A summer school is a type of intensive course (mostly) during the semester break. Unlike regular university courses, summer schools typically don’t just consist of traditional seminars; they offer a diverse program with workshops, excursions, opportunities for exchange, and plenty of free time to explore the surroundings and get to know each other. Also they bring together students, instructors and researchers from different universities or even countries. So, it has little in common with the traditional notion of “school”. Instead, you can look forward to an exciting, varied, and interactive week with a great group — a true highlight of your studies.

During our summer school week the Wednesday will especially be designed for student contributions such as presentations on ideas and bachelor / master theses or workshops. We call this a “students’ conference”. The event is meant to give students designated space for own ideas and to train yourself for future conferences or other occasions. If you want to contribute in one or the other way please indicate so during registration.

The motto of this year’s summer school is “(Vocational) Schools for Well-Being”. There will be a varied program of inputs, workshops and excursions related to this topic. Additionally, you’ll have time to explore Berlin and get to know the fellow international participants better. The entire summer school will be conducted in English.

Click here for the MOVE IT! Summer School 2025_Draft 2025_03_31 .

Summer schools are outside the curriculum and are most often characterized by the fact that they are not accompanied by examinations. At the same time, of course, we also know that students also have to make sure that they complete their degree in time which they need credits for.

So if you need / want credits for your participation, please indicate this when you register. If you make a contribution to the student conference (details to be discussed) we can award 3 ECTS for your participation.

Meant to be an event for exchange of international perspectives on education and teaching the event will take place in English. However, fluency in English is not a prerequisite for participation – what is important is your willingness and desire to interact with people from other countries who primarily speak English. However, we can always help each other with language skills!

Our MOVE IT! summer schools are specifically designed for teacher education students, who are therefore given priority when it comes to available places and funding allowances. We also welcome educational science students from our very heart because we are convinced that only together – (future) teachers as well as policy makers – we can taggle the challenges of tomorrow and learn from each other’s perspectives.

At TU Berlin, this includes all students of the subject work studies (Lehramt Arbeitslehre) as well as of vocational teacher training subjects (berufliches Lehramt). Both Bachelor’s and Master’s students are welcome, no matter whether you are at the beginning, middle, or end of your studies – because we value deep insights as much as critical questions.

Coming from our partner universities NTNU Trondheim, PH Tirol, PH FHNW, UTS and Nelson Mandela University it doesn’t matter what your disciplinary background in teacher education is. As TU Berlin programs in teacher education focus on technical vocational subjects these students bring in an expert focus on upper secondary schools – but our topics will also be interesting for teacher training students for other school types!

Additionally, students from educational science (at TU Berlin: B.A. Kultur und Technik – focus Bildungswissenschaft and M.A. Bildungswissenschaft) programs are also invited to register. If there are places available that have not been taken by teacher training students, educational science students can participate under the same conditions.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re at the beginning of your studies, have completed a few semesters, or are nearing the end of your program. No prior knowledge is required for the participation in the summer school, and first-year students are explicitly welcome! As we all know: There are no weird questions – questions move us all forward and make us think about the underlying assumptions that have sometimes not been questioned so far.

Fluency in English is not a prerequisite for participation – what is important is your willingness and desire to interact with people from other countries who primarily speak English. However, we can always help each other with language skills!

If you’re interested in participating, you can register via the contact form until May 18, 2025. Please introduce yourself briefly and write some few sentences explaining why you would like to join the summer school. Also please indicate if you would like to contribute a presentation or workshop to Wednesday’s students’ conference.

From TU Berlin up to 15 students can participate. Students offering contributions to the students’ conference on Wednesday will be favoured. Places are allocated based on the time of registration and your field of study. We aim to ensure a balanced representation of all teacher education programs at TU Berlin.

After the registration deadline, we will contact you promptly to let you know whether you’ve secured a place for TU students. As some students may unfortunately be turned down due to the limited number of places, please let us know as soon as possible if you need to change your plans.

For students from our partner universities, mostly the same criteria apply as for TU Berlin students. We do especially very much welcome students contributing to the students’ conference on Wednesday. Take the opportunity to present your ideas to an international (small) student audience and discuss them with them!

The organizing project MOVE IT! of TU Berlin can support the participation of up to 10 students from partner universities with a lump sum of 250,- €. Additional students may be able to participate with funding from their home university or on their own initiative. The selection of those to be supported will take into account the student’s academic background, their willingness to make their own contribution and their home university.

