“Peace fosters a positive classroom atmosphere and creates a climate more conducive to focused work.” – UNILIM Internship week at JLU and UMR

How is school organised in Germany? How attractive is the teaching profession in Germany? How is it that school concepts are so different from each other and what is the role of the school director in this? These were only a few questions asked by 38 pre-service teachers from the University of Limoges (UNILIM) visiting the Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) and Marburg University (UMR) from 18 to 22 May, showing how impactful experiencing the education system in another country can be.

A week full of academic and cultural events

The five-day programme in Giessen and Marburg encompassed academic as well as cultural events. In addition to the visits of associated and non-associated schools, some highlights of the days spent in Giessen were the visit of the Mathematikum, a student evening event, using VR glasses in the Self-learn workshop of the Department of Romance Studies, attending a workshop on Democratic Education in Germany, and participating in a campus rally.

The time in Marburg started with a city tour through the Old Town. The visiting students then enjoyed a fun game night with students from Marburg University on Wednesday evening. On Thursday, the guests experienced a rich variety of cultural and academic activities: they watched a bilingual film about friendship and love in an international context, attended seminars in Romance studies, participated in a workshop led by Ariane Wenz at the Language Center, and visited an open-air museum dedicated to the history of humanity that is also used by schools as an extracurricular learning location. The following day, they had the opportunity to visit three primary and secondary schools in Marburg where they observed classes. Afterwards, the students had the chance to reflect on their impressions and what they had learned with Prof Dr Janina Reinhardt from the Romance department. The memorable and eventful week closed with a pub crawl together with students from Marburg.

The organisation in Marburg was supported by project LiMa (Lehramt international in Marburg) funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds provided by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). The project focuses on the internationalisation of teacher education and regularly organises school visits involving students from Marburg and international students. LiMa particularly promotes and supports international student mobility and efforts of “internalisation@home”.