English in Inclusive Multilingual Preschools. Kirsten Birsak de Jersey

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СКАЧАТЬ a foreign language at the preschool level became eclipsed by the responsibility and immediate need to focus on the language of instruction - German. The BildungsRahmenPlan, the preschool educational plan for Austria published by the Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur (2009a), was published with an extra component dedicated to early language learning which refers entirely and exclusively to German (Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur, 2009b). According to the European country report of Austria, the situation is as follows:

      Austrian kindergartens further and promote children’s acquisition of the German language above all: this applies both to children with German as a first language, and to children who have a different first language. (Council of Europe, 2008a, p. 36)

      Programmes designed to give children of kindergarten age a good start in primary school by ensuring that they have a sufficient level of competence in the language of schooling are high on the agenda of ministries of education and local education authorities. (Council of Europe, 2008b, p. 11)

      The final version does not cater for foreign language learning in its early language learning programme. “Systematic foreign language teaching (FLT) at pre-primary level does not lie within the priorities of the Austrian education system” (European Commission, 2011b, p. 7) to the extent that foreign languages are not discussed at all within the compilation of the BildungsRahmenPlan. Foreign language learning was however included in the discussion in the draft of BildungsRahmenPlan. “Beim Fremdsprachenlernen im Kindergarten ist es häufig das vorrangige Ziel, eine Sprache kennenzulernen, die für alle Kinder neu ist. Durch Lieder, Reime, einfache Texte können Klangbild und Aussprache gefestigt werden” (Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur, 2008, p. 25). The BildungsRahmenPlan is significant for the implications of foreign language learning initiatives in Austrian state preschools, because it is the legal foundation for the education plan for all Austrian preschools.

      The BildungsRahmenPlan was a turning point in the organisation of preschool education. Previously, Austria had a complicated political organisation for preschools because legislation and administration lay within the responsibility and discretion of nine independent federal states. To remedy the situation, the nine federal states signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2008, which announced a “new legal basis for pre-school education to regulate responsibilities and cooperation between the Republic of Austria and its nine federal countries” (European Commission, 2011b, p. 4). This resulted in the publication of the BildungsRahmenPlan which was compiled in August 2009 (Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur, 2009a; 2009b). It did not explicitly rule out that English or any other foreign language could be included in preschools but placed responsibility on the individual preschools both to cater for and to finance any initiative that may take place with no official support provided. As a result, implementation of teaching a foreign language is scarce and varies greatly from preschool to preschool as is the case in other European member states (European Commission, 2011b, p. 9). Given this situation, no support for provision of a consistent foreign language learning curriculum or teacher education programmes that qualify preschool teachers appropriately, are provided. The Country Report referring to Austria simply states that more needs to be offered in the way of other languages in addition to German (Council of Europe, 2008a, p. 86). It would seem that Lower Austria was an exception; however, the financial support of this program was stopped in 2016:

      In Niederösterreich, dem größten Bundesland Österreichs, wird Englisch flächendeckend schon im Kindergarten angeboten (vgl. Boeckmann et al. 2011). Außer dem Englischen bezieht dort die sprachliche Bildung ab der Elementarstufe die jeweiligen Nachbarsprachen (Tschechisch, Slowakisch, Ungarisch, Slowenisch, Italienisch) mit ein. Ferner ist vorgesehen … durch andere Familiensprachen, … [die] in der pädagogischen Einrichtung vertreten sind, die sprachlichen Erlebnisse der Kinder zu erweitern. (Sambanis, 2016, p. 173)

      My research therefore addresses this situation in early foreign language education through an empirical study that has been conducted in a state preschool. This context can be said to be representative of many state preschools in Salzburg (→ chapter 6.2). The next section will give a more detailed insight in the preschool teacher education in Austria.

      2.2.3 Austrian preschool teacher education curriculum

      As the focus in Austrian preschools is on German as the language of instruction, the teacher education curriculum trains prospective preschool teachers how to teach and encourage the language of instruction (European Commission, 2011a, p. 8). In the context of discussing the role of early language learning in Austrian preschools, the focus is therefore on German as a second language rather than on introducing a foreign language:

      The role of ELL staff is to provide an enriching, engaging environment, a structure that supports and extends learning opportunities through a scaffolding process (helping children to learn, play and solve the challenges facing them with a simple hint, question or prompt). ELL should allow them to monitor a child’s learning progress and anticipate his / her potential development through formative assessment. This will identify and build upon each child’s unique potential. There should not be any formal summative assessment of language competences involving grading. (p. 14)

      The education of preschool teachers in Austria takes place over a five-year span at the BAfEP (Bildungsanstalt für Elementarpädagogik) schools. They are upper secondary level schools for students between the ages of 14 and 18 years. The state curriculum combines the regular secondary school education subjects which award the A-level certificate that qualifies the students to enter university, with the compulsory subject of Didactics and Pedagogics which additionally qualifies the students as preschool teachers. For the practical work of Didactics and Pedagogics, each school is associated with a preschool, which is responsible for providing teaching practice. The students also visit other preschools for further practical experience. Until 2016 the optional subject ‘Englisch im Kindergarten: Impulse zum Interkulturellen Lernen’ was offered in Salzburg for these students in their final year of their secondary school education. But the subject was not a compulsory part of students’ education, because teaching foreign languages, including English in Austrian preschools, is not included in the preschool educational plan, BildungsRahmenPlan (Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur, 2009a, 2009b). According to a teacher of the subject ‘Didactics and Pedagogics’, the students did not enrol in the optional subject (‘Englisch im Kindergarten: Impulse zum interkulturellen Lernen’) due to the pressures of the final year A–level examinations and therefore the subject was discontinued. At the time, the A-level examinations became centralized throughout Austria (‘Zentralmatura’), which added to students’ pressure to attain their A-level certificate as the ‘Zentralmatura’ was new for both the teachers and the students.

      To enable adults who already have their A-Level certificate to qualify as preschool teachers the BAfEP school in Salzburg offers an adult education evening course. It takes place in the evening to accommodate people who work during the day. The course includes the compulsory subjects: ‘Didactics and Pedagogics’, ‘German’ and ‘German as a Second Language’. The subjects, ‘English’ and ‘English as a Foreign Language’ are not included. The participants graduate with a diploma. If qualified preschool teachers wish to be educated in English teaching in Salzburg they can participate in seminars, which I offer for the Salzburger Verwaltungsakademie-Zentrum für Kindergartenpädagogik. Apart from these seminars preschool teachers are largely left to their own devices as to how they qualify for it or if, when, how and to what extent they implement English in their preschools:

      Exact data on language teachers in pre-primary schools are not available. Foreign language teaching could be carried out by pre-primary school teachers with a certain level of the language, however, not necessarily defined and required by regulations. Or the language may be taught by native speakers teachers, native speakers (but not with teachers’ qualifications), students of the language at teacher training colleges, language teachers from СКАЧАТЬ