Liebe KollegInnen
Many thanks for responding in such numbers to the query about the school
assistants programme. I could put together a very full account of views.
The main reasons cited for a decline in take-up were: Joint Honours
splitting the year; Joint Language with Law/Management etc and work
placements; low esteem of teaching; rise of Erasmus/Socrates; student
attitudes about small towns, accommodation etc; long gap between
application and outcome; too long compared with French scheme; age limits;
salary lower than in Austria; competition from private schools/translation
bureaux; inadequate advance information. Many of these problems came with
suggested cures which I won't list. I passed on printouts of some of the
fuller responses - hope that's okay, but emphasising that they were for
private advice not publication!. The extent of the survey was much
appreciated, so thanks to you all.
Points made re value of the scheme: vital to academic exchange betwen
countries and between the secondary and tertiary sector. For Modern
Languages to flourish at University level, what happens in schools, as our
infrastructure, is crucial. Schools in small towns as in university towns
deserve support and produce the pupils who will go on to be students.
Students assistants often end up more intergrated into a German community
than those who go to universities to remain in a ghetto of foreigners or
even pals from home. The scheme is very successful in outcome for the
participants
Eliz
PS I'll send a separate account of the meeting and issues to avoid a too
long message.
Prof Elizabeth Boa
Department of German
University of Nottingham
Nottingham, NG7 2RD
UK
[Tel. 0115-951-5818.]
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