‘Lehrkräftebildung Grundschule International’ (International primary teacher training)

Funding mobility and internationalisation among student primary school teachers

Challenges and need

Especially in primary schools, learning groups exhibit a high degree of linguistic and cultural diversity (cf. Kempert et al. 2016)¹. This requires primary school teachers to have specific skills and reflective attitudes when dealing with diversity in the classroom. Experiences of internationalisation make a significant contribution in this respect. Albeit the mobility rate among student teachers at primary levels is comparatively low (DAAD & DZHW 2019; DAAD 2023; Kercher & Schifferings 2019^2,3,4. Frequently stated mobility hurdles among student primary school teachers include financial difficulties, extension of studies due to a lack of recognition options and concern about detachment from familiar social surroundings.

Given these hurdles, the L-GrIn project at the University of Wuppertal developed opportunities for mobility and Internationalisation at Home that are specific to primary school teachers. The activities are deliberately planned to be low-threshold to enable as many students as possible to experience internationalisation.

Mobility programme and short formats

Ein Bild von Zug in der Schweiz mit gehisster Schweizer Flagge und dem Zugersee im Hintergrund.

Previously structured mobility options in European countries close to Germany, such as at the University of Teacher Education Zug (Switzerland), can enable students to complete a stay in connection with a university supervised school internship.

Fila, Marcel, Studierender, Bergische Universität Wuppertal

For me as a prospective primary school teacher, my experience studying and teaching in Switzerland was a massive enrichment – not just for me personally, but also in the professionalisation of my future career. My comparison of the structure of studies in Germany and Switzerland has inspired me to include a few elements in my further studies.

Marcel Fila, student at the University of Wuppertal

This in particular includes consideration of the recognisable nature of the acquired studies and practical performance to ease concerns regarding an extension of the study period. Individual advice regarding recognition options and early planning of the stay abroad in the course of studies ensures a high recognition rate. This assumes prior checking of curricula adaptations with our partner higher education institutions in advance of concluding the cooperation agreement.

Integration and financing

The concept of short formats takes account of the concerns felt by many student primary teachers about being detached from their familiar social surroundings for an extended period. An example of this is the four-week spring school ‘International vocational internship’, which is offered on an annual basis in cooperation with the Université de Lorraine in France. The geographical proximity to Germany, deliberately chosen brevity of the programme and close local mentoring in German are aspects that encourage participation. Recognition of the acquired studies and practical performance are moreover guaranteed by curricular assimilation within the education sciences element of their studies.

Financial hurdles in the case of both shorter and longer stays abroad are reduced by means of flat-rate stay allowances and scholarships.

Internationalisation at Home

Courses relating to Internationalisation at Home for student primary teachers are also being systematically developed in Wuppertal.

Quenet, Sandrine, Dozierende, Université de Lorraine

My cooperation with the School of Education in Wuppertal signifies exchange and enrichment to me. It enables both the lecturers and students to free themselves from certain ways of thinking and acting and consider new ways of dealing with teaching and research areas.

Sandrine Quenet, lecturer, Université de Lorraine

In addition to English-speaking or internationally and interculturally aligned seminars, a trilateral spring school involving students and guest lecturers from European partner higher education institutions is organised in Wuppertal on an annual basis.

Universität Wuppertal

Networking and exchange

Spring schools relating to the internationalisation of primary school teacher education: A retrospective of the years 2022, 2023 and 2024

Our main partner higher education institutions

Further information and contacts

Project homepage

Contacts

Jule Lorleberg, Jutta Bedehäsing
L-GrIn project coordinators, Service Department at the School of Education
lgrin@uni-wuppertal.de
Tel.: +49 (0)202 439-5640 oder -5042

Bibliography

¹Kercher, Jan; Schifferings, Martin (2019): Auslandsmobilität von Lehramtsstudierenden in Deutschland – Ein Überblick zur Datenlage und zu praktischen Umsetzungsbeispielen. In: Charlotte Falkenhagen, Nancy Grimm and Laurenz Volkmann (Eds.): Internationalisierung des Lehramtsstudiums: Modelle, Konzepte, Erfahrungen. Leiden, the Netherlands: Ferdinand Schöningh (Kultur und Bildung, 17), pp. 235–261.

²Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst e. V. (DAAD) (Ed.) (2023): Merkmale und Bedingungsfaktoren von Auslandsaufenthalten im Lehramtsstudium. Auswertung der Lehramtsdaten aus dem Projekt ‘Benchmark internationale Hochschule’ (BintHo). Available online at https://static.daad.de/media/daad_de/pdfs_nicht_barrierefrei/der-daad/analysen-studien/2023_arbeitspapier_bintho_lehramt_fin.pdf, last checked on 21 May 2024.

³Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD); Deutsches Zentrum für Hochschul- und Wissenschaftsforschung (DZHW) (Ed.) (2019): Wissenschaft weltoffen 2019. Daten und Fakten zur Internationalität von Studium und Forschung in Deutschland. Available online at https://www.wissenschaft-weltoffen.de/content/uploads/2021/09/wiwe_2019_verlinkt.pdf, last checked on 21 May 2024.

⁴Kempert, Sebastian; Edele, Aileen; Rauch, Dominique; Wolf, Katrin M.; Paetsch, Jennifer; Darsow, Annkathrin et al. (2016): Die Rolle der Sprache für zuwanderungsbezogene Ungleichheiten im Bildungserfolg. In: Claudia Diehl, Christian Hunkler and Cornelia Kristen (Eds.): Ethnische Ungleichheiten im Bildungsverlauf. Mechanismen, Befunde, Debatten. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp. 157–241.