Almost 100 refugee teachers will start teaching at schools in North Rhine-Westphalia enabled through the “Lehrkräfte Plus” – Teachers plus project. The project is a one-year qualification programme that prepares refugee teachers for teaching in schools in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is part of the NRWege Lighthouses funding programme, under which the Ministry of Culture and Science in association with the DAAD is funding internationalisation of the state’s higher education institutions and the integration of refugee academics.

The first 95 refugee teachers have just completed their DAAD-funded qualification year and hail from Syria, Turkey, and Iran. They often taught for many years before they had to flee. They will now be teaching at secondary level, for instance at vocational colleges or comprehensive schools, or are waiting for their start in the teaching profession. Many of these new teachers’ specialist subjects are desperately needed: mathematics, chemistry and physics. A further positive aspect is that 40 per cent of these new teachers are women.

Link to the press release