In July 2023, the Chair of Educational Science with a Focus on Diversity Research warmly welcomed Dr Nitza Schwabsky to Passau as a representative of the Gordon College of Education (Haifa/Israel) to work together on the further development of the long-standing cooperation.

The Israeli colleague completed her doctorate on education policy and management at the University of Oregon (USA) and is particularly interested in the professionalization of educational leaders. She has published in relevant journals such as the Journal of Educational Psychology and the International Journal of Educational Management and is currently Vice President of Gordon College.  

As a guest at the Chair, the educational scientist had the opportunity to discuss issues such as the professionalisation of educational specialists, current challenges for teacher education and regional concepts for dealing with them with the Head of the Chair and Vice President for International Affairs and Diversity, Prof. Dr Christina Hansen, and the Dean of Studies of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Education, Prof. Dr Gabriele Schellberg, as well as with Prof. Dr Matthias Brandl and Matthias Fuchs as representatives of the Centre for Teacher Education.

In addition, Nitza Schwabsky discussed the quality of current mobility formats for staff and students as well as potential continuation and expansion with representatives of the inviting chair, the ZLF Internationalisation Department (Ophelia Blake, Dr Kathrin Plank) and the Head of the International Office, Barbara Zacharias.  

The educational scientist also used the time to visit the Didactic Innovation Labs (DILAB) at the University of Passau and to discuss new approaches to AI-based teaching and research with Christian Müller and other colleagues.

In June 2023, the Chair of Educational Science with a focus on diversity research welcomed Adam Fijałkowski, historian of education and head of the Chair of History and Philosophy of Education at the University of Warsaw, to the University of Passau as a guest researcher.

In addition to the history of education and its representatives (including Janusz Korczak and Jan Amos Comenius), the history of European universities and systematic textbook research are among Prof Dr Adam Fijałkowski's main areas of research and work. He is the author of over one hundred publications in Polish, English and German and conducts research in libraries in Poland as well as in Berlin, Wolfenbüttel, Braunschweig, Marburg, Constance, Vienna and the Vatican.

As a guest at the Chair, the researcher not only led a seminar for teacher training students focusing on the Polish (reform) educator Janusz Korzcak and thus following on from a joint event including an excursion to Warsaw and an international symposium at the University of Passau in the summer semester of 2022, but also gave a guest lecture on 13 June at 12:30 on the topic of "Comenius and Korczak - pedagogical understanding beyond the boundaries of time and space".

The visit was also used to work on a joint publication, to exchange ideas with colleagues from different faculties and chairs and to discuss the possible continuation of mobility formats for students and lecturers.

Researching and teaching together: The renowned educational scientist Professor Chris Reddy and his colleague Dr. Zelda Barends from Stellenbosch University (South Africa) taught and conducted research at the University of Passau in December

In December 2022, the Chair of Educational Science with a focus on diversity research and educational spaces of middle childhood, headed by Prof. Dr Christina Hansen, welcomed Prof. Dr Chris Reddy and his colleague Dr Zelda Barends to the University of Passau. In addition to the professionalisation of teachers, education for sustainable development in particular is one of the central research and work focuses of Prof. Dr Chris Reddy, who, among other things, coordinates the Environmental Education Programme at Stellenbosch University (EEPUS), a unit that carries out research and development work as part of the faculty's social impact. Dr Zelda Barend's research interests lie in the field of early childhood education with a particular focus on aspects of literacy and multilingualism as well as the professional development of primary school teachers.

"The cooperation with Prof. Reddy and Dr. Barends was established in 2018 and is geared towards research and teaching. On the one hand, Prof. Reddy and Dr. Barends from the University of Stellenbosch took part in our international comparative study on the motivation to choose a teacher training course. On the other hand, we have been opening up very good internship and study opportunities for our students in South Africa for years thanks to our good cooperation, which is supervised locally by Elzette Calitz. The exchange visit to the University of Passau served to continue and deepen our research work in the field of professionalisation research," says Prof. Dr. Christina Hansen, Head of the Department, on the central areas of cooperation.

As guests at the Chair, Reddy and Barends presented their work in a guest lecture and also offered workshops for trainee teachers and trainee teachers.

In June 2022, Dr Hava Vidergor taught as a guest lecturer at the Chair of Educational Science with a focus on diversity research and educational spaces in middle childhood under the direction of Prof. Dr Christina. The focus was on inclusive approaches to promoting giftedness in the school context and a multifaceted insight into the education system and teacher training in Israel.

In addition to a guest lecture and various workshops for students, Ms Vidergor was also able to contribute her expertise to the project "BegIN - Inclusive Gifted Education in Lower Bavaria (BegIN)". The stay was also used to discuss joint research activities and existing mobility formats.