Welcome to the DFG Graduate School “Subject Specific Learning and Interaction in Elementary School”. The Graduate School is based at the Universities of Halle (Center for School and Educational Research, ZSB) and Kassel (Center for Empirical Teaching/Learning Research, ZELL). Funding for the first phase, 2022-2026, comes from the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG).

The first funding period of the Graduate School ended on June 30, 2026, and the phase of completion funding began on July 1, 2026. This allows the doctoral researchers of our second cohort to continue working on their research projects. In addition, we are developing formats that will facilitate exchange and collaborative, interdisciplinary research within the Graduate School only on a more limited scale than before. We will continue to provide information on this, as well as on planned public events, on our website.

The work of the Graduate School focuses on investigating the social practice of elementary school teaching and the question of the qualities of subject-specific learning. The Graduate School’s research approach is different in that it systematically links different traditions of classroom research.  The combination of German and mathematics didactics with praxeological teaching research and teaching quality research allows a multiple perspective on teaching and interdisciplinary theory development.