Verena Keimerl

Verena Keimerl serves as a Lecturer and Research Assistant at the Chair of Primary School Pedagogy and Didactics within the Faculty of Human Sciences at Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg. Since January 2024, she has held the position of Teacher for Special Tasks at the Chair and Research Assistant at the Junior Professorship for Educational Psychology. Previously (March 2021-December 2023), she worked as a Research Associate in the BMBF project 'ProHet' (Professionalization with regard to Heterogeneity and Diversity) at the same institution.

Keimerl completed her secondary school teaching studies with French and Spanish at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, earning her first State Examination. She completed student teaching internships at Bavarian grammar schools and served as a secondary school teacher from 2020-2021. Her academic background uniquely combines language education with primary school pedagogy.

Her research focuses on heterogeneity and inclusion in primary school and foreign language teaching, spelling diagnostics, differentiation of teaching arrangements, teacher training, giftedness, and multilingual didactics. She has developed innovative frameworks for identifying and supporting gifted students while emphasizing practical relevance for teacher preparation. Her work bridges educational theory and classroom practice with particular attention to inclusive teaching methods.

Analysis of her scholarly output reveals a consistent emphasis on the integration of theory and practice in teacher education, with growing specialization in gifted education and multilingual classroom environments. Her research demonstrates methodological diversity, employing both qualitative and quantitative approaches to address challenges in contemporary primary education.

• Young Talent Award for Innovative Teaching Ideas in French Classes – Prix Jeunes Profs (2016) of the Association of French Teachers eV

Keimerl actively contributes to teacher professional development through workshops in the 'Wie geht...?' series at the university's GrundschulWerkstatt. She collaborates extensively with Prof. Dr. Miriam Hess on projects related to primary school education, with special focus on practical implementation of research findings regarding heterogeneity and gifted education.

She is deeply involved with the ProHet project and the university's GrundschulWerkstatt, which functions as a hub for practical teacher training and educational research translation. Her current work includes developing frameworks for university-school collaboration in gifted education and creating adaptive teaching strategies for heterogeneous classrooms.