Talk to each other! - In-Service Training for Teachers in the European Context Due to various reasons migration flows have increased globally. Especially in the German-speaking parts of Europe, which are principal destinations for refugees, societies and education systems are facing rising challenges. To integrate refugees and immigrants successfully into German-speaking countries they have to learn the German language as well as understand the country’s culture. At the same time, society and citizens have to become increasingly aware of the situation so that they can overcome their fear of the unknown. Currently there are not enough trained teachers in the education system available to achieve this objective. In order to rise to the challenges and deal with them successfully, teachers are needed who are specialists in teaching German as a Foreign/Second Language and who are able to deal with multilingualism and diversity in class. We can only achieve this goal by using transnational expertise. This is why experts from Italy (South Tyrol), Austria and Germany are bringing their experience to this project, covering the areas of in-service training, school, school administration and science. Together they are enhancing concepts for intercultural competence, creating materials such as competency grids, drafting modules for advanced training in the category of GFL/GSL and multilingualism, and investigating possibilities for working educational partnerships. The goal is to strengthen the professional in-service-training skills of seven teachers and multipliers coming from the partner countries mentioned above. The project focuses in particular on the following issues: multilingualism, dealing with heterogeneity, intercultural competence and the forming of working educational partnerships. A deliberate side effect of this project is that people meet each other face to face and have the chance to form regional and cross-regional networks. At the end of the project twenty-four participants recruited from the project and from the group of already existing regional in-service trainers will attend a special training for multipliers in order to implement the contents of the project across the regions. Furthermore, additional teachers will be trained in the topics mentioned above by MOOC (Massive Open Office Course). Scientific supervision will ensure the effectivity of each single project activity. All materials as well as a documentation of the whole project will be made available digitally beyond the end of the project and handed over to political decision makers, ministries and institutions. The content of this in-service training will be transferred to central and regional in-service trainings. Together with the (school) networks that will develop during the project this will ensure long-lasting effectiveness
Talk to each other! - In-Service Training for Teachers in the European Context (TaTo) The successful integration of refugees and immigrants in German speaking countries and the awareness for multi-/plurilingualism and cultural diversity in today's society are regarded as challenges, which require transnational expertise, especially in the context of education. In the framework of the project TaTo, a range of support measures using the expertise of professionals from various fields were therefore developed and implemented. Transregional teams worked on four distinct Intellectual Outputs (IO). IO 1 “Plurilingual Curriculum” (PLC) developed a key document for the inclusion of plurilingual competencies in schools. In the course of the project, IO 1 “PLC” emerged as the foundation for IO 4, which evolved from the “Competency Grid” into the “Plurilingual Competency Model” (PCM). Both IOs were tested at the school district of Bozen-City Centre and in the Pforzheim school district. Selected parts were also implemented at schools in the school districts of Böblingen, Pforzheim, Salzburg and Bozen-City Centre. Both the school management and the teaching staff were prepared for the testing and evaluation of the material in various further training events. Furthermore, the implementation at the Pforzheim school district was scientifically evaluated by the University of Education Ludwigsburg (UEL) and the results were made available for the development of further training seminars. IO 2 “Massive Open Online Course” (MOOC) used contents from other IOs to develop four different MOOC modules, consisting of learning videos and teaching and working materials. The four modules cover the subject areas “self-reflection and acquisition of intercultural skills”, “interaction and communication with parents or legal guardians”, “PLC” and “PCM”. The respective IO working groups were responsible for the scripts. The production was undertaken by Bad Wildbad. IO 3 developed a curriculum for a transnational teacher training concept (TTTC), consisting of 8 modules – 4 compulsory modules and 4 optional modules – totalling 12 ECTS. 2 modules were implemented at the University of Education Salzburg (UES), the Deutsche Bildungsdirektion Bozen and the ZSL Bad Wildbad and evaluated by the UEL with regard to their effectiveness. Furthermore, the PLC was edited for teacher training and the modules “DaZ (German as a Second Language)- transfer DaF (German as a Foreign Language)” and “Self-Reflection and Intercultural Skills” were implemented at the University of Pristina (Kosovo). The PCM of IO 4 is a product which goes far beyond the originally planned “Competency Grid” in terms of content and structure. It is based on the competence areas of the PLC. The structure is supplemented by references and examples of open forms of teaching. Using the PCM helps teachers to quantify their students' learning progress and makes it easier to talk about plurilingual competencies. The expected goals of IO 4 were exceeded by this further development. It is not only made available in a print version, but – like all other IO products, including the evaluation – it is also posted and available for free on the new homepage and the homepages of the project partners. Due to Covid19 not all events could take place as planned. Most importantly, the dissemination event, scheduled for 13 March 2020, had to be cancelled at short notice. The AUL in Nuremberg, scheduled for May 2020, had to be cancelled as well. Other regional events, e.g. a multilingual theatre production, were also called off. Still, the production of the MOOC videos could be completed despite the difficult circumstances, which included a prohibition of direct contact thus making the shooting of the videos impossible for a prolonged period of time. The project's main goal – supporting teachers, school administrators and disseminators in their work with intercultural students – was fully achieved. Many short-term and long-term effects can be observed among all those involved in school life. Short term effects: Legal guardians, students, teaching staff and school administrators work together more closely; strengthening of learners' self-reflection and assessment skills; change of attitudes; strengthening of language acquisition, interculturality, inclusion/integration; change of perspective (on multilingualism and languages of origin as a resource); interdisciplinary multilingual projects with languages of origin and school languages. Long term effects: teacher-student conversations at eye level, increased motivation in students' learning behavior. Both effects could be ascertained in the project's test phase. 2 modules of the TTTC were adapted for the teacher training curriculum and have been implemented at the UES since the academic year 2019/2020. Both the PLC and the PCM will be used in schools further on. Cooperations with experts were initiated and will continue after the project's official end.