Guiding Question

Thinking about my upcoming travel to Germany I feel that the pandemic has played and will continue to play a pivotal role in the focus of my trip. After all, our trip was delayed because of the pandemic and we had to conduct our cohort symposium online due to the pandemic. So it would make sense that I look at the focus of my trip through the lens of the pandemic as well. 

I am a virtual teacher so teaching online was not a great shift for me in terms of my daily practice but what about the teachers in my host country? What about my fellow Fulbright participants? And what about students in my school, state, and all over the world? Seems to me that a good guiding question would be 

"How has the pandemic re-shaped the way schools teach, the way students learn, and home-school communication in Germany's public schools?"

I hope I am able to answer this question during my travel and that it will give me the insight to continue supporting my own students through my daily practice.

Post-Travel Update

After completing my field experience I've had some time to reflect on what I learned, especially through the lens of my guiding question. Even though the pandemic was a game changer for education here in the US not all countries welcomed it as an opportunity to introduce change. Germany is one of these countries. 

While the pandemic shone a spotlight on the fact that schools are significantly behind when it comes to digitalization, German schools viewed the pandemic more as an interruption than a conduit for change. And they may have a good reason for thinking that way. Germans are very proud of their education system and believe it is well-designed and effective. Even though it is not perfect, they have the results to prove it. Germany is consistently ranked as one of the top educational systems in Europe with world-class universities that are tuition-free. Germany can also boast about their vocational training schools as it has one of the world's largest economies with its service industry contributing the greatest amount to the country's economy. 

Yes, it has a very different approach from our American educational system and no, homeschooling is not an option in Germany but it seems that they have figured out what works for their country and are proudly sticking to it. In my opinion, we could learn a lesson or two from each other and I hope that there will be more opportunities for teachers like me to participate in programs like the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms fellowship in the future and keep the dialog open. 

Click here to view some of the questions other virtual teachers from my school have about schools in Germany