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LANGUAGE: AN OBSTACLE TO INTEGRATION? DIFFICULTIES WITH THE INTEGRATION OF FOREIGN SCHOOL CHILDREN IN GERMANY AND FUTURE AREAS OF COOPERATION WITH THE US ABSTRACT The schooling of young immigrants plays a crucial role in the integrational strategies of immigration countries since the level of education determines the future prospects of migrants on the labor market and their social status in general. Both, Germany and the United States face increasing numbers of school children of foreign background who need to be integrated into the school system. Especially children who do not speak the national language need to be taken care of. Whereas the US have pursued a large variety of strategies and programs, especially since the late 1960s, Germany's efforts are much less numerous and less diversified. Both school systems face similar problems, such as a comparatively high dropout rate of foreign-background students and a relatively lower level of education. An institutionalized exchange of experience and knowledge transfer in the area of educational strategies for non-native schoolchildren between Germany and the US, especially in the field of limited-German/English-proficient children, could be a fruitful field of transatlantic cooperation in the future. Germany in particular could profit to a great degree from the US-experience of the last decades. This presentation therefore focuses on the current situation in Germany and briefly argues in which framework future cooperation might be most useful. THE EDUCATIONAL INTEGRATION OF FOREIGN STUDENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS The integration of foreign school children is often perceived as a problematic part of the school system. There are major difficulties that young migrants or children of immigrants but also teachers and native classmates face on a daily basis. Cultural and religious differences but especially language barriers have to be dealt with in and outside class. However, over the past years the cultural heritage and the languages spoken by children of foreign background increasingly tend to be viewed as an asset. In the course of the development of the European Union as well as globalization tendencies, multilingualism and multi-culturalism are more and more recognized as important and desirable qualifications. Which strategies might be best suited to integrate children from various national backgrounds depends on the political, institutional and cultural make-up of the country involved. 1 CURRENT SITUATION The number of foreign schoolchildren in Germany has constantly increased over the past decades and is likely to further increase. Currently there are about 1 million foreign schoolchildren enrolled in public schools in Germany. After a decrease in the number of foreign schoolchildren in the early 1980s due to economic recession and return migration, there has almost been a linear increase since 1985 (see Figure 1). With regard to the total number of schoolchildren the proportion of foreign children has slightly increased over the past years: 9% in 1992/93; 9,2% in 1995/96 and 9,4% in 1997/98. Figure 1: Foreign Students in Public German Schools, 1980-97 Source: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Kultusministerkonferenz Integrating these children in German schools becomes especially challenging when they have only little or no command of the German language at all. Speaking the common language of the country of residence is a conditio sine qua non for successful integration. Therefore specifically targeted policies were devised for this particular part of the school population. Various programs and models have been employed by German schools with varying degrees of success: o classes in the children's mother tongue on a voluntary basis (Herkunfts-sprachen-unter-richt); · multi-natio-nal preparatory classes for foreign schoolchildren (Vor-bereitungs-klas-sen / Übergangsklassen); o classes with foreign schoolchildren only (Ausländerregelklassen); o community-based language courses; o few two-way bilingual schools (Europaschulen). But not only foreign schoolchildren have difficulties with the German language (Figure 2). There is another group of children that partly belong to the limited-German-proficient part of the school population - ethnic German migrants (Aussiedler). Even though the families of these children are of ethnic German descent, their command of the language is often not sufficient to participate in monolingual German schools. Figure 2: Categories of LGP-Students in Germany Where do these children or their families come from? The largest proportion of foreign schoolchildren are 2nd or 3rd generation immigrants, i.e. children of former guest workers whom Germany recruited between 1955 and 1973. Their national backgrounds are the former recruitment countries, such as Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Portugal, and Yugoslavia. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the influx of Aussiedler considerably increased due to the fall of the Iron Curtain, ethnic German migrants came in large numbers from Eastern and Central Eastern Europe. Today they tend to come predominantly from successor states of the Soviet Union. As far as refugees and asylum seekers are concerned the sending countries changed considerably over time due to vast political and economic changes. From the mid-1980s to mid-1990s Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria belonged to the major countries of origin of refugees and asylum seekers. Yugoslavia and Turkey have been major countries of origin since 1987 and 1986 respectively. The number of refugees from African and Asian countries has significantly increased in the past 15 years. Figure 3: Foreign Students in Public German Schools - Countries of Origin, 1985-94, % Source: Kultusministerkonferenz With regard to foreign schoolchildren and their countries of origin Figure 3 displays the development from 1985 to 1994, whereas Figure 4 pictures the situation of the school year 1997/98. Figure 3 and Figure 4 show that children of Turkish origin have consistently comprised the largest part of foreign schoolchildren, followed by Yugoslavia, Italy, and Greece. Figure 4: Foreign Students in Public German Schools and Countries of Origin, 1997/98, % Source: Statistisches Bundesamt The share of the category "other countries" has increased considerably from 16% in 1985 to 26,8% in 1997/98. This indicates diversification with regard to the ethnic, cultural, religious, and linguistic background of foreign schoolchildren in Germany. This growing variety of languages spoken by schoolchildren living in Germany increasingly challenges traditional approaches in the school system with regard to the foreign school population. 