Evangelische Hochschule Nürnberg
The Relevance of Religion in the Public Sphere - Religion and Migration in Educational Systems
(2019)
Current Social and Educational Situation in Germany
Schools in German immigration society must struggle with a lot of challenges. About one third of the refugees are school-age children and youth. At least 300,000 of them have entered the German educational system. Every third child has a migration biography and teachers are often hardly prepared to deal with these conditions.
Many of the refugee and displaced children and youth come from Arabic countries. They bring along their Muslim religion and culture into a secular society formerly moulded by Christianity. This situation requires a lot of special accommodations. Besides language barriers and being mindful of their traumatic experiences, teachers need to be sensitive in particular with intercultural and interreligious conflict situations.
According to the survey “Teacher Training in an Immigrant Society” 2016 , it is expected that they provide individual aid to the increasing number of young refugees and children who need assistance. The expectations are high, but the teachers receive very little support.
The authors of the study, the Mercator Institute at Cologne University and the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration, asserts that despite the normal case of diversity in classrooms, apprenticeship and in-service learning concepts for teachers are not modified accordingly. The survey revealed that deficits are evident in teacher education in German states and the lacks are responsible for this situation.
Religion, Migration and Educational Practice – Empirical, Postcolonial and Theological Perspectives
(2018)
Germany currently has the largest number of immigrants in Europe. This immigrant population represents a vast variety of ethnic and religious traditions. German society therefore, is currently facing urgent challenges presented by this very large, new, and diverse population. Issues such as enculturation, integration and participation into the “host”
communities are at the forefront of the public debates.
Dass Zwei- oder Mehrsprachigkeit ein erstrebenswertes Ziel schulischer Bildung ist, gilt gemeinhin als unstrittig. Von den positiven Effekten und Möglichkeiten vor allem im schulischen Kontext ist viel zu hören. Für Eltern und Bildungseinrichtungen erscheint in Anbetracht der wachsenden internationalen Verflechtungen und beruflichen Möglichkeiten der Erwerb zusätzlicher Sprachen eine sinnvolle Investition. Bilinguale Kindergärten oder Schulen stehen bei Eltern deshalb hoch im Kurs. Der Fokus liegt dabei im Besonderen auf den sozial anerkannten Sprachen Englisch, Spanisch, Französisch als erworbener Zweitsprache oder Fremdsprache neben dem Deutschen.
