Profile

Professional career

• 10/2006 - 06/2008
  Student assistant in the field of educational psychology with primarily statistical and data-related tasks.
• 07/2008 - 08/2013
  Assistant to Prof. Dr. Siegfried Hoppe-Graff in the Department of Educational Psychology at Leipzig University. In addition to teaching ("Teaching and Learning", School Practical Studies I), research activities in the evaluation of study programs.
• since 09/2013
  Associate in the field of General Didactics and School Pedagogy of the Secondary School at the Faculty of Education of the University of Leipzig with Prof. Dr. Maria Hallitzky.

Education

• 10/2002 - 06/2008
  First state examination for the teaching profession at grammar schools in mathematics and computer science.
• 11/2010 - 12/2013
  Doctorate at the Faculty of Education of the University of Leipzig on the topic: Quality of university education: Theoretical and empirical exploration of the perspective of students. Day of the defence: 17.12.2013

Following my doctorate, I am very interested in the quality and improvement of university teacher education. My current focus is on the possibilities and effects of digital technologies. In the context of current teaching research projects, my colleagues and I not only include media-didactic contents in the curriculum of the introductory pedagogical module, but also transfer the entire handling of academic literature into a "digital ecosystem". What interests us as teachers and researchers in particular is the transformation of our planning and teaching activities as well as the (anticipated) educational processes of the students.

School lessons are both an object of research and a task of design at the same time. This difference in perspective determines the dialogue between 'theory' and 'practice' and is the basis of university teacher education. As a school pedagogue and didactician I am therefore dependent on seeing everyday teaching and understanding it - also from the perspective of its participants. In addition to testing various perspectives, theories and procedures informed by cultural studies, I believe that it is above all the conversations with teachers and other researchers that stimulate reflection and enable multi-perspective understanding.

• Talking about Lessons

  Herfter, Christian

  Duration: 10/2019 – 12/2023

  Funded by: Haushaltsmittel (TG51, Overhead)

  Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Allgemeine Didaktik und Schulpädagogik des Sekundarbereichs
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• Pedagogical competences in the digital age: case orientation and social hypertext in the introductory educational science module

  Hallitzky, Maria

  Duration: 10/2019 – 09/2020

  Funded by: BMBF Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

  Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Allgemeine Didaktik und Schulpädagogik des Sekundarbereichs
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• Individualization and Collectivisation in Classroom: Comparative Videobased-Interpretative Lesson Inquiry in Germany and Japan

  Hallitzky, Maria

  Duration: 04/2017 – 12/2020

  Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Allgemeine Didaktik und Schulpädagogik des Sekundarbereichs
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• “From prescriptions to suggestions?” - Normativity and Empirical Research in General Didactics

  Hallitzky, Maria

  Duration: 11/2014 – 12/2019

  Funded by: Haushaltsmittel (TG51, Overhead)

  Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Allgemeine Didaktik und Schulpädagogik des Sekundarbereichs
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more projects

• Leicht, J.; Hallitzky, M.; Herfter, C.

  Videografische Perspektiven auf Unterricht zwischen interaktionistischer Detailliertheit und allgemeindidaktischer Generalisierung

  In: Schmidt-Thieme, B.; Hauenschild, K.; Schütte, U.; Wolff, D. (Eds.)

  Qualitative Videoanalyse in Schule und Unterricht. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa. 2020. pp. 56–68.
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• Herfter, C.; Spendrin, K.; Heinze, F.; Leicht, J.; Kinoshita, E.

  Sehen was sein soll? Zur normativen Valenz allgemeindidaktischer Theorien für die qualitative Unterrichtsforschung

  Zeitschrift für Qualitative Forschung. 2019. 20 (2). pp. 253–269.

  DOI: 10.3224/zqf.v20i2.03
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• Herfter, C.

  Konstruktion und Aushandlung von Wissen in der Unterrichtsentwicklung. Kritische Perspektiven auf Verhältnissetzungen von Wissenschaft und Schulpraxis

  Zeitschrift für interpretative Schul- und Unterrichtsforschung. 2022. pp. 97–111.

  DOI: 10.3224/zisu.v11i1.07
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• Kuhlmann, N.; Herfter, C.

  Subjektivierung im Medium mathematischen Schulwissens – Explorationen zu unterrichtlichen Praktiken des Schreibens, Vorstellens und Rechnens

  Zeitschrift für interpretative Schul- und Unterrichtsforschung. 2023. pp. 35–50.

  DOI: 10.3224/zisu.v12i1.02
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• Herfter, C.; Hinneburg, A.; Spendrin, K.; Wiemer, S.

  Professionalisierung digital. Sozialer Hypertext in der universitären Lehrer*innenbildung

  In: Hochmuth, R.; Becker, T.; Kempen, L. (Eds.)

  Hybride Lehre in den Fächern und im Lehramt. Köln: 2022. pp. 53–74.

  DOI: 10.57684/COS-982
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more publications

With my teaching I pursue two intertwined goals. On the one hand, the students of my courses should be given the opportunity and guidance to reflect and justify basic pedagogical questions. By gaining insight into the larger context of specific (school) pedagogical topics and their respective conditions and effects, they develop an independent attitude towards the tasks of their future professional field. On the other hand, I combine my teaching with the focal points of my research. In this way, students can participate in current academic discussions as well as ways of doing research and gaining knowledge.

In my research projects, I have worked on questions of teacher education, the normative valence of general didactic theories for qualitative classroom research, as well as on different perspectives of research on teaching. These are the areas in which I see my thematic expertise, which I contribute to my teaching activities.

In the conception of courses, the organisation of interactive processes - as an expression of a democratic principle - is very important to me. When working on the course contents, I put great emphasis on providing space for independent and cooperative student discussions, so that students can critically deal with acquired knowledge and test its application.

• Seminar on School Practical Studies I: School as a Field of Study

  Students become familiar with methods of school and classroom research and are able to apply them in the systematic observation and analysis of school reality in the context of School Practical Studies I.

• Lecture: Contents and methods of school and classroom research

  The students learn methods of school and classroom research. I have contributed the following topics to the lecture series: research planning, survey, structured interview, experimental/causal design, analysis of quantitative data

• Seminar: Conditions, processes, consequences of teaching and learning

  processes and conditions of learning and teaching, cognitive, emotional, motivational and socio-cultural conditions of learning and their influences on learning success and performance

• Project seminar: Development, personality and environment of gifted people

  Theories, models and empirical research results of psychological research on giftedness - in this context, giftedness as high general intelligence, talent and expertise as well as creativity in the context of development, personality and environment.

• Project seminars: School level and form specific aspects of teachers' work / Dealing with heterogeneity

  Goals and methods of school and classroom development, planning and design of school projects with a focus on the acknowledgement of heterogeneity as a premise and task of pedagogical assessment in schools

• Seminars: Activities, profession and role of the teacher / Teaching and learning in secondary schools

  Theory and concepts of school and teaching, empirical studies of school and teaching research, basics of school pedagogy and general didactics