Evaluation of “SCHULWÄRTS!”
CHE Consult was commissioned by Stiftung Mercator to evaluate the programme “SCHULWÄRTS! – Lehramtspraktika International II” of the Goethe-Institut. The aim of the evaluation was to assess whether the qualitative and quantitative goals set for “SCHULWÄRTS!” were achieved.
“SCHULWÄRTS!” arranges and provides funding for the placement of student teachers at Goethe-Institut partner schools in over 40 countries. Applications are open to teacher training students and futere teachers, who are individually supervised. “SCHULWÄRTS!” was funded in a second funding phase by the German Foreign Officet and Stiftung Mercator. The scholarship holders are to gain international and intercultural experience, develop their teaching personality and be motivated for international educational cooperation.