Successful stays abroad in teacher education

Well mentored due to GoTEd scholarships

Prospects for student teachers

The DAAD scholarship holders were selected annually via a university-wide call for applications: student teachers at the University of Würzburg were accordingly notified in a wide range of ways (including a teacher training specific email distribution or the University of Würzburg Instagram channel). The application documents were considered by a selection committee (GoTEd project coordinator, GoTEd staff member and Head of the Professional School of Education – PSE) and suitable candidates were invited to an interview. Once the selection procedure is completed, the selected scholarship holders receive a letter of award and are invited to attend a scholarship award ceremony and a day-long, preparatory intercultural training event.

Scholarship award ceremony and preparatory meeting

Teilnehmende der Stipendienverleihung 2024

Besides being presented with their scholarship certificate, the scholarship award ceremony also involves them receiving important information about all the organisational aspects of their stay abroad. This event moreover gives them the opportunity to ask questions, to get to know one another better and to network. As soon as they were available, contact was established with students who had spent a semester at their corresponding international locations to enable a peer-to-peer exchange, which was deemed to be particularly enriching.

Leonie Roßkopf, Studentin Lehramt Sonderpädagogik

I spent winter semester 22/23 teaching in Sri Lanka as part of my studies. The PSE provided me with many forms of support with respect to this. This included for instance seminars that taught intercultural skills, regular exchange of information and organisational assistance. This support meant that I was relaxed about starting my semester abroad and was well prepared.

Leonie Roßkopf, student special education teacher in primary school didactics, University of Würzburg

This meeting also involved all the scholarship holders writing down their expectations of their stay abroad and these were collected in a sealed envelope for a subsequent follow-up meeting. The intercultural training session is conducted by a psychologist who specialises in this field. It raises the scholarship holders’ awareness of intercultural experiences and gives them the opportunity to anticipate any potential ‘culture shock’.

Comparing experiences and review

The project coordinator was available to deal with any issues the scholarship holders may have encountered during their stay abroad. An online Zoom meeting was also arranged roughly midway through their stay. This enabled all concerned to compare the experiences they had gained so far and those that lay ahead. This meeting also frequently generated ideas on how these experiences could be passed on to future student teachers.

Teilnehmende der Stipendienverleihung 2024

Motivated by the knowledge and insights they have gained, each year the scholarship holders have agreed to record local videos, provide photos and/or give brief written interviews in which they answer questions that they feel may help future students. These were published on the project homepage and shown during each semester’s info event ‘Im Lehramtsstudium ins Ausland’ (Teacher Training Abroad).

Review

Shortly after their return, the scholarship holders complete a further intercultural training session to follow-up on their stay abroad. This involves an analysis of the student teachers’ individual experiences. The scholarship holders value this form of preparation and follow-up to their studies and internship stay as being very rewarding.

Isabella Krausnick, Studentin Lehramt Gymnasium, Englisch, Politik & Gesellschaft

My exchange of ideas with a previous scholarship holder before my stay abroad in Kandy, Sri Lanka, was incredibly valuable and really helped me to better prepare for the cultural and academic challenges.

Isabella Krausnick, student secondary school teacher, English, Politics & Society, University of Würzburg

It enables her to classify the insights she gained and thus result in expansion of her intercultural expertise. There is ultimately a further final meeting in which the scholarship holders open the envelopes containing their expectations expressed during the first meeting and jointly reflect on them.

Networking and exchange

Network meetings with three other Bavarian Lehramt.International projects and organisation of a collective lecture series.

Further information & contacts

Project homepage

Partnerhochschulen

Contacts

Anne-Kathrin Willeke
Project coordinator
anne.willeke@uni-wuerzburg.de
Tel.: +49 (0)931 31 84615

Dr Matthias Erhardt
Project owner
matthias.erhardt@uni-wuerzburg.de
Tel.: +49 (0)931 31 89188