Mission Statement

MISSION

We are a professionalizing university college.
The University College of Teacher Education Styria is one of the largest public tertiary education and research institutions for the professionalization of educators and the counsellinng of schools and further education organisations. Our educational offer is inscribed in the continuum of professionalization from the Initial Teacher Education studies to the career entry and Continuing Professional Development. Our core areas are teaching, research and counselling, and our contents include the subject sciences, educational sciences and didactics of all subjects and departments that are taught at Austrian schools or are essential for kindergartens. The proximity to practice is ensured by two training schools integrated into the university, continuous cooperation with over 300 other training schools and the support of schools for the purpose of quality assurance.

We train educators from Initial Teacher Education to Continuing Professional Development.
In Initial Teacher Education, we offer teacher training studies with Bachelor‘s and Master‘s degrees for Primary, Secondary Teacher Education and Secondary Vocational Teacher Education, as well as a Bachelor‘s degree in Early Childhood Education and university courses of studies for other educational professions. We determine the suitability of the teacher training students by means of an admission procedure. They conclude their studies with the academic degree of Bachelor of Education (BEd) or Master of Education (MEd). Our Continuing Professional Development offer is aimed at individual teachers, professional learning communities at schools and in networks as well as at entire schools or kindergartens. It is evidence-based, deals with current topics, innovative learning settings in presence and online and focuses on supporting personal, teaching and organisational development.

We accompany and counsel schools, kindergartens and educational networks.
In order to be able to meet new challenges in education, educational institutions must constantly develop further. To this end, we offer counselling and support programmes that help schools and kindergartens as well as regional, national and international educational networks to develop their quality. In doing so, we follow the systemic approach of Educational Governance, train leaders and accompany quality development and assurance processes.

We conduct research related to our professional fields.
We carry out educational research related to our professional fields that is based on academic freedom and scientific standards and is subject to international performance comparisons. We ask how people learn and how education can succeed. Essentially, we focus on the research areas „Teaching & Learning“, „Subject-Specific Didactics“ and „Profession & School“. Through Action Research our students learn to examine and develope further their own teaching and school activities. Overall, we generate findings and products that find their way into research-led teaching and contribute to the quality of knowledge and action of those involved in the educational sector.

We cooperate regionally, nationally and internationally.
The University College of Teacher Education Styria enjoys high recognition. In the conviction that education requires a cosmopolitan attitude, we enter into regional, national and international cooperation in teaching as well as in research and development. Through close cooperation with the University Colleges of Teacher Education and Universities offering teacher education programmes in the provinces of Styria, Carinthia and Burgenland within the framework of the South-East Development Association and the South-East University College Association, we guarantee the highest standards and thus contribute to the permeability of teacher education in Austria. In our quest for internationality, we regard Global Citizenship Education as a teaching principle, we conduct research in an international context and promote mobility in a worldwide network of international partner university colleges.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

We are a university college of diversity.
Our university college is a place of encounter and academic discourse. The professional field for which we provide education is as diverse as our field of activity as university lecturers or administrative staff of teacher education. We orientate ourselves to a world view in the centre of which the human being with his needs for knowledge, education and development is located. As a UNESCO University College, we see ourselves as an educational institution that understands the diversity of people as a resource and enables them to develop their personal potential. With this in mind, we recruit students from diverse backgrounds and create learning environments that are conducive to different requirements. The scientific and didactic acquisition of competences is based on the lived diversity of the educational-scientific core elements of the profession: inclusive education with a focus on aptitude, disability, plurilingualism, interculturality and interreligiosity, gender awareness, media education and literacy. We see our educational mission as a service to the social goals of democracy, freedom, tolerance, prosperity, taking into account social equality, sustainability and equal opportunities.

Our teaching focuses on the learners.
Our teaching is versatile, up-to-date and innovative, with the focus on the learners. It is committed to a culture of study that corresponds to the special character of a university college that educates teachers and supports quality development at a high academic level. We cultivate this together, pay attention to scientific foundation as well as practical orientation and implement didactic standards for university colleges. The starting point of our activities is the design of learning settings for the acquisition of competencies that educators should have. Concepts of personalised, flexible, cooperative and research-based learning as well as subject knowledge and competences such as methodological-didactic skills, personal responsibility, the ability to reflect and interact are of central importance. Lecturers and students take joint responsibility for the teaching and learning process. We regard digitalisation as an opportunity to support teaching and learning in all educational settings. Part-time courses of study are offered mostly via distance learning.

We combine theory with practice.
Our goal is the education of competent and scientifically reflective practitioners who react to the challenges of their professional field in a solution-oriented manner. Therefore we combine theory with practice. The University College of Teacher Education Styria houses two training schools on its campus and also cooperates with over 300 training schools of all types. All university college lecturers possess theoretical and practical knowledge as well as competence in the professional field. They carry out research, bring it into connection with practice and ensure a balance between scientific foundation and practice orientation in their teaching. We develop our educational offers based on research findings and in cooperation with schools and kindergartens. In their courses our student teachers acquire knowledge and in their internships they test their teaching skills, which they systematically reflect on through practical research. In our Continuing Professional Development programme, educators develop their quality of action for education, teaching and school.

Our work is solution-oriented, collegial, innovative and effective.We live responsibility through professionally justified and value-oriented decisions as well as goal-oriented and consistent actions. In our actions we always strive for quality, effectiveness, efficiency and innovation. We use our creative freedom to fulfil our tasks in a self-responsible manner. Collegiality and an appreciative cooperation as well as a good working atmosphere contribute significantly to our joy of work. Reliability and transparency are the hallmarks of our working relationships and process design. Our administration acts in a service-oriented manner and its efficiency forms the solid foundation of our institution. Our professionalism is based on lived loyalty as well as the common goal of implementing high quality education for teachers. According to our mission statement „Learning. Teaching. Researching. We shape the future of education!“, we are making confident and goal-oriented progress in the further development of education in Austria together with the partner institutions in the South-East Development Association.

Download Mission Statement here