Work and business (labour studies)

Career and business

The school subject of economics and careers has the task of preparing pupils for the world of work and technology, familiarising them with basic questions of economic activity in the social market economy and leading them to career choice competence.

When studying the didactic subject of work and economics, subject-specific knowledge must be acquired as the basis for teaching this subject in the following areas:

• Insight into the basic structures of the world of work
• Labour as a category of human existence
• Changes in the world of work due to technical developments
• Basic economic issues and main features of economic systems of order
• Basic questions of consumer behaviour, consumer policy and consumer law
• Theories of occupation and career choice
• Vocational training systems
• Basic questions of occupational sociology

Didactics objectives and contents are:

• Overview of the history of the subject of business and economics
• Knowledge of educational objectives, competency models and educational standards of the subject of economics and business and the ability to critically reflect on them and use them for lesson planning.
• Knowledge of the competency models, competency expectations and contents of the curriculum, including the additional guidelines issued for secondary schools in Bavaria for the subject of economics and occupations and the ability to take them into account when planning lessons.
• Ability to plan the objectives, implementation and follow-up of company visits, work placements, projects and other subject-specific and subject-relevant teaching methods and to critically reflect on their use.
• Ability to plan, organise and analyse lessons in the subject of economics and careers.
• Knowledge of the media and tools available for the subject of economics and careers and the ability to use them appropriately.

Structure of the Programme

The degree programme in Vocational and Business Education consists of three modules, each of which can be completed over a period of one to two semesters.

Each module consists of two or three compulsory courses, one of which is graded (= module grade). The three module grades are equally weighted.

The courses or their individual performances can be repeated once within the deadlines set for the examinations.

In addition to the seven compulsory courses, an optional exercise is offered to prepare for the examination.

A maximum of the following three courses can be taken in the first semester of the degree programme:

• Introduction to didactics
• Methods and Media of Labour Studies
• Fundamentals of technology

Core module: Introduction to the didactics and methodology of the learning area work - economy - technology

The grade for the module results from the grade achieved in the written exam for the exercise "Introduction to Didactics".

Specialisation module: Learning fields of labour studies: work - economy - technology

Requirements: successful completion of the exercise "Introduction to didactics"

The grade for the module results from the term paper completed in the seminar "Basic Economic Knowledge in Labour Studies".

Specialisation module: Vocational orientation, cooperation partners, extracurricular places of learning and simulations in the subject of labour studies

Requirements: successful completion of the exercise "Introduction to didactics"

The grade of the module results from the term paper completed in the seminar "Didactics of Vocational Orientation".

Admission thesis

Please note the following information on the preparation of admission theses!

The letter contains, among other things, information on legal matters, content, citation and formalities.

You can also view the assessment criteria here.

State examination

There are three different topics to choose from in the written exam. The written exam lasts three hours and is counted towards the exam grade at a ratio of 3:2 compared to the grades achieved during the course of study. Knowledge of the following topics is required to pass this examination:

1. Objectives and tasks of the subject of work and economics (labour studies)

• Development of the aims and tasks of the subject Vocational and Business Studies (Labour Studies), discussions and resolutions: German Committee for Education and Training, Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs); overview of the development of labour studies in Bavaria
• Knowledge of the terms competence, competence model, educational standards, key qualification and core curriculum and their use in the didactics of labour studies
• Knowledge of basic competency models, educational standards and core curricula; for example

• Knowledge of objectives and content, subject profile, basic competences, competence descriptions of the 2016 Business and Vocational Curriculum for Secondary Schools in Bavaria
• Overview knowledge of the objectives, content and competences of the learning field of vocational orientation

with the supplementary guidelines

2. Theoretical foundations and design options for important learning areas of the subject

a) of career choice preparation lessons: didactics of career orientation with an overview of career choice theories, vocational education system, possibilities of cooperation with the employment agency and other cooperation partners. Objectives, competences, contents and methods of the vocational orientation concept of Wirtschaft und Beruf in Bavaria

b) basic economic education including market- and environment-oriented consumer and producer behaviour

c) basic technical education: Use and evaluation of technology in households, companies and society

d) basic legal education: consumer rights and the rights of trainees and employees

3. Methods and media of the subject

a) Methods of real-life encounters:

Objectives, planning/preparation, implementation and follow-up/evaluation of explorations and work placements with the educational tasks of business and careers (exploration curriculum 2016, work placements 2016)

b) Further subject-specific and subject-typical methods in the learning field of vocational orientation

Theoretical foundations, planning models and possible uses of subject-specific and subject-typical methods, e.g. project method, case study, simulation game, role play, expert interview, pro and con debate, future workshop, station learning, guiding text, student company

c) Theoretical principles, selection, use and assessment of media in the subject of economics and careers

4. Theoretical principles for planning, implementing and analysing lessons in the subject of business and careers

• Teaching principles,
• Competence models
• Tasks for competence-orientated teaching
• Concepts of lesson planning
• Teaching methods
• Evaluation of lessons and conducting examinations, in particular the project examination
• Diagnostic procedures in the classroom

Please understand that it is not possible to provide a complete list of all topics.

All courses in the area of Business and Economics (Labour Studies) can be found in the course catalog (external link, opens in a new window).

If you have any questions, please send an email to

Didaktik.sekretariat​(at)​soziologie.uni-regensburg.de (opens your email program)