Christian Reintjes

Digitale Tools wie Apps, Plattformen und Cloudsysteme sind zentrale Bestandteile der digitalen Transformation an deutschen Schulen. Trotz ihrer wachsenden Bedeutung fehlt bislang eine systematische, funktionsbezogene Einordnung dieser softwarebasierten Lösungen. Die vorliegende Arbeit entwickelt eine wissenschaftlich fundierte und praxisorientierte Taxonomie digitaler Tools im schulischen Kontext. Ziel ist es, diese Tools systematisch nach ihren funktionalen Einsatzbereichen übersichtlich zu kategorisieren. Die Entwicklung der Taxonomie folgt einem iterativen Verfahren und wird durch eine empirische Validierung mittels Delphi-Befragung gestützt. Die resultierende Taxonomie umfasst eine Rahmenebene Multifunktionale Tools und Künstliche Intelligenz, 34 Unterkategorien sowie fünf Hauptkategorien: (1) Schulverwaltung und Organisation, (2) Unterricht und Lernprozesse, (3) Kommunikation, Kollaboration und Schulgemeinschaft, (4) Diagnostik, Leistungsmessung und -bewertung sowie (5) Medienproduktion und Präsentation. Die Taxonomie bietet eine strukturierte Grundlage für die Weiterentwicklung digitaler Schulstrategien und eröffnet Anknüpfungspunkte für Forschung, Schulentwicklung und interdisziplinäre Kooperation.

In a digitalised world, teacher education needs to prepare student teachers to use digital technologies appropriately and in a critically reflective way in school and teaching. Extended school internships, such as the practical semester, offer learning opportunities to facilitate student teachers’ professional digital competence beliefs. However, little is known about the development of student teachers’ professional digital competence beliefs and technology-related learning opportunities during the practical semester. Addressing this gap, this explorative study investigates the development of student teachers’ professional digital competence beliefs during the practical semester and its interaction with learning opportunities provided by schools. Data from N = 145 student teachers (53.79 % female) from two German universities were analysed using a pretest-posttest control-group design. Results from a repeated-measures mixed MANOVA and repeated measures MANCOVAs show that student teachers’ professional digital competence beliefs increase during the practical semester, though only teachers’ communication with colleagues interacts with this development. These findings highlight the practical semester’s potential as a critical period for facilitating professional digital competence beliefs, suggesting that teacher education programmes should integrate practical technology-based learning opportunities in school settings to better prepare student teachers for their profession. Further research is needed to explore which learning opportunities interact with the development of student teachers’ professional digital competence beliefs.

Against the backdrop of substantial transformations in the education system, including digitalization and increasing societal pluralization, there is growing attention paid to teachers’ digital competencies and their role within broader school well-being processes in digitally transforming educational environments. This paper adopts digital competencies as a novel domain-specific personal resource within the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework to examine how both individual and organizational resources shape teachers’ professional motivation and organizational commitment. The analysis draws on data from the ‘Deisel’ project, comprising 550 teachers in Germany. Within this empirical context, this study reveals considerable variation in both teachers’ digital competencies and the organizational conditions of schools. In particular, differences in leadership support and collegial collaboration influence whether digital transformation is experienced as an additional burden or as a meaningful resource for professional development. The findings indicate a small but statistically significant indirect association between digital competencies and organizational commitment, operating primarily through reduced psychological strain rather than increased motivation. Prior evidence emphasizing the relevance of school management support and self-efficacy was replicated. These results demonstrate that digital competencies function as a personal resource within the JD-R framework, reducing perceived strain and indirectly strengthening organizational commitment. This study contributes to JD-R research by showing that digital competencies appear to function less as direct motivational drivers and more as domain-specific personal resources that may mitigate the strain associated with technology-related demands in digitally transforming schools.

Zusammenfassung: Die zunehmende Digitalisierung von Schulen stellt Schulleitungen und Lehrkräfte vor die Herausforderung, geeignete digitale Werkzeuge auszuwählen und deren Einsatz fundiert zu planen. Entscheidungen erfordern die Berücksichtigung pädagogischer, organisatorischer und technischer Aspekte, die in der Praxis häufig zu Unsicherheiten und Überforderung führen. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Entwicklung eines transparenten, nachvollziehbaren und aufgabenorientierten Beratungssystems, das schulische Enterscheidungsträgerinnen und Entscheidungsträger bei dieser Auswahl unterstützt. Methodisch folgt die Studie einem gestaltungsorientierten Forschungsansatz, der die theoriegeleitete Ableitung von Anforderungen mit einer iterativen Systementwicklung verbindet und wirtschaftsinformatische Gestaltungsprinzipien auf die Herausforderungen des Bildungsbereichs überträgt. Dadurch entsteht ein disziplinübergreifender Zugang zur Gestaltung technologischer Unterstützungssysteme für Schulen. Das resultierende Artefakt, das Beratungssystem Digital Tools for Schools, nutzt einen dualen Einsatz Künstlicher Intelligenz: Es bereitet Informationen zu digitalen Tools automatisch auf, kategorisiert sie und verdichtet sie zu einer strukturierten Wissensbasis; zugleich generiert eine dialogorientierte Beratungskomponente kontextsensitive, nachvollziehbar begründete Empfehlungen. Zudem ermöglicht das System die Mitwirkung von Tool-Anbietenden. Eine formative Evaluation mit schulischen Akteurinnen und Akteuren zeigt eine hohe wahrgenommene Nützlichkeit, Verständlichkeit und organisatorische Anschlussfähigkeit. Die Arbeit leistet einen Beitrag zur Gestaltung vertrauenswürdiger, technologiegestützter Entscheidungssysteme und bietet Impulse für Forschung und Praxis der schulischen Digitalisierung.