2 DIFFICULT INTEGRATION A number of problems have been identified that are partly also familiar within the US-American context: Foreign schoolchildren and minority children in Germany and the US have a comparatively high dropout rate. In 1996 21% of the foreign schoolchildren in Germany, almost twice as many compared to German children (1996: 12%), left school without a degree. In the United States certain ethnic and linguistic minority children are more likely to drop out of school than others. In the mid-1990s about 20% of the Hispanic school children dropped out of school compared to 12,1% of the African-American students and 8,6% of the white Anglo-American children. Foreign schoolchildren in Germany generally reach a lower level of education (Figure 5). This overall lower level of qualification results in difficulties when entering the labor market and therefore ultimately influences their prospects for economic success. Figure 5: School-leaving Certificates of Germans and Foreign Teenagers, 1996 Source: Münz/Seifert/Ulrich 1999 Minority children in both countries are over-represented in special education classes designed for children with learning disabilities. Moreover, in Germany they are also more likely to attend schools with the lowest possible level of education (Hauptschule). In Germany there is a lack of adequately trained teachers in the field of inter-cultural education. Too few are professionally equipped with educational strategies to deal with multilingual and multicultural classrooms. Teachers rarely speak the languages of their foreign students. Considering that the number of foreign schoolchildren will further increase in the near future, innovative and creative measures have to be employed to cope with the multiethnic reality of many schools. There is a substantial amount of experience with the integration of non-native schoolchildren, especially limited-English-proficient (LEP) children, in the United States. Various programs and methods, such as English Language Development, Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English, Sheltered English Immersion, English as a Second Language, Transitional and Maintenance Bilingual Education, and Two-Way Bilingual Programs, have been implemented over the past three decades with varying degrees of success. An exchange of experience could be useful for Germany in the process of identifying the most suitable methods for the schooling of limited-German-proficient children. 3 FUTURE AREAS OF TRANSATLANTIC COOPERATION Knowledge transfer in the area of educational strategies for non-native schoolchildren can be a fruitful area of cooperation between Germany and the US in the future. An institutionalized exchange of experience, especially in the field of limited-German/English-proficient children, could help to master the current problems and deficits in the integration of minority children in the school system. Such an exchange would be particularly desirable from a German point of view since the US has at least 30 years of experience in the schooling of non-native children. One potential area of cooperation involves students in education studies. Student exchange at university-level offers the opportunity of sharing knowledge on intercultural schooling and various approaches in the two countries on an academic level. Due to the increasing use and importance of the internet, networks might be established for the exchange of experience in which students and lecturers participate alike on both sides of the Atlantic. Additionally it would be desirable to offer post-graduate studies in multicultural education modeled after the European Masters Certificate in Intercultural Education established in 1999 by a German, Swedish and Greek university. The crucial point with this newly established degree is that studying abroad is integral part of this Masters certificate. Why not think about a Transatlantic Masters Certificate in Intercultural Education? On a practical level, young teachers in Germany might be better equipped for the multiethnic composition of classrooms if they could spend part of their traineeship/ teacher training period (Referendarzeit) in US-public schools with LEP-teaching. Similarly to Teaching Assistance Programs for exchange students, they could assist US-American colleagues in during their Referendarzeit. The frameworks for the realization of these suggestions are not set up yet. But it is not difficult to imagine that transatlantic projects like these will be started in the near future. Only by sharing experience and transferring knowledge the best strategies can be identified and mistakes avoided. Globalization, large-scale migration and the concomitant diversity as far as the ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic compositions of countries are concerned increase the need for exchange of experience on an inter-national level. The past decades of (West)German-American partnership established firm links and networks between the countries that should be further expanded with regard to education and multicultural schooling. LITERATURE Bundesministerium des Innern (1999): Die jeweils zugangsstärktsten Herkunftländer von 1986 bis 1998 in Jahreszeiträumen, Bundesamt für die Anerkennung ausländischer Flüchtlinge, <www.bmi.bund.de/dienststellen/index.html>, Õ Herkunftsländer Õ Tabellarische Übersicht und Erläuterungen zu den Jahren 1986 bis 1998. Crawford, James (1989): Bilingual Education: History, Politics, Theory, and Practice. Trenton/NJ. Dollase, Rainer; Arnd Ridder; Ariel Bieler; Ina Köhnemann; Katharina Woitowitz (1999): "Sind hohe Anteile ausländischer SchülerInnen in Schulklassen problematisch?", In: Journal für Konflikt- und Gewaltforschung, 1 (1999), 56-83. Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (1999): Integration junger Ausländer in das Bildungssystem verläuft langsamer. DIW-Wochenbericht, Bearbeiter: Wolfgang Jeschek, <www.diw-berlin.de/diwwbd/99-22-3.html>. Krashen, Stephen (1998): The Dropout Argument. <www.smartnation.org/wwwdocs/facts/krashen4.htm>. Kultusminsterkonferenz (1995): Ausländische Schüler und Schulabsolventen 1985 bis 1994. 136, Dezember 1995, Bonn. Münz, Rainer; Wolfgang Seifert; Ralf Ulrich (1999): Zuwanderung nach Deutschland. Strukturen, Wirkungen, Perspektiven. Frankfurt/Main, New York. Richter, Hans-Burkhard (1997): Probleme der Zuwanderung am Beispiel Berlins. In: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, 46 (1997), 20-28. Statistisches Bundesamt (1999): Ausländische Schüler und Schülerinnen nach Schularten. <www.statistik-bund.de/basis/d/biwiku/schultab10.htm>. |