Prof. Dr. Bärbel Kopp

Professor Dr Bärbel Kopp is rector of the Weingarten University of Education. 
After completing her studies at the University of Augsburg, she worked as a teacher at Westendorf Primary School. In the winter semester of 1998/99, she began a part-time PhD programme in Education at the University of Augsburg, which she successfully completed in 2001. She then devoted herself entirely to an academic career. From September 2010 to October 2026, Prof. Kopp held the Chair of Primary School Education and Didactics at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), where her research focused on ‘teaching and learning’.

Professor Kopp was a member of the collaborative doctoral programme ‘Education as a Landscape’, in which FAU participated in cooperation with the University of Bamberg, Nuremberg University of Applied Sciences and the Protestant University of Applied Sciences in Nuremberg. Her research focuses on dealing with heterogeneity and inclusion, as well as on teaching and learning in general studies. Furthermore, her academic work addresses transitions within primary education and the associated development of personality, as well as issues relating to the elimination of educational disadvantage and the quality of teaching in primary schools.

Professor Kopp is a member of the Primary School Research Commission of the German Society for Educational Sciences (DGfE), where she has been actively involved in the working group for the promotion of early-career researchers; she is also a member of the Society for the Didactics of General Studies (GDSU) and the Society for Empirical Educational Research (GEBF). Since 2026, she has been a member of the jury for the German School Prize. In addition, she contributed to the drafting of the expert report by the Expert Commission on the Further Development of Teacher Training in Bavaria.

From 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2024, Prof. Kopp served as Vice-President for Education at FAU. She was a member of the Advisory Board of the Erfurt School of Education (ESE) from October 2018 to September 2023. Since 1 October 2023, Prof. Kopp has been a member of the University Council at the University of Erfurt.