory”S Political Theory
Module 4: “Comparison of political systems”S Analysis and comparison of political systems
Module 5: “Didactics of Social Studies”S Subject didactics IIK Subject didactics III
Module 6: “International relations/foreign policy”S International Relations
Module 7: “Economy and society”S Economy and society

In all seminars and small groups, active participation includes, for example, papers and presentations, written summaries or other achievements. This is determined by the lecturer depending on the content and objectives of the course.

Information on internships can be found at the University Examination Office for the Teaching Profession (HPL).

What is bilingual teaching?

Bilingual teaching is subject teaching in a foreign language. It is intended to deepen and expand intercultural and foreign language communication skills and competencies while at the same time developing the content of the subject. Despite the use of the foreign language as a working language, the focus is on subject-related content learning.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, the social science subjects of geography, history and social studies form the core area of bilingual education. As a rule, schools employ bilingual teachers who are qualified to teach the foreign language and the respective subject at secondary school level and have completed training for bilingual teaching. The teacher training for bilingual teaching is prepared by optional additional training at Johannes Gutenberg University.

General information on additional bilingual teacher training can be found on the corresponding website:

There is no formal requirement for the required language level, but we recommend that you only register for the additional bilingual training if you have English language skills at level C1 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

To obtain the certificate of bilingual additional training for the teaching profession in social studies, you must attend three English-language seminars and pass a sub-module examination in each of these three. The final grade of the module is made up of the grades of the three sub-module examinations.

The course is taught on an internally differentiated basis each semester, so that you are free to choose the two semesters in which you attend the two didactic seminars.

The seminar consists of 4 blocks:

  1. Theory (Saturdays from 9 am – 4 pm / only compulsory if attending a political didactics BiLi seminar for the first time)
  2. Lesson planning in the seminar (Saturdays from 9 am – 4 pm)
  3. Presentation and simulation of the planning in the seminar (Saturdays from 9 am – 4 pm)
  4. Implementation of the planning at a school (date to be set jointly in the seminar – only compulsory for the second attendance of a political didactics BiLi seminar)

You can register for the didactic BiLi seminar during the regular registration phases.