Abstract
•National system of education could perform higher with regards to inclusion of
non-traditional learners into its system of primary, secondary, and tertiary
education (OECD)
•“German higher education system seems to be struggling with the task of
including disadvantaged students and those with a non-German AND/OR nonacademic
background, (while) the country faces an unprecedented demographic
change that will make young people a rare good and education even more
valuable than it is today.” Hannah Leichsenring, CHE Consult, Germany.
•Upward educational mobility has been traditionally very limited despite low or
no tuition (to name just one traditional barrier). Other barriers remain.
ROLE OF GERMAN PROFICIENCY FOR EDUCATIONAL AND STUDY
OUTCOMES/DROP OUT RATES:
•Role of Language: a)national language is German and language of instruction.
less than perfect language skills are a barrier to acquisition of Bildung as
German as a academic language tends to draw on abstract nouns and verbs.
Measure to tackle issue: UoC students teach local elementary school students
German as a second language (http://www.uni-koeln.de/sprachfoerderprojekt/).
Research on German as an academic language carried out at University of
Cologne will likely trigger reforms (in the long run) at the primary and secondary
level of the system of education, e.g., system of language instruction of German
as a “Bildungssprache” (academic language or discourse) (Gogolin/Lange).
Description
•National system of education could perform higher with regards to inclusion of
non-traditional learners into its system of primary, secondary, and tertiary
education (OECD)
•“German higher education system seems to be struggling with the task of
including disadvantaged students and those with a non-German AND/OR nonacademic
background, (while) the country faces an unprecedented demographic
change that will make young people a rare good and education even more
valuable than it is today.” Hannah Leichsenring, CHE Consult, Germany.
•Upward educational mobility has been traditionally very limited despite low or
no tuition (to name just one traditional barrier). Other barriers remain.
ROLE OF GERMAN PROFICIENCY FOR EDUCATIONAL AND STUDY
OUTCOMES/DROP OUT RATES:
•Role of Language: a)national language is German and language of instruction.
less than perfect language skills are a barrier to acquisition of Bildung as
German as a academic language tends to draw on abstract nouns and verbs.
Measure to tackle issue: UoC students teach local elementary school students
German as a second language (http://www.uni-koeln.de/sprachfoerderprojekt/).
Research on German as an academic language carried out at University of
Cologne will likely trigger reforms (in the long run) at the primary and secondary
level of the system of education, e.g., system of language instruction of German
as a “Bildungssprache” (academic language or discourse) (Gogolin/Lange).
