October 29, 2020, 9:15 am
Research / knowledge transfer, scientific conferences
Linguistic competences are crucial for educational success and participation in society. In view of the findings, an overall strategy for language education is urgently required. In times of temporary closings of schools and institutions for early education and further training, such a strategy must also take into account how digital media support linguistic learning in a meaningful way. The following suggestions for cornerstones of an overall strategy for language education are presented by the group of speakers of the Leibniz Research Network Education Potentials together with the organizers of this year’s educational policy forum, which is taking place digitally today.
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Parent surveys indicate that around every fifth child under the age of five has a need for language support. Up to a quarter of all pupils in school do not have the necessary language skills to be able to follow the lessons. 6.2 million adults in Germany (around a fifth) cannot read or write simple sentences at all or at all. These findings, most recently compiled in the national education report “Education in Germany 2020”, have far-reaching consequences for people’s participation in society and their employment. Socially disadvantaged population groups are particularly affected. Against this background, the speaker group of the Leibniz Research Network Educational Potentials (LERN), together with the organizers of this year’s educational policy forum “Good Language Education”, calls on those responsible in the federal and state governments to develop and implement an overall strategy for language education.
“We observe a growing proportion of children in our society whose native language is not German. Likewise, many children do not receive the necessary linguistic stimulation in their first years of life. It is therefore foreseeable that without an effectively implemented overall strategy of language education, the already high number of educational losers will continue to rise. That would have devastating long-term consequences, also for Germany as a business and knowledge location, ”explains Prof. Dr. Marcus Hasselhorn, spokesman for the Leibniz Research Network Educational Potential (LERN).
“Each country should develop an overall strategy that is reflected in all measures, from the education plans to the advanced training courses to the support measures. Those responsible are currently limiting themselves too much to individual projects and ad hoc measures. That has to change so that all children and young people have sufficient language skills in the long term, ”explains the co-organizer of this year’s educational policy forum, Prof. Dr. Michael Becker-Mrotzek, Director of the Mercator Institute for Language Promotion and German as a Second Language at the University of Cologne.
You can read the recommendations of the speaker group here: www.leibniz-bildung.de/bpf20-positionspapier
Further information on the program of the educational policy forum “Good language education” on October 29, 2020 can be found here: www.leibniz-bildung.de/bpf20
You can find an overview of research and transfer projects from the Leibniz Research Network Educational Potential here: www.leibniz-bildung.de/projectmapping
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us:
Anna Niewerth, Communication
Mercator Institute for Language Promotion and German as a Second Language
Tel. 0221 – 470 7700
[email protected]
Kathrin Weber-Rauland, coordination
Leibniz Research Network Educational Potential (LERN)
Tel. 069 24708-389
[email protected]
Via the Education Policy Forum
The Leibniz Research Network Educational Potentials (LERN) annually organizes an educational policy forum to discuss current challenges in education. The eighth education policy forum takes place in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and for the first time digitally. 700 participants have registered. The speakers include Christian Luft, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Hessian Minister of Education, R. Alexander Lorz and PISA author Prof. Dr. Thomas Lindauer (University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland) and Prof. Dr. Petra Stanat (Director of the Institute for Quality Development in Education (IQB)). The Mercator Institute for Language Promotion and German as a Second Language at the University of Cologne is responsible for the design together with the DIPF I Leibniz Institute for Educational Research and Educational Information, the LIfBi | Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories, the DIE | German Institute for Adult Education – Leibniz Center for Lifelong Learning, the ZAS | Leibniz Center for General Linguistics and the University of Luxembourg.
About the Leibniz Research Network Educational Potential (LERN)
Researchers from educational science, subject didactics, linguistics, cultural, media and neurosciences, economics, political science, psychology, sociology as well as information and computer science at 25 institutions have joined forces in the Leibniz Research Network Educational Potential in order to bundle their expertise and decision-makers to advise in education administration.
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