Welcome in the Department of Education and Culture

Welcome to the Department of Education and Culture in Sport at the Institute of Sport Science at the Universität Münster. The research area was established in the winter semester 2022/23 and thus represents the most recent expansion at the Institute of Sport Science and underlines the importance of a qualified (initial) education of future sport teachers.
In teaching and research, we deal with sports pedagogical issues that primarily relate to school sports, i.e. to physical education and other extracurricular activities (e.g. class trips with a sports focus, physical activity programs in all-day programs, etc.) that complement or deepen physical education pedagogically. One focus of our work is the education and training of physical education teachers and the support of their professional development, because not only future teachers, but also those who are already in the profession, are constantly confronted with social transformations that also have an impact on physical education. More recently, the right of all children and adolescents to participate in the general school system ("inclusion"), but also ongoing migration movements, for example, have brought the heterogeneity of the student body into focus. However, the ubiquitous availability of digital media is also changing the face of (school) sport and the associated sport pedagogical requirements, which we are contributing to researching on the one hand and for which we are developing training concepts on the other, in order to prepare pedagogical specialists appropriately.
On the following pages you will find further information on our research areas, on topics related to teaching as well as on the team of the department. We hope that you will find all the information you need on our homepage. If you still have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us directly!
 

News

© Angelika Bensch

Successful thesis defence at AB BuK

On 28 September 2026, Angelika Julia Bensch successfully defended her doctoral thesis entitled ‘Gender-sensitive physical education and pupils’ gender competence – a qualitative interview study on constructions of difference in physical education’.
The examination board was chaired by the Dean of Studies, Prof. Heiko Wagner. The external examiners were Associate Professor Helga Leineweber (Research Group on Education and Culture in Sport) and Professor Bettina Rulofs (DSHS Cologne). The board was completed by Dr Sebastian Salomon (Research Group on Education and Teaching in Sport).

© Wolfgang Kluge

Panel discussion on ‘Football – Fan Culture in a State of Change’

On 21 August, the Society for the Study of the History of Democracy organised a panel discussion at the stadium of the former GDR first-division club FC Carl Zeiss Jena. The topic was the period of upheaval in (East) Germany between 1989 and 1994: What did football mean in the late GDR, and particularly during the period of upheaval? What was it like to be a fan? And how did fan culture in the early 1990s change you?
The panellists included Uwe Dern, co-founder of the Jena Fan Project, and Heidi Vater, a former GDR international, alongside Dr Kai Reinhart from the IfS Münster, an expert on sport in the GDR and the period of transition. The discussion was moderated by Liane von Billerbeck (Deutschlandfunk).

© Song

ISHPES 2026: Yoonkyu Song received the Young Scholar Award

Yoonkyu Song received the 2026 Young Scholar Award from the International Society for the History of Physical Education and Sport (ISHPES) and delivered a highly acclaimed keynote lecture at this year’s congress in Taipei (Taiwan). In his keynote presentation, he discussed comparative aspects of the history of sport in general, and specifically in Germany and Korea. More Information

© Verb.

Day of Teacher Education

Now more than ever, the professional development of trainee teachers bears the responsibility of promoting democratic values. The ZLB’s Teacher Education Days aim to contribute to this. The seminar ‘Dictatorship and Democracy in Sport – National Socialist Sport and Sport Today’ (Reinhart) contributed to the Teacher Education Days with, amongst other things, posters, podcasts and its own website. These can now be accessed here.

© Reinhart

1st Symposium on the History of Equestrian Sport under National Socialism

Just under half a year after the start of the research collaboration between the German Equestrian Federation (FN) and the IfS (Reinhart/Krüger), a colloquium was held with Master’s students and experts from the equestrian world to discuss the current state of the research and present the findings to date from their own source research.