Digitization permeates society and thus the education sector inexorably.  With a view to the opportunities, challenges and changes that schools currently and in the future face in the context of digitalization, we investigate how school development processes can be shaped sustainably in this context. Our research is located at the interface between school development, school pedagogy and media education and takes this interdisciplinary character into account with multi-perspective and multi-methodological approaches.

Dimensions of school development in the context of digitization

School development research distinguishes between three dimensions in which individual school development processes can be traced: organizational development, personnel development and teaching development. Digitization requires necessary change and adaptation processes with regard to all three dimensions. Recent research also calls for technology development to be taken into account as the fourth dimension of school development. In our projects, the dimensions of school development therefore form a continuous framework for research questions.

School development and digitization in networks

In particular, systematic and cooperative cooperation between different (school) actors is often seen as a key to successful school development. School networks open up new perspectives and opportunities for school development, which can prove to be helpful catalysts for individual schools' development processes, especially in the context of global challenges (such as digitisation). In this way, innovative solutions can be developed together in networks, experiences can be exchanged, and examples of good practice can be transferred and adapted to the needs of the individual school.

Professionalisation and professional development in the context of digitization

Digitization brings changes and challenges for all school actors. In particular, teachers are currently faced with the situation of guiding pupils' learning processes in the digital world in accordance with the education policy requirements and of accompanying them throughout compulsory schooling. In addition to the necessary adjustments in the context of teacher training (in the first and second phases) by obligatory media-educational components, the further and further training of teachers is currently an important element in order to be able to initiate media-education processes in schools at short notice. We are therefore currently focusing more on the third phase of teacher training.