Staff from all partner universities will probably come to the summer school and help you with your preparations and questions.

Please register via our contact form (see also “How can I register as a TU Berlin student” and indicate a possible contribution to the students’ conference) and additionally reach out to your contact person at your main university for further information and / or (financial) assistance:

NTNU Trondheim, Norway: Katrine Dalbu Alterhaug, katrine.d.alterhaug@ntnu.no

PH Tirol, Austria: Silvia Baldassari, silvia.baldassari@ph-tirol.ac.at

PH FHNW, Switzerland: Edita Butnarová, international.ph@fhnw.ch

UT Sydney, Australia: Rick Flowers, Rick.Flowers@uts.edu.au

Nelson Mandela University, South Africa: Helena Oosthuizen, Helena.Oosthuizen@mandela.ac.za

Most summer schools require a participation fee; sometimes they are very cost intensive. We are pleased to offer our summer school free of charge, thanks to funding of MOVE IT! from the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD!

Additionally up to ten students from partner universities can be supported from our funds with a lump sum of 250,-€ for the week. Other financial assistance might be available by your university or local government (see “How can I participate as a student from the partner universities?”).

You organize and finance your accommodation and meals yourself, maybe using the € 250 financial support. For lunch you can make use of our quite cheap mensa very close by. As part of the summer school, there will be a joint conference dinner on Monday, to which you are invited free of charge, as well as water, coffee and snacks during the working sessions, which we will finance for you.

If wanted, we can also connect you with TU Berlin students. This could potentially lead to options like couch-surfing or similar arrangements. We’re happy to make the initial connection, but further arrangements and agreements will be your responsibility.

If you have additional questions about travel or accommodation, we’re happy to advise you or connect you with other students participating in the summer school.

If you’d like to participate in the summer school but face financial difficulties that make it unrealistic despite the allowance, please reach out to us and your regional coordinators. We can’t make any guarantees, but we’re happy to help you explore additional funding opportunities.

To learn how the summer school was received and to continue improving, we collected anonymous feedback during the last events. Many thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts! Here are a few direct quotes:

“really liked the chemistry of the group and the openness to learn. I got something from every workshop, and I feel like I got some new tools to use when teaching”

“I loved that it [the Summer School] brought together so many different people, so we got to hear many different and interesting perspectives.”

“thank you for making me part of it :-)”

“Mir haben alle Vorträge gefallen, insbesondere die Möglichkeit, sich mit anderen über bestimmte Themen auszutauschen.”

“ich mochte die abwechslungsreichen Vorträge und Workshops und vor allem auch die interessanten und inspirierenden Gespräche in und außerhalb der Summer School”

“it was well organised, diverse and fruitful”

“Außerdem war die Abwechslung super, mal interaktive Workshops und dann Vorträge. Es war so oder so nie langweilig, nur die Müdigkeit hat manchmal zugeschlagen.”

“this is a great opportunity to expand knowledge and experience together”

“I can’t choose a favourite but additionally to the great workshops I also liked that we had opportunities to do field trips etc., well planned!”

“für manche Diskussion wäre es schön gewesen, mehr Zeit zu haben, um noch tiefer in die Materie einzusteigen.”

“I really enjoyed being part of the group which was filled with good ideas, inspiring thoughts and perosnalities.”

“I’m leaving here with so many new thoughts and ideas. Feel so inspired!”

We’re happy to advise you on whether the MOVE IT! summer school is a good fit for you and answer any questions you may have. And we are happy to help you with questions about contributions to the students’ conference – both contentwise and organisationalwise.

Additionally, we can connect you with fellow students who participated in last year’s summer school and can share their experiences. You can reach us via the contact form.

MOVE IT! stands for “Mobility in vocational teacher education for interculturally competent teachers”. It is a project at Technische Universität Berlin funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in the funding track Lehramt.International 2.0 aimed at further internationalizing teacher education at TU Berlin. To achieve this goal, the project has developed a variety of offerings specifically for teacher education students. These include exchange programs, the digital program MOTIVATE! — to which this website belongs — and the summer schools. The project is currently starting it’s second funding phase from 01/2025 to 12/2029, the first funding phase was from 01/2021 to 12/2024.

If you’d like to learn more about MOVE IT!, you can find more information here on the About page and on our project website at the TU chair of General and Historical Education .