Zur inklusiven Transformation, die weiterhin herausfordernd für Einzelschulen ist, bietet der Index für Inklusion reflexionsbezogene Impulse. Jedoch steht eine Übersicht zur Forschung über und zum Einsatz des Index für Inklusion aus. Dies ist Anlass für ein internationales Review, woraus erste Ergebnisse vorgestellt werden, um Implikationen für inklusive Transformationsprozesse zu skizzieren. (DIPF/Orig.)

We examined perceptions of ICT-related learning opportunities during teacher education, perceived outcomes of the use of ICT for teaching and learning and uncertainty tolerance regarding the in-classroom use of ICT in a sample of 131 pre-service teachers. Results from two-step cluster analyses identified two groups based on participants’ perceptions of ICT-related learning opportunities: Participants in cluster 1 overall reported higher values for most indicators than participants in cluster 2. Participants’ perceptions of outcomes of the use of ICT for teaching and learning and their domain-specific uncertainty tolerance did not vary significantly between clusters. In the total sample, there was a significant positive correlation between participants’ perceptions of positive outcomes of the use of ICT for teaching and learning and their uncertainty tolerance and significant negative associations between perceived negative outcomes of the use of ICT for teaching and learning and perceived positive outcomes and their uncertainty tolerance. Significant and similarly directed associations were found in cluster 1 but not in cluster 2. Correlations between perceived positive and negative outcomes of the use of ICT for teaching and learning and between perceived negative outcomes of the use of ICT for teaching and learning and participants’ uncertainty tolerance differed significantly between clusters.

Das Diskussionspapier der Leopoldina zu den Risiken der Digitalisierung für die psychische Gesundheit von Jugendlichen hat eine enorme öffentliche Resonanz erfahren. Im Mittelpunkt des Papiers steht eine gesundheitswissenschaftliche Perspektive, die sich vor allem auf den Bedarf an gesetzlicher Regulierung und gesundheitspädagogischer Prävention konzentriert. Der vorliegende Diskussionsbeitrag erweitert diese Sichtweise um eine schul- und jugendpädagogische Perspektive und plädiert für eine integrierende mehrdimensionale Betrachtung jenseits von Vereinseitigungen. Beide Perspektiven sollten komplementär gedacht und schulpraktisch integriert werden.

In light of profound transformation processes within the education system—such as digitalization, increasing societal pluralization, and global crises—growing attention is being paid to the mental health and resilience of teachers. This paper draws on the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model to explore, both theoretically and empirically, how individual and organizational resources influence teachers’ professional agency. The analysis is based on data of the GEW-Frühjahrsreport 2025 (March 2025), from 5859 teachers in North Rhine-Westphalia. The findings reveal that emotional exhaustion and work engagement are significantly shaped by personal resilience, collegial support, and leadership culture. Resilience demonstrates a dual function, acting as a protective factor against exhaustion and as a motivational driver of engagement. In conjunction with leadership and collegiality resilience, it exerts significant indirect effects on teachers’ commitment and job satisfaction via emotional exhaustion and work engagement. The results underscore the need for a systemic understanding of resilience that integrates individual coping capacities with structural conditions. This article offers practice-oriented implications for health-promoting school development and advocates for the strategic integration of resilience promotion at the individual, collegial, and institutional levels.

Mental health in education has become a pivotal issue for contemporary research and practice, transcending disciplinary boundaries and institutional levels

Despite increasing digitalization of schools, the impact of digital learning environments on students’ well-being at school remains insufficiently understood. This study examines how individual- and class-level characteristics of digital learning environments affect sixth-graders’ well-being (N = 1033; 45 classes in Germany). Data were collected using standardized questionnaires measuring students’ well-being at school, digital competencies, digital media use in school, perception of gaining digital skills at school, and teachers’ use of digital tools in the classroom. Multilevel analyses were conducted to assess the influence of individual and class-level factors. Results indicate that students’ perceived gains in digital skills in school are positively linked to their well-being at school, while digital teaching practices focused on individualization have a small negative effect. Other aspects of digital learning environments, such as the frequency of digital media use and additional dimensions of teaching quality, did not show significant effects. Home resources (e.g., piano, cars) were positively linked to students’ well-being at school. These findings underscore the importance of fostering the development of skills, rather than simply increasing media usage to support students’ well-being at school. The study also suggests that individualized digital differentiation in classrooms should be implemented thoughtfully to avoid potential negative social consequences.