What exactly are language day-care centers? How long has it existed?
Uwe Ebbinghaus
Editor in the Feuilleton.
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Yvonne Anders: Language day-care centers are a federal program that now supports every eighth day-care center in Germany.
In language daycare centers that have to demonstrate a special need for support, everyday language education should be promoted, which means that, for example, eating, playing or diaper changing situations are taken up as occasions for conversation and used to expand vocabulary, develop grammatical skills and motivate people to enjoy speaking will.
Further goals are to improve cooperation with families and inclusion, as well as digital media education in the current program phase.
As part of the federal program, the additional specialist position of a language expert will be set up in the selected day-care centers - there are currently more than 7,000 part-time jobs in Germany - who will be expressly released from looking after children, she is solely responsible for the team - advance development.
In addition, the federal program promotes specialist counseling centers whose task it is to improve quality with associations of language day-care centers and to continuously provide specialist support.
The language day-care center program has existed since 2016, but there was a predecessor – the “Focus Day-Care Centers Language and Integration” program.
The federal government has been promoting this area for about ten years.
who is expressly released from the care of children, she is exclusively responsible for promoting team development.
In addition, the federal program promotes specialist counseling centers whose task it is to improve quality with associations of language day-care centers and to continuously provide specialist support.
The language day-care center program has existed since 2016, but there was a predecessor – the “Focus Day-Care Centers Language and Integration” program.
The federal government has been promoting this area for about ten years.
who is expressly released from the care of children, she is exclusively responsible for promoting team development.
In addition, the federal program promotes specialist counseling centers whose task it is to improve quality with associations of language day-care centers and to continuously provide specialist support.
The language day-care center program has existed since 2016, but there was a predecessor – the “Focus Day-Care Centers Language and Integration” program.
The federal government has been promoting this area for about ten years.
to improve quality with associations of language day-care centers and to continuously provide technical support.
The language day-care center program has existed since 2016, but there was a predecessor – the “Focus Day-Care Centers Language and Integration” program.
The federal government has been promoting this area for about ten years.
to improve quality with associations of language day-care centers and to continuously provide technical support.
The language day-care center program has existed since 2016, but there was a predecessor – the “Focus Day-Care Centers Language and Integration” program.
The federal government has been promoting this area for about ten years.
What role do children of refugees, recently in large numbers from Ukraine, play in this program?
The wave of refugees in 2015 had already led to the program focusing on the inclusion and integration of children and families with a migration background.
Dealing with multilingualism and multiculturalism plays a special role.
The need for support has not decreased in recent years.
The number of children with a mother tongue other than German has increased.
In addition, as a result of the measures to contain the corona pandemic, the proportion of children with special needs has increased.
We assume that every fourth child has additional language support needs.
You are responsible for evaluating the program at the University of Bamberg together with the Freie Universität Berlin. How successful is it?
We can see that the program has developed positively over the years.
The program is collaborative and has been improved on the basis of evaluation.
From my point of view, it is rare for a political program to be developed further over the years on the basis of empirical results.
The federal funds for the language day-care centers amounting to around 250 million euros per year are due to expire this year, although the coalition agreement said that the program would be continued. This met with sharp criticism from the educational associations and the education ministers of the federal states. What do you think of the savings?
I find her very unfortunate.
With the language daycare program, a very good and large infrastructure has been created to ensure the quality of language education that children need.
This is a relevant resource in the education system.
What will happen to the large number of skilled workers who will no longer be eligible for funding from next year?
There is a huge shortage of skilled workers in early education.
It is therefore to be expected that the language experts will be absorbed by the system and become educators in the institutions.
However, this means that the day-care centers no longer have the same resources available for quality development.
There are certainly ways to anchor language education more firmly within the framework of the “Good Daycare Act”.
Nevertheless, it means overall that fewer funds are being made available at federal level for the area of early education quality.
Against the background of the Covid after-effects, the Ukraine crisis, the many children in our country who are not native German speakers, I find the decision extremely sad.