A comprehensive survey on the topic of multilingualism in the city's daycare centres is being conducted in cooperation between the City of Cologne's Office for Children, Youth and Families and Paderborn University. The aim of the survey is to ascertain the experiences, needs and successful practical examples of educators in dealing with multilingual children and families and to further develop the quality of educational work.
The city of Cologne is one of the most culturally diverse cities in Germany and is committed to inclusive and equitable education. Supporting children and families with different languages is a central concern. Children with different linguistic backgrounds come together in the city's daycare centres. Multilingualism is therefore an issue that plays a fundamental role in early childhood education and care. The teachers in the daycare centres shape this linguistic diversity on a daily basis in order to support each child individually. ‘Multilingualism is a personal and social treasure. The educators in the city's daycare centres support children and families in discovering this treasure trove of linguistic competence and are both companions and language role models for them on this journey,’ says Tobias Käufer, Head of Child Daycare at the City of Cologne's Office for Children, Youth and Families.
In order to provide further professional support to all municipal daycare centres, the Child Daycare Department in the City of Cologne's Office for Children, Youth and Family initiated an evaluation in order to shed light on and further develop the educational quality in the 214 daycare centres together with Paderborn University on the topic of multilingualism. ‘With this survey, we want to focus more on the perspective of the educational professionals. They are the ones who are in direct contact with the children and families and provide important impetus for language education,’ explains Prof Dr Timm Albers, an expert in inclusive education and multilingualism at Paderborn University. Together with his colleague Sarah Meusel, he is leading the evaluation study.
The results of the survey should help to develop targeted further training programmes for professionals, prepare successful practical examples in a guideline for all facilities in order to strengthen multilingual everyday educational practice and thus enable equal educational opportunities for all children. The survey and in-depth interviews by the Paderborn University evaluation team are aimed at all teachers in Cologne's municipal daycare centres. Participation is voluntary and the results will be analysed anonymously.
The findings of the evaluation will be presented at a symposium in 2025 and combined with professional impulses for practice.
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