Teacher training: More mandatory digital competence and AI remains optional

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Even today, it is still possible to complete a teacher training program in Germany without acquiring digital competencies, as this is not mandatory everywhere. And when it comes to acquiring AI competencies in teacher training programs, the offerings at universities are still meager. Even voluntary acquisition is currently hardly possible. This is according to the current “Monitor Lehrkräftebildung”.

Significant increase since 2020, but gap remains

The Monitor is a joint project of the Bertelsmann Stiftung, the CHE (Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung), the Robert Bosch Stiftung, and the Stifterverband. According to the current Factsheet, there has been clearly recognizable progress since 2020 in anchoring the topic “Media competence in a digital world” as a mandatory component of teacher training programs at universities. However, in 2024, a good third of future teachers were still able to complete their studies without acquiring corresponding competencies. In 2020, only between 15 and 25 percent of students had to deal with this topic mandatorily. In 2024, the figures were between 64 and 74 percent.

The figures for mandatory offerings for the acquisition of AI competencies in teacher training programs were significantly lower in 2024/2025. They ranged only between 7 and just under 10 percent. As the Monitor indicates, optional offerings were also still scarce. At the time of the survey, these were only available at around a quarter of the locations. Only Rhineland-Palatinate had, as the first federal state, enshrined artificial intelligence as a cross-cutting theme in teacher training programs for the winter semester 2024/2025.

Binding requirements for teachers called for

Andrea Frank, Deputy Secretary-General of the Stifterverband, criticizes this: “While there has been progress, the results are anything but satisfactory. For students to have the opportunity to systematically develop media competence, today's and tomorrow's teachers must acquire these competencies themselves in a binding manner.” Teachers play a key role in enabling students to participate in the digital world competently, critically, and safely, emphasizes the Stifterverband. The acquisition of digital competencies must therefore also be firmly anchored in the curricula of individual subject didactics and educational sciences. This is currently only the case at 43 percent of universities. The Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) of the Länder, as stated in the Monitor, had already set the goal in 2016 with the strategy “Education in the Digital World” to “implement digitalization-related competencies in educational science and subject-related content in all teacher training programs”.

Regarding the acquisition of AI competencies, Frank Ziegele, Managing Director of CHE, explained, “The data shows: We are still at the beginning when it comes to AI competencies in teacher training. Now it is important to urgently bring the topic to a broader audience – through clear framework conditions from the federal states and, above all, through the willingness of universities to shape it. If both levels work together, a hesitant start can become a real leap in development.”

A current orientation paper from the Forum Bildung Digitalisierung has meanwhile painted a negative picture for the acquisition of AI competencies by teachers and school leaders already in service. According to the paper, further training and continuing education offerings also have significant catching up to do.

On data collection

The data for the current Monitor Lehrkräftebildung comes from self-reporting by teacher training universities and the 16 federal states as part of an online survey, which was most recently conducted between October 2024 and January 2025. 67 out of 71 teacher training universities participated in the survey.

(kbe)