Björn Jungius

1. The practice

2. Hints for an evaluation

2.1 Strenghts

• In comparison to other elementary schools in Berlin, especially compared to those with an equal share of children of migrant background, the children at Aziz Nesin school achieve considerable results: 50% of the children receive a recommendation for gymnasium, another 30% recommendation for realschule. Against the backdrop of the initially outlined educational situation of children with a Turkish background in Berlin these results definitely stand out.
• All children, the German and Turkish alike, are, from the beginning confronted with diversity. The concept of intercultural learning fosters mutual understanding, acceptance and knowledge about the other cultures and is a positive step in road to improving German-Turkish understanding. The school successfully fosters the children’s intercultural competence.
• For native speaking Turkish children, their bilingualism is fostered and strengthened. The bilingualism of the children is treated as a great opportunity, not as disadvantage and it takes into account the actual situation of many children with a migrant background. The Turkish parents also see the chance to get more involved in school, as their language and culture is treated equally to the German, and they have also Turkish teachers and educators whom they can address.

2.2 Critical Points

• Generally, if native speaking German parents who wish to foster bilingual education for their children prefer other languages (e.g. English or French) to Turkish. The school has now a shortage of native speaking German children to stick to the fifty-fifty quota on which the concept was initially based.
• The parents who send their children to the type of “Europe school” are usually well informed, and hence are usually educated. The students attending Aziz Nesin Elementary School are mostly the children of parents with a middle class background, and hence initially “privileged” in terms of their educational perspectives, which may also in some way explain the high levels of results attained by children at the school.
• The training required for bilingual teaching has mainly been provided by experienced teachers as in-service training. However the lack of university programs for preparing future teachers in bilingual education and cut-down on in-service training are a serious impediment for the further development of this model of bilingual education.