Goodbye to Tubingen

Like all good things, so must my stay here in Tubingen come to an end. We have visited our last school, and we will debrief with the Fulbright Commission tomorrow. Then, it is off to Borna where I will visit the Borna Gymnasium for three days. I will be staying with the below pictured class. Included are some last images of Tubingen.

Baden Wurttemberg Works on School Integration

June 16, 2010 Integration of Students with Migrant Backgrounds

We drove to Stuttgart to visit the Schickhardt Gymnasium, attend a presentation at the Baden Wurttemberg Ministry for Culture, Youth and Sport (Kultus, Jugend und Sport), and to debrief with teachers of immigrant backgrounds.

I attended a meeting with the principal, two teachers, and five students at the Schickhardt Gymnasium to discuss their school and the issues facing immigration. This school is for gifted students, in this case girls who are in elite sports such as volleyball and soccer. The principal noted that he worked hard to use the same intensity that students bring to their sports to steer them to academic excellence. The school is special in that it gives student athletes the flexibility to pursue elite sports yet still attend a normally functioning school. The example that the principal used was a student with a big volley ball match on a Sunday could not be expected to take a test on a Monday, but would be given the chance to make it up on Tuesday. Some students might come with language deficiencies, but they are asked to attend special tutorials to make up such shortcomings, especially in written work. It should be emphasized that although each Gymnasium has a special focus, the Abitur is centrally written and administered and all students in Baden Wurttemberg have to take it. As for students with immigrant backgrounds, the school has worked hard to retain teachers with migrant backgrounds, two of whom we met.

I asked the students what questions they would want to pose to American students. They asked what American students think about Germans? Are their tests mostly multiple choice exams? Is there something wrong with the American school schedule that allows so much time in the summer? Their favorite music is Lena, Xavier Nadoo and the Fantastic Four.

That afternoon, we visited the Baden Wurttemberg Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport in the New Palace in Stuttgart. This castle was leveled by American bombing and was renovated in the 1950s and 1960s. According to the spokesman, Siegmut Keller, it now houses the economics ministry and the culture and education ministry. The ministry is in charge of curricula, building schools, overseeing 120,000 teachers and staff, administering the central Abitur among other issues. It is also charged with developing integration programs for children with migrant backgrounds. This is made difficult because they have no data on how many of these children exist because they only keep information on foreign born. This brings us back to the peculiarity of the German concept of citizenship based upon blood as opposed to place of birth. Although there were changes in the 1990s extending citizenship to children born in Germany who wish to renounce the citizenship of their parents and take up German citizenship, they are still not integrated into Germany society, as noted in an earlier entry. This is a special issue in Baden Wurttemberg because of the large migrant proportion of the population (37% of Stuttgart’s population, 25% of all of B-W). Another issue is the problem of Islamic religious instruction in B-W. There are 12 Islamic programs in B-W.

The goals of Baden-Wurttemberg’s integration policy are as follows:

1. Language competence.
2. Cooperation with parents.
3. Intercultural competence of Teachers
4. Individual support for students with migrant backgrounds.
5. Cooperation with foreign consulates to teach the mother language of the students.
6. Train and retain more teachers with migrant backgrounds.

Later, we met with teachers with migrant backgrounds and explored such issues as the use of the mother tongue by students from migrant backgrounds. Should this be allowed at schools between classes and at lunch? Another issue was parents with migrant backgrounds. The support of migrant parents for the mission of the school and the inclusion of parents with migrant workers in the school culture were deemed critical. This portion of the program ended with a presentation from a teacher of a program of Islamic religious studies at a school in Baden Wurttemberg.

The Dual System and Its Promises

In the afternoon of June 14, we had a presentation by Knut Becker from the Landesinstitut fuer Schulentwicklung of the state of Baden-Wurttemberg over the German System of Vocational Education and Training. Herr Becker concentrated on the system of dual training as a means for providing businesses with the skilled workers they need and students with a rewarding career option outside the Gymnasium track. Apart from full time vocational schools that give students a final qualification that is recognized through a school certificate, there also exists a system of dual training. This gives one a state recognized training certificate but also a certificate from the Chambers of Commerce (Handelskammern) recognizing that the completion of the course of the apprenticeship. Both of these courses take approximately two, three, or three and one-half years depending on the student. The Dual system is approximately 25% at school, where the student continues such topics as German, math, science, humanities and foreign languages as well as vocationally oriented course material such as applied math, technical drawing, and technology. The other 75% is on-the-job training. Businesses bear 80% of the cost of this system. So, a student would be at the job 3-4 days a week and at school 1-2 days per week. One signs on to this with a training contract approved by the Handelskammer which lays out the state recognition of the occupation, the designation of the occupation, the duration of training, the profile of the training occupation (minimum requirements) and overall training plan and examination requirements. The contract also stipulates conditions that must be fulfilled by the employers, such as protections against termination and allowance to pay the trainee during the period of the dual system training. The dual system provides training for every sector of the economy and for different specialized occupations. Again, the Germans use the word competence to describe the various skills that one receives from the dual system in the form of specialized skills needed for the occupation, methodical skills such as problem solving and organization, and social skills (people skills). The favorite occupations for young men include motor vehicle mechanic, painter, electrical fitter, joiner, retail, cooks, business specialists, mechanical engineers, bricklayers, and IT. Among the favorite occupations for young women are commercial clerks, retail, hairdresser, physician’s assistant, dental employee, slaes, banker, hotel specialist, sales person. During the training, the student receives a wage depending on the occupation. These wages average about 600 euros per month in the West and 500 in the East. The advantages for industry are that German firms secure the skilled labor they need, it reduces the costs of settling in a new worker, it increases loyalty to a firm, it provides the firm with employees who have job specific qualifications and increases productivity. The Dual System is embedded in the web of industrial, social and governmental institutions that make up the German system of corporatist interest group intermediation. The states issue curricula for part time vocational schools, finance teaching staff and supervise the activities of the Handelskammer. Industry works with employer and unions to draft proposals for the creation of new and updating of existing training occupations, nominate experts for participation in the drafting of training regulations and negotiate provisions in collective agreements, including the amount paid in the allowance for the trainee. The Handelskammer, which are self-governing bodies, advice the stakeholders in the training, supervise training in the company, verify the aptitude of companies and training instructors, register training contracts and administer examinations. This entire system costs about 17 billion euros, with private companies bearing about 85% and the states 15% of the costs. This system is open to all school graduates, even those coming from the Gymnasia. It can also serve as a gate way for some to go on to a research or technical university. For instance, Daimler Benz might hire a student, and then give them the option of going back to the university, receive a stipend, but then be obligated to work for the company afterwards for a period of years. Of the 9 million pupils in general education in 2008, 2.9 million were at full time vocational schools and 1.6 million were apprentices in the dual system program. This system dates back to the middle ages, but is still a stable part of the German economy and is seen by German manufacturers as indispensable.

Teacher Training at the University

June 14, 2010

Workshop: New Trends in Teacher Training: Personality Development
Regina Keller and Dr. Philipp Thomas

According to Dr. Thomas, Baden-Wurttemberg has been conservative as far as treating personality development of teachers as a serious topic for pedagogical study. This is problematic as demonstrated by research results that reveal that those who choose teaching are more prone to burn out than those who choose other professions.

What they are trying to do at TU is to give students internships earlier so that they can determine whether or not teaching is really “for them”. The benefit is that teachers will reflect on what they are doing self-consciously and gain competencies that purely theoretical study can’t give them. For instance, very early on in their course of study, students are asked whether or not they have voluntarily worked with children before and, if not, they are encouraged to get some experience, for instance by tutoring children. If you discover that you do not like kids, then teaching is probably not for you. Therefore, the Tubingen is including in its Teaching degree program two courses geared towards developing what they call professional competencies.

Prior to studies, students will test for teacher’s competencies on line and carry out a two week orientation practicum which will answer the question “What can I expect as a teacher”? Then, during basic studies, there is a first module of professional competence which concentrates on “Mental concepts” which answers the question “what do I need to know about the teaching professional outcomes”? It focuses on the role of the teacher. This could be done more as a practicum, but the University of Tubingen is jealous about its place as a research institution, and views practical pedagogical classes as something best kept at the Padagogische Hochschule level which is the more appropriate area for vocational education for teachers of Real and Hauptschuhe. Therefore, this course is taught as a lecture course. In the fifth semester the students have their practical semester in the classroom. Then, during the main course of study, teachers attend a second module which focuses on role play and practice at dealing with difficult situations in the classroom. Such issues as body language, parent communication, and intercultural relations are examined.

It should be noted that out of 300 credit hours needed for a degree, Didactics and Pedagogy are only 28 hours and do not carry grades. This reflects the elite bias of the “Universitäten” which until recently only gave degrees for content area which were assumed to be sufficient for teaching at the Gymnasium.

Discussion ranged over what types of professional competencies would be good for young teachers to develop. The German teachers discussed such aspects as perceived self-efficacy (their example of the young teacher who feels self-confident enough to demand that the Hausmeister carry out tasks); internal self-attribution vs. external attribution (this seems to be jargon that you shouldn’t blame your self or take affronts as personal attacks, rather try to see things in a larger context); and a sense of permission to attend to one’s own needs (taking a night off to watch the soccer match instead of grinding ahead to grade those papers).

Regina Keller then discussed her class for the second module on teacher competencies. She uses a case study method of scenarios gleaned from her experience as a classroom teacher. Again, it came up that this course was not for credit, because the University did not see Didactics as meriting status at a research institution that grants PhDs such as Tubingen.

Heidelberg ist aber auch ok

Der Rhein: Deutschlands Strom, Nicht Deutschlands Grenze

The PISA Shock Engenders Change in Baden-Wurttemberg

Friday, June 11, 2010
Jörn Steinmeyer of the State Institute for School Development and Education in Stuttgart discussed Quality Development and Standardization in the School Systems. This movement came about in response to Germany’s poor showing in the PISA tests that were administered world wide in 2004. Germany’s place below most other EU countries (and many developing countries) have led to an attempt to recalibrate standards to better measure and promote student achievement. What has come out of this has been a three level system:

1. Level I: The printed standards for Bildung (a loaded term).
2. Level II: Performance Indicators (Niveaukonkretierung)
3. Level III: Implementation Aid which includes core curriculum, didactic materials and performance indicators.

Herr Steinmeyer noted some of the obstacles to implementing these reforms, not the least of which was the fact that the standards were only available on the internet and 80 percent of the teachers in BW use the internet only infrequently. Moreover, because teachers have civil service status as well as a very strong union, there is almost no accountability of their performance after they have been through their first two years.