Multilingual students and newly immigrated children fill classrooms across Germany, prompting the Universität Duisburg-Essen to launch a dedicated German as a Second Language degree program for secondary education.
Beginning in the winter semester of 2026/27, students can study “Deutsch als Zweitsprache” (DaZ) as an independent teaching subject for primary, secondary, and comprehensive schools, according to lokalklick.eu.
The new offering covers both a Bachelor’s degree and a Master of Education for lower secondary levels. Students will combine the subject with mathematics, German, or English.
“We are responding to the continued high demand for qualified teachers who can competently support multilingual learning groups and, in particular, help newly immigrated students learn German,” said Prof. Heike Roll from the Institute for German as a Second and Foreign Language at the Universität Duisburg-Essen, as reported by lokalklick.eu.
The program launch coincides with the fortieth anniversary of research and teaching in DaZ/DaF at the Essen location. The curriculum examines German linguistics alongside multilingualism and educational strategies.
“Students also deal with the linguistics of German, with multilingualism, and with the question of how the linguistic and cultural resources of children and young people can be taken up and strengthened in the classroom,” Roll told lokalklick.eu.
| Degree Program | Target School Level | Launch Semester |
|---|---|---|
| DaZ Bachelor / Master of Education | Lower Secondary (Sekundarstufe I) | Winter Semester 2026/27 |
| DaZ Teilstudiengang (Existing) | Primary School (Grundschule) | Winter Semester 2023/24 |
Graduates are expected to design language-sensitive, equitable instruction and develop language-building curricula. The expansion builds on an existing elementary school sub-track introduced in the winter semester of 2023/24.
That established track offers profiles in multilingualism basic education and Turkish as a heritage language. The combination bridges teacher training across primary and lower secondary levels.
“The professional and content-related connection of both study offers creates the basis for continuous training of DaZ teachers for primary school and lower secondary level I,” said study program director Prof. Dr. Katja Cantone-Altıntaş, as reported by lokalklick.eu.
“Trained in this way, our graduates understand multilingualism not as an obstacle, but as a resource for education and social participation,” Cantone-Altıntaş told lokalklick.eu.
