B.Ed. Social Studies – Institut für Politikwissenschaft

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:

Modules	CHW	Credit points
Fundamentals of political science and its neighboring disciplines	8	10
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 Studies	6	10
All	44	65

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).

module	Course	Type of event	Commitment	CHW	CP
Basics	Introduction to political science	Lecture	Mandatory	2	2
Basics	Scientific work	Small group	Mandatory	2	2
Basics	Methods of empirical political research	Lecture	Mandatory	2	2
Democracy and society in Germany	The political system of the Federal Republic of Germany	Seminar	Mandatory	2	4
Democracy and society in Germany	The political system of the Federal Republic of Germany	Lecture	Mandatory	2	2
1st partial module examination	Fundamentals of political science
total					12

module	Course	Type of event	Commitment	CHW	CP
Basics	Statistics	Lecture	Mandatory	2	3
Democracy and society in Germany	Topic	Lecture	Elective	2	2
Comparison of political systems	Introduction to the analysis and comparison of political systems	Lecture	Mandatory	2	2
Comparison of political systems	Analysis and comparison of political systems	Seminar	Mandatory	2	4
2nd partial module examination	Fundamentals of political science				1
Module examination	Democracy and society in Germany				1
total					13

module	Course	Type of event	Commitment	CHW	CP
Comparison of political systems	Topic	Lecture	Elective	2	2
Political theory	Introduction to political theory	Lecture	Mandatory	2	2
Political theory	Political theory	Seminar	Mandatory	2	4
Subject didactics	Subject didactics I	Lecture	Mandatory	2	2
Module examination	Comparison of political systems				1
total					11

module	Course	Type of event	Commitment	CHW	CP
Political theory	Topic	Lecture	Elective	2	2
Subject didactics	Subject didactics II	Seminar	Mandatory	2	4
International relations/ Foreign policy	Introduction to international relations	Lecture	Mandatory	2	2
Module examination	Political theory				1
total					9

module	Course	Type of event	Commitment	CHW	CP
International relations/ Foreign policy	Topic	Lecture	Elective	2	2
Economy and society	Introduction to economy and society	Lecture	Mandatory	2	2
Economy and society	Economy and society	Seminar	Mandatory	2	4
International relations/ Foreign policy	International relations	Seminar	Mandatory	2	4
Subject didactics	Subject didactics III	Small group	Elective	2	3
Module examination	Subject didactics				1
Module examination	International relations/foreign policy				1
total					17

module	Course	Type of event	Commitment	CHW	CP
Economy and society	Topic	Lecture	Duty to vote	2	2
Module examination	Economy and society				1
Bachelor’s thesis
total					3
Total major subject				44	65

module	Course	Type of event	Commitment	CHW	CP
Basics	Introduction to political science	Lecture	Mandatory	2	2
Basics	Scientific work	Small group	Mandatory	2	2
Basics	Statistics	Lecture	Mandatory	2	3
Comparison of political systems	Analysis and comparison of political systems	Seminar	Mandatory	2	4
Comparison of political systems	Introduction to the analysis and comparison of political systems	Lecture	Mandatory	2	2
1st partial module examination	Fundamentals of political science
total					13

Module	Course	Type of event	Commitment	CHW	CP
Basics	Methods of empirical political research	Lecture	Mandatory	2	2
Comparison of political systems	Topic	Lecture	Elective	2	2
Political theory	Introduction to political theory	Lecture	Mandatory	2	2
Democracy and society in Germany	Introduction to the political system of the Federal Republic of Germany	Lecture	Mandatory	2	2
Democracy and society in Germany	The political system of the Federal Republic of Germany	Seminar	Mandatory	2	4
2nd partial module examination	Fundamentals of political science				1
Module examination	Comparison of political systems				1
total					14

module	Course	Type of event	Commitment	CHW	CP
Democracy and society in Germany	Topic	Lecture	Elective	2	2
Political theory	Topic	Lecture	Elective	2	2
Political theory	Political theory	Seminar	Mandatory	2	4
International relations/ foreign policy	Introduction to International Relations	Lecture	Mandatory	2	2
Module examination
Module examination
total					12

module	Course	Type of event	Commitment	CHW	CP
International relations/ foreign policy	International relations	Seminar	Mandatory	2	4
International relations/ foreign policy	Topic	Lecture	Elective	2	2
Economy and society	Introduction to economy and society	Lecture	Mandatory	2	2
Economy and society	Economy and society	Seminar	Mandatory	2	4
Subject didactics	Subject didactics I	Lecture	Mandatory	2	2
Module examination	International relations/ foreign policy				1
total					15

module	Course	Type of event	Commitment	CHW	CP
Subject didactics	Subject didactics II	Seminar	Mandatory	2	4
Economy and society	Topic	Lecture	Elective	2	2
Module examination	Economy and society				1
total					7

module	Course	Type of event	Commitment	CHW	CP
Subject didactics	Subject didactics III	Small group	Elective	2	3
Module examination	Subject didactics				1
Bachelor’s thesis
total					4
Total core subject				44	65

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:

Theory (Saturdays from 9 am – 4 pm / only compulsory if attending a political didactics BiLi seminar for the first time)
Lesson planning in the seminar (Saturdays from 9 am – 4 pm)
Presentation and simulation of the planning in the seminar (Saturdays from 9 am – 4 pm)
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.

You can choose this seminar from the regular range of seminars offered by the Department of Political Science. English-language seminars are offered regularly. The seminar can also be credited to your regular degree program as part of another module. If you write a term paper in English for this seminar as a module examination in your degree course, this can also be credited as a module examination as part of the additional bilingual training. The coursework must be completed in an English-language seminar. (An oral examination in English following an English-language political science lecture can also be credited as a BiLi module examination). Coursework and examinations from the Department of English and Linguistics at JGU, e.g. on regional studies, cannot be credited. Coursework and examinations from political science departments at other universities that have been recognized for your regular studies can also be credited for the BiLi module. If you have not completed or do not wish to complete a political science module examination in English as part of your degree course, you must also complete a graded examination in English to a lesser extent for the additional bilingual course, which you must discuss with the respective lecturer. This can be an essay, a graded presentation or a short oral examination, for example.

Since the winter semester 2014/2015, a bilingual subject didactics course for social studies has been offered every semester; registration is possible via Jogustine (under Courses in Political Science – Bilingual Additional Training). The courses must be taken during the course of study. After graduation, they can only be attended as part of a second degree course for which a fee is charged, but alternatively there are also courses offered at the study seminars and, for teachers who already teach at school, at teacher training institutes.

As part of the two subject didactic seminars on bilingual teaching in social studies, subject didactic and methodological skills for designing bilingual lessons are developed. Participants develop their own bilingual lesson plans and implement these in the form of a lesson at a school. The module examination consists of one such lesson design.

We recommend that you only attend the seminars on bilingual political education after attending the courses in Module 5 of the BEd, as you will learn the basics of lesson planning that you will need for the seminar on bilingual subject didactics. You should have completed at least the lecture Subject Didactics I and the seminar Subject Didactics II.

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 four blocks, the first three of which take place on a Saturday in the semester, the fourth by arrangement at a school.

Theory (only compulsory if attending a political didactics BiLi seminar for the first time),
Lesson planning in the seminar,
Presentation and simulation of the planning in the seminar,
Implementation of the planning at a school (only compulsory for the second attendance of a political didactics BiLi seminar).

Registration for the module examinations in the two didactics seminars is not done via JOGU-StINe, but with the lecturer of the seminar.