Every two years, an interdisciplinary programme focus is developed that deals with current educational and social questions and encourages their treatment in the classroom. Topics focused on in recent years include Political Education, Environmental Education, Media Education and Information Technology. A six months course programme is distributed to all schools. It contains the two-year programme focus and the courses taking place at Dillingen. The participation of teachers is voluntary with the exception of staff who have recently been appointed to special responsibilities, such as headteachers.
Courses normally take place in school-time, and participating teachers receive time off.
The State Institute is directly responsible to the Bavarian State Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs, Science, and the Arts. It makes the results of research and classroom experience available to schools as a whole and supports the State Ministry in the further development of the Bavarian education system. On the basis of these tasks an annual programme is set up by the State Ministry in co-operation with the State Institute. The results of the Institute's work are usually published once they have been submitted to the State Ministry. The State Institute has a staff of about 130 people.