Spanner Franziska, Maué Elisabeth
Department of Sociology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
Front Sociol. 2022 Aug 16;7:840176. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2022.840176. eCollection 2022.
In Germany, young migrants and refugees whose German language skills are not sufficient for attending regular classes at school are assigned to so-called "preparation classes". As the name implies, the main objective of these classes is to teach German language skills and thereby prepare students for regular classes or vocational education and training. Teachers in these classes face special challenges: They have to teach a group of students that is highly heterogeneous in several key respects, they have to deal with a dearth of institutional support and guidance, and they have a lot of responsibility regarding their students' integration in Germany. Therefore, this paper asks what target group-specific professional knowledge teachers possess and to what extent this knowledge reduces the teachers' burdens and raises their perception of gains and contributions to their students' success. Our mixed-method survey of 48 teachers of refugees in prevocational preparation classes in Germany shows that the majority of teachers acquired useful knowledge for teaching refugees, e.g., dealing with trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder, building German proficiency, or language-sensitive teaching, by attending professional training. In sum, most of the teachers saw immigration to Germany as both a problem and an opportunity. The main burdens they identify are bad working conditions, a lack of support and appreciation and a high demand for high flexibility. Despite generally low stress levels and high resilience, the teachers were extremely stressed by the heterogeneity in their students' performance, especially those teachers who had completed professional training. However, teachers appreciated the students' willingness to learn and gratitude, and perceived cultural diversity in the classroom as a gain for themselves and their teaching. The teachers felt they had mostly contributed to their students' acquisition of the German language as well as their educational progress in general and their personal development. Students' chances of success are expected to be especially high in the German language acquisition and the management of everyday life in Germany. The assessments of teachers with and without target group-specific professional knowledge differ only slightly and rarely significantly.
在德国，德语语言能力不足以在学校参加常规课程的年轻移民和难民会被分配到所谓的“预备班”。顾名思义，这些班级的主要目标是教授德语技能，从而使学生为常规课程或职业教育与培训做好准备。这些班级的教师面临特殊挑战：他们必须教授一群在几个关键方面高度异质的学生，必须应对机构支持和指导的匮乏，并且在学生融入德国的问题上肩负着重大责任。因此，本文探讨教师拥有哪些针对特定目标群体的专业知识，以及这些知识在多大程度上减轻了教师的负担，并提高了他们对自身为学生成功所做贡献和收获的认知。我们对德国职业预备班的48名难民教师进行的混合方法调查显示，大多数教师通过参加专业培训获得了对教授难民有用的知识，例如应对创伤和创伤后应激障碍、培养德语能力或进行语言敏感性教学。总之，大多数教师认为移民到德国既是一个问题也是一个机遇。他们指出的主要负担是工作条件差、缺乏支持和认可以及对高度灵活性的高要求。尽管总体压力水平较低且恢复力较强，但教师们因学生表现的异质性而倍感压力，尤其是那些完成了专业培训的教师。然而，教师们赞赏学生的学习意愿和感恩之情，并将课堂中的文化多样性视为对自己和教学的一种收获。教师们觉得自己在很大程度上促进了学生德语的习得、总体教育进步以及个人发展。预计学生在德语习得和德国日常生活管理方面取得成功的机会尤其高。具有和不具有针对特定目标群体专业知识的教师的评估结果仅有细微差异，且很少有显著差异。
