The number of people interested in lateral entry into teacher training is falling: This can be seen in the number of applications and students at Berlin universities. Applications for the so-called Q master’s degree courses, which also enable bachelor’s graduates who have not completed a bachelor’s degree to obtain a teaching degree, fell by a quarter last year.

While the universities received 420 applications for the numerous offers in 2020, it was 313 in 2021. The number of those who started in the master’s in the lateral entry subjects also fell: from 248 to 173. After all, the level in 2021 was still above that from 2019. This emerges from a response from the education administration to a request from the CDU MP Adrian Grasse.

Since 2016, the universities have successively established degree programs that enable lateral entry into teaching after the bachelor’s degree. Against the background of the shortage of teachers, it is likely to be bitter that in 2021, with 200 study places, there were more than ever before (2020: 174) – but the capacities offered were not completely exhausted.

A total of 484 students are currently enrolled in the various Q Master’s courses, more than half of them at Humboldt University for primary school teaching.

The decline at Freie Universität in lateral entry masters for secondary schools and grammar schools is particularly striking: only 28 students started here, compared to 64 the year before.

The decline in lateral entry for primary school at the HU was somewhat weaker, but the rush also decreased somewhat there. The FU will not start its Q course for primary school teaching until this winter semester.

There is also room for improvement when it comes to awarding the Berlin teaching grant, which was introduced in 2018/19 for Q-Master students. In just one year – 2020 – the funds available for 100 scholarship places were fully utilised. In 2021 the rate was 69 percent.

Adrian Grasse from the CDU called the numbers “regrettable”: “Here the causes must be investigated and targeted countermeasures must be taken.”