Brief Description
Today, in a society where both linguistic and cultural diversity are an everyday reality, multicultural and multilingual competencies are key to managing school life professionally and interacting positively with students whose families often have their linguistic and cultural roots outside of the countries in which they live.
The overriding objective of this project result is to achieve a change in attitudes among all those involved in the school community: we want to raise awareness for European languages and promote a perception of cultural diversity as an added value. Therefore, we are designing a concept for training and coaching teachers in the area of intercultural school development. The goal is to increase professionalism and competence in this area and to initiate systemic changes at all levels of a school’s culture. The focus of this collaboration between the Michael-Friedrich-Wild-Grundschule Müllheim and the University of Salzburg (with partial involvement of all project partners) is on grades 3-6, an age group in which students are psychologically particularly sensitive to the development of their further educational career and are also faced with the challenge of changing schools – an important step in setting the course for a positive academic career.
Using a survey, we first analyze the general conditions and expectations regarding a school concept that promotes multilingualism and facilitates cooperation with parents and guardians at the four schools involved, namely Michael-Friedrich-Wild elementary school (Müllheim, Germany), École Élémentaire Jean Sturm and Lycée Jean Sturm (Strasbourg, France), Volksschule Kufstein/Sparchen (Austria, up to June 2022), and Mittelschule Kössen (Austria, after July 2023).
Using this as a basis, we will develop an intercultural strategy for the schools that explicitly incorporates research results on multilingualism and interculturality. The primary objectives are to promote reflection on attitudes and beliefs in a socio-political context and to expand the repertoire of actions to include other languages and cultures so that there can be more equality of opportunity in school transitions (grades 3-6) and the efficiency of development projects in cooperation with parents and guardians. In exchange with teachers at the partner schools, this concept for dealing productively with multilingualism and cultural diversity will be implemented at various school levels and in creative cooperation with parents and guardians at the various locations.
In a subsequent evaluation of relevant aspects of multilingualism and multiculturalism, we will focus on the potential and practicability of the concept in changing the attitudes, knowledge and skills of all actors in the school community. The results will ultimately be incorporated into a concept for training and professional development to be disseminated beyond our partner institutions in order to sustainably promote intercultural school development with a particular focus on creating a beneficial educational partnership between parents and schools.
Handouts and publications will be accessible on this website. A transnational event on January 17, 2025, will make the concept accessible to a wider public. Details on the event will follow shortly.
