Successful PhD Defense

With his defense on 21 May 2025, Christoph Kruse (working group on general didactics and teaching research) has successfully completed his doctoral studies. In his dissertation, Christoph Kruse investigates the evaluation of teachers in probationary service. His sources include teachers’ written reports from their residency period, which have until now not been used as research data. He asks how and according to which criteria subject and school leadership judge the success (and failure) of teachers during their probationary periods. Embedded in the context of professions studies and based in the methods of (constructive) grounded theory, this study provides insights into the evaluation praxis during probationary teaching and the associated expectations and patterns of evaluation and legitimation. This study demonstrates how the interconnectedness of these phenomena leads to the transformation of contingent situations into clear and actionable judgments of individuals. Here, problem-laden aspects of evaluations – such as a “teacher’s personality” or the idea that student behavior can be controlled – can be explained as functional for legitimizing the evaluation of teacher trainees. With that, “via” written reports, this study provides research-based insights into probationary service that go beyond standard assessment practices.