In the federal-state initiative SchuMaS – “Schule macht stark”, researchers from 13 institutions are working with a total of 200 schools to develop measures to improve the learning conditions and performance of socially disadvantaged students. The common feature of the selected 200 schools is the socially challenging situation in which the schools find themselves and the more difficult conditions for teaching and learning that accompany this. These conditions are: Increased language support needs, high staff turnover, parent homes at risk of poverty. The current pandemic situation is also not ignored.
The actual success of the students is the main focus of “SchuMaS”. The overall goal of the project is to improve the educational opportunities of socially disadvantaged students and thus reduce social inequalities.
Particular attention is paid to improving the basic mathematical skills, learning motivation and social skills of the students.
In relation to the special requirements of the schools, four thematic fields of action are in the foreground, for which individual measures are to be developed in close scientific and practical cooperation. These are:
1. to further develop teaching – with a special focus on mathematics and German,
2. to qualify the pedagogical staff working at the schools in a more targeted way, taking into account the specific conditions of schools in socially challenging situations,
3. further develop schools as an organization, school culture and leadership, and
4. to promote learning outside the classroom and support in the social environment.
In four regional centers of the interdisciplinary research network, the 200 participating schools are advised and supported in mastering their challenges in close cooperation with the state institutes, quality development agencies and school supervisory authorities. The scientific monitoring and evaluation is carried out by other working groups of the project network, the results of which are to be used to produce a recommendation for action after five years, which can be used as a handout to other schools in challenging situations.
The Leibniz Institute for the German Language (IDS) is the leading
international scientific centre for the research and documentation of the
German language. Our research and theoretical modelling of the diversity of
linguistic manifestations, their structure and use, are based on empirical
methods and are documented by reference works (including (comparative) grammars
and dictionaries) as well as highly diversified language resources (especially
corpora and information systems).
The IDS is a leading provider of sustainable research infrastructures that are of central importance and benefit to the entire professional community. With our research results and documentation services, we provide scientifically-based support and advice to politics and society on issues of standardization, language policy and language education, and actively participates in public debates on language-related topics. In doing so, we convey a scientifically sound picture of language that emphasizes the diversity and variance of linguistic manifestations, and we are aware of our linguistic cultural responsibility.
We are partners of scientific institutions in the region, in the state od Baden-Württemberg, within Germany, as well as in the entire German-speaking and international area, and network at all these levels. For international German linguistics, we act as a central hub; on an international level, we cooperate with partners in the fields of linguistics and the humanities. As part of the Leibniz Association, we contribute to the achievement of overarching goals of the Association and cooperate with other member institutions. In terms of science diplomacy, we are committed to international scientific exchange based on Leibniz’s ideals.
The project “Automatic Response Coding” (ReCo) centers around text responses in tests. The computer programme ReCo automatically assesses whether a text response is correct, for example “The author aims at saving the trees.” as an answer in the PISA test. Moreover, ReCo extracts further features, for example whether a student adds knowledge to their response beyond the explicit information in the text.
The computer programme ReCo was originally developed at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the ZIB. In cooperation with both institutions, the Centre for Technology Based Assessment (TBA Centre) at DIPF is now developing the software package further. The project comprises the general software development as well as scientific studies employing ReCo. For this, TBA is responsible for the conceptual and technical development on the one hand and acts as the project manager for projects such as ReCo-Multi on the other hand. Also, TBA supports external research groups using the program.
Low literacy (“functional illiteracy”) and numeracy – that is, difficulties in using mathematics – in adulthood often lead to considerable limitations in the lives of those affected.
To respond to this challenge of low literacy/numeracy, targeted education policy and pedagogical measures are necessary. To achieve this goal, extensive knowledge about the causes of low literacy/numeracy is essential. Unfortunately, no such extensive knowledge exists based on available research, especially regarding the factors causing low literacy/numeracy. The main reason for this is the general lack of longitudinal data. Both in Germany and the rest of the world, extant research is mostly based on studies seeking to analyze the phenomenon with a single instance of data gathering. They are hardly suited to research how low literacy/numeracy emerge – and under what circumstances they can be changed over time.
This cooperation project wanted to identify risk and protective factors for the development and change of low literacy and numeracy in German adults. With the help of data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), two main questions regarding low literacy/numeracy in German adults have been answered:
- Changeability: How stable are low literacy/numeracy and how
changeable are they? How many people are successful in acquiring
competencies over time and thus leave the domain of low
literacy/numeracy? How many people slip into this domain over time?
- Complex causes: Which individual (e.g., cognitive and non-cognitive
basic skills), structural and contextual factors (e.g., employment,
family formation) influence the probability of such growths or losses in
competencies?
The cooperation project “REAching young adults with low ACHievment in literacy” (REACH), which was sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), was led by the Stiftung Lesen (German Reading Foundation). REACH was aimed at young adults between 16 and 35 years old who are on the so-called alpha-level 3 – a special group among adults with poor literacy: They profit most strongly from remedial programs for their long-term professional life.
Focus of REACH
The project focused on young adults between 16 and 35 because …
- They can have the greatest and most sustainable benefit from remedial programs,
- Addressing them early will hopefully lead to maintaining and strengthening their reading competence,
- Addressing them will motivate and empower them to become reading role models for their children.
To find ways of access, there was a necessity to identify …
- (Key) persons and locations through which target groups can be reached,
- Communicative approaches and pathways such as the media,
- Content-related links: topics, fields of interest, and activities.
Goals of REACH
- Reviewing the suitability of access ways, which can already be derived from practical experience,
- Identification and review through characterizing the target group in the most differentiated and precise way possible,
- Analysis of living conditions, features, habits, and mindsets (e.g., media usage, activities in social media, living situation, family situation, interests and habits during leisure time, etc.)
To achieve this, no new data was collected, but rather existing data was used as effectively as possible, and linked with each other. Subsequently, a small number of potential ways of accessing and addressing was tested by way of a pilot study and simultaneously evaluated.
In the spring of 2016, researchers from the Canadian research coalition CYRRC and the Leibniz Education Research Network LERN started to exchange information and initiate research collaborations on the integration of refugees. The partners organized two research workshops funded by BMBF, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and SSHRC-CRSH, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Participants shared information on the structural contexts regarding the immigration of refugees to Germany and Canada and identified four common research themes:
- Economic, social, and political challenges facing refugee children, youth, and families
- Language, literacy, and learning
- Social integration, human rights, social stigma, culture, and security/violence
- Mental health and the social determinants of well-being
The project “Research Exchange and Cooperation between Canada and Germany on the Integration of Refugees” – funded by the BMBF – aimed to support and coordinate the joint research activities in Germany and Canada and their presentation at national and international research conferences. In addition to research networking, the project supported knowledge transfer and activation of research activities and findings.
The CAN-D project worked closely with the Child and Youth Refugee Research Coalition (CYRRC) and the Research Network on Refugees, Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS), University of Osnabrück.
What are the relationships between general cognitive abilities and domain-specific competences?
The project of the Leibniz Center of Excellence for Early Childhood Education examined early roots of competence development in cooperation with the University of Bamberg. Specifically, we analyzed links between general cognitive abilities (information processing skills, executive functions) and domain-specific competency development (linguistic, mathematical competencies) in early childhood. The role of language and language development received special attention. This was of particular importance for fostering development as language is both an important means of instruction and communication as well as a central means of mental representation. The project focused on two main topics which are analyzed using existing longitudinal data (NEPS, BiKS). On the one hand, we examined the influence of early skills at the ages of 7 and 16 months on later competency development in preschool. The second focus was on the relationship between linguistic, cognitive, mathematical and early science skills in the transition from preschool to primary school.
For actively participating in school, daily life or at work excellent German language skills are needed. While learning a new languague teachers have a key role in teaching German as a second language. The project COLD (Competencies of school teachers and adult educators in teaching German as a second language in linguistically diverse classrooms) focuses on the following questions:
- What skills and knowledge do teachers have?
- How do they structure their lessons?
- Are there any differences between school teachers and adult educators?
The project is a cooperation between DIE and the MI and is led by the DIE.
From April 2019 until September 2022 researchers will focus on professional competencies of school teachers and adult educators in teaching German as a second language in linguistically heterogeneous groups. The project adresses the special needs in teaching and didactics which occured through the immigration of children, teenagers and adults. The surveys take place in real teaching situations in preparatory classes and integration courses.
The interdisciplinary project team includes experts in adult education, subject-related didactics German/German as a second language, empirical educational research, linguistics, computer lingustics, and psychology. The project is mainly performed by PhD students so that a special focus on promoting young researches is set.
Education through Language and Writing (Bildung durch Sprache und Schrift, BiSS) was a research and development program, in which groups of child day care centres and schools worked together closely in order to exchange their experiences and to implement coordinated language education measures.
In this program, the language education of children and youths was scientifically assessed together with respective measures introduced by the federal states to promote language, reading skills, and their diagnosis, which were evaluated and further refined regarding their effectiveness and efficiency. In addition, the program supported the necessary further education and continuing qualification of child care personnel and teachers.
The MI together with the research domain Intercultural Learning at the University of Cologne, DIPF and the Humboldt-University in Berlin in cooperation with the IQB as responsible consortium took on the scientific organisation and overall coordination of the program.
The tasks of the DIPF within the consortium included consultancy with regard to content in elementary education, setting up an information and communication platform as well as management and further development of toolboxes: therein, information on the diagnostic instruments and supportive measures (tools) used was made available to the participating groups on a central server. The information and communication platform http://biss-sprachbildung.de went online in 2014.
At the Mercator Institute under the direction of Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Roth and Prof. Dr. Michael Becker-Mrotzek, blended learning courses were developed for the sustainable qualification of the participating specialists and teachers in the states.
The project “Interventions for Improving Language Skills in Three to Six-Year-Old Children in Day-Care Facilities in German-Speaking Countries: A Systematic Review ” aimed to give an overview over which interventions exist for improving language skills in the children’s first language and national language of instruction in German-speaking countries. Moreover, it was reviewed the current knowledge regarding which language intervention approaches will (or can) deliver which effects in the context of specific institutional and individual conditions.
Language competencies are among the prerequisites for individual success in education. In Germany, children with delays in language development or children with an immigrant background whose native tongue is not the language of instruction bear a significantly higher risk of experiencing poorer school and vocational progress than might be expected given their general cognitive skills. Consequently, unrestrained participation in society is endangered owing to delays in the cognitive, emotional and social development of the children concerned.
Policy makers in Germany have recognised that society needs to foster educationally relevant language competencies even in very young children, a need that has recently gained in urgency by the arrival and likely stay of large groups of refugees from war zones in Asia and Africa. As yet, it remains an open question, however, how to best proceed: Which language intervention approaches will (or can) deliver which effects in the context of specific institutional and individual conditions?
The proposed project aimed to remedy the situation and to systematically document and integrate the available information about successfully tried and tested language interventions.
