Education is the key to the successful integration of displaced persons. Work in education and integration requires a constant change of perspective and openness towards getting to know one another. DVV International has many years of experience when it comes to working with refugees in major host countries, such as Jordan and Turkey. This knowledge is now being put to good use in DVV’s “Einstieg Deutsch” (First steps in German) project to shape an additional intercultural educational qualification for teaching staff in Germany.
The Einstieg Deutsch project run by the German Adult Education Association (DVV) supports newly-arrived immigrants in taking their first steps in German and in their social orientation in Germany. Funds provided by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) enable courses to be offered within the project by educational establishments all over Germany, including a large number of Volkshochschulen (Adult Education Centres), following a standard concept. The gap is thus closed that occurs between the time of arrival in Germany and attendance at an integration course. Course attendees learn the essentials at a simple level in both German lessons and in accompanying online learning, so that they can communicate in their new everyday living environments. The instructors are enabled to attend training courses, and can familiarise themselves with the digital learning portals and apps and how to use them in lessons.
The group of displaced persons from the Arabic-speaking area has been growing for some time, thus leading to a heightened need for instructors in German and integration courses to explore the backgrounds of these people and their countries of origin. Aiming to provide instructors with this knowledge, DVV International is offering an additional qualification on the basis of its international expertise to support “Einstieg Deutsch” instructors in the successful introduction of displaced persons to life and learning in Germany. In cooperation with educational partners from countries in the Near East and from Turkey, the intention is to help develop political, intercultural and didactic skills. Instructors as well as learning companions working particularly with displaced persons from the Arabic-speaking area are to be made familiar with important frameworks of educational policy, typical learning biographies and specific causes of displacement, and in this process to reflect on their own attitudes in intercultural work. The goal is to guarantee better access to the target group, to prevent conflicts, and hence to achieve lasting success in integration.
As a first step, an international group of experts will draw up a curriculum as well as learning and teaching materials for this special additional intercultural-didactic qualification. This makes it possible to train interested instructors who can then act as multipliers in publicising this additional qualification at further training events. The material will also be made available to the public free of charge.
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