Translation of letter from the Pädagogische Hochschule Karlsruhe of 23.09.03

01.10.2003/SvL

ESK 2003 – 2008 : The vision for the future of the European School Karlsruhe

Dear Mr Høyem,

Thank you for your letter of 15 September 2003. I’m pleased to confirm the importance of the cooperation between the European School Karlsruhe and the Pedagogic teacher training college in Karlsruhe. Since year 2000 Karlsruhe has offered the courses

- European teacher training course for Primary and the last five years of the compulsory nine years.

- European teacher training course for secondary highschool for ages 10 to 16 where pupils can work towards a diploma achieved when leaving school after 10 years.

Both courses are inter-disciplinary and bilingually oriented. The orientation on Europe is a study module in itself. It is against the background of these two courses that the cooperation between the Pedagogic teacher training college and the European School Karlsruhe has such a high importance.

Teachers from your school have from the beginning participated actively as temporary lecturers in both courses.  Your school also organised practical training for our students, who at your school found the ideal working environment for intercultural and bilingual learning.

In the meantime, you and I have had talks, and we both agreed that in the future we should offer our European-teacher students several practical teaching days at your school. These practical teaching days are very important for our students as this is the their first practical teaching experience in a bilingual teaching environment. That is of course to a much larger degree possible and more authentic in an international European school, as opposed to other schools which offer our students practical teacher training. This is the reason why these practical teaching days at your school are supported by the „Oberschulamt“  Karlsruhe (the governing school authority of Karlsruhe) and above all by the „Kultusministerium“ Baden-Württemberg (government of the province of Baden-Württemberg).

I sincerely hope, that our cooperation will intensify in the future, as the Pädagogical teacher training college Karlsruhe intends to strengthen its European profile, by expanding the bilingual learning experience and emphasising the orientation on European in our courses.

Best regards,

Prof. Dr. Liesel Hermes