Good education requires strong management and communication skills. Any experienced mother will tell you this. Despite this, jobs in education have been relegated to the sidelines for decades, and receive little public recognition. Studies such as PISA have dramatically shown that the quality of early childhood education and youth services needs to be enormously improved. At the Institute for Education Management IfPM, part of the Steinbeis University Berlin, experienced teachers can take degree courses alongside their jobs, even without a university entrance qualification. The scheme is sponsored by the financial investor Permira.
For more than 250,000 teachers working in Germany, classical university courses in education are not a viable way to enhance skills. Lacking a university entrance qualification and the inability to attend full-time study courses due to economic dependence on their job can be an insurmountable hurdle. This is made even more serious by the fact that according to the German Youth Institute, they are the occupational group most interested in further education.
The Off Road Kids foundation, a youth services organisation that works with street children nationwide, wanted a practical way to give experienced teachers access to higher education and help them transition to leadership positions. It has teamed up with the Institute for Education Management IfPM at the Steinbeis University Berlin to offer a part-time bachelor’s degree program in Education Management. From now on, students can earn the nationally and internationally recognised Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree alongside their job in only three years, without the need for a traditional university entrance qualification. Affordable and familyfriendly, the program is geared towards students from all areas of education and social services, including managers and employees. The Education Management degree program teaches basic skills in educational science, including areas such as communicating in education, managing teaching and learning processes, and coaching different types of groups. In addition, the different modules also prepare students for leadership and management tasks in educational facilities. To do their jobs properly, employees in institutions such as kindergartens or youth services facilities need to master the basics of finance, management and communication - skills which are just as important as knowing how to teach.
Students also receive a solid grounding in economics to help them develop a strong sense of how business works. Modules in business management, company organization, social entrepreneurship and other related aspects help lay further groundwork, ensuring graduates of the program can successfully apply their management skills in educational facilities.
Steinbeis-Transfer-Institut Pädagogikmanagement (IfPM) (Berlin/Bad Dürrheim)