Dear Colleagues,
As you may know, the German department at Oxford has established the Oxford German Network (www.ogn.ox.ac.uk) as a "university-led cultural network" in order to connect up with people in schools, companies, organisations and the wider community who have an interest in German and the German-speaking countries. The purpose is to strengthen uptake of German in the UK, and promote interaction with the cultures of the German-speaking countries at all levels.
The initiative builds on the Think German campaign of 2010, with a more locally grounded dimension. The German and Swiss Embassies, Austrian Cultural Forum, DAAD and Goethe Institut have been enthusiastic about supporting it. It has proved successful locally in involving teachers and pupils, and over 500 entrants participated in the national competition "Oxford German Olympiad 2013". In a context of massive challenges for modern languages departments at all levels (with the closure of Salford's department being a particularly depressing example), our experience over the past 18 months suggests that university German departments can help to create a sense of critical mass and contribute to establishing a positive discourse about the role of German in the UK.
According to the model we have been developing, university German departments would act as hubs for local clusters of schools in order to facilitate "horizontal" and "vertical" networking. This will be particularly important in the forthcoming academic year as primary schools implement languages entitlement, where our aim must be to establish German as part of the provision and create a structure whereby any benefits attained at primary level aren't simply lost in the transition to secondary level. We are working together with the Goethe Institut on a project entitled "Joining up German Teaching in the UK", with the purpose of promoting interaction both among secondary schools, and between secondary schools and their feeder schools.
Beyond any benefits in terms of strengthening German at school level, the scheme has potential benefits for departments in terms of e.g. enriching outreach and impact activities, establishing contacts with local companies and other organisations, and providing a source of experience and potentially some funding for graduates and postdocs.
University German departments are of course already effectively networked e.g. through HoGMeet and DAAD Lektors, but we believe this network could be made more productive for work on the ground. The German Embassy, Goethe Institut and DAAD are proposing to arrange a meeting for representatives of UK German departments in the autumn, to discuss the feasibility of establishing local hubs.
With best wishes
Katrin
Prof. Katrin Kohl
Modern Languages
Jesus College
Oxford OX1 3DW
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