18. February 2026 | Erfurt School of Education, Faculty of Education, Studies

Excellent master's theses!

For many years, the University of Erfurt's Erfurt School of Education has been awarding prizes for particularly successful master's theses from teacher training programmes. To this end, all of the year's theses that are rated "very good" are assessed by a jury in terms of their social relevance, originality, academic quality and practical relevance for schools. Today, the graduates from the winter semester 2024/25 an the summer semester 2025 whose work stood out in particular were honoured in a small ceremony.

Vier strahlende ESE-Absolvent*innen mit einer ESE-Broschüre, in der Mitte Andreas Lindner — Jessica Blaurock, Marie Nazime Öztürk, adjunct Professor Andreas Lindner, Anika Finsterbusch, Jonas Gottschämmer (from left to right)

This year's awards went to:

Jessica Blaurock for her work "In the beginning was education: A comparative literature analysis on the impact of parental parenting styles on academic performance";
Anika Finsterbusch for her work "Reading motivation in primary schools – an empirical study";
Jonas Gottschämmer for his work "Pedagogical strategies in children's books for coping with the COVID-19 pandemic: A document-analytical study"
Nico Klaus: "The 3rd grade of the Jewish primary schools in Munich – A didactic reappraisal of individual Jewish fates during the Third Reich for history lessons"
and Marie-Nazime Öztürk for her work "Primary school children explain climate change: Insights into their perceptions and understanding through self-produced explanatory videos".

"These works are each impressively dedicated to current issues in Educational Science," says adjunct Professor Andreas Lindner, Director of Studies at the Erfurt School of Education. "The jury not only recognises the professional depth and methodological accuracy of the authors, but also emphasises their innovative strength, practical relevance and reflective examination of socially significant topics."

What all the works have in common is a high degree of scientific precision, theoretical foundation and didactic sensitivity. They are exemplary examples of how sound research and educational practice can enter into dialogue with each other - whether in the context of school motivation, literary education, historical-political mediation work, digitally supported learning formats or ecological issues of the future.

Andreas Lindner: "It is clear that these are achievements that go beyond the mere fulfilment of academic requirements. Rather, they document independent thinking, a differentiated ability to analyse and a pronounced awareness of the responsibility of education in a changing society. Taken as a whole, they paint a picture of committed, reflective and future-orientated academic work. At the same time, these theses represent an optimal level of academic success that can be achieved within the consecutive Bachelor's/Master's teaching degree programme at the University of Erfurt and thus contribute to the reputation of our university."

We say "Congratulations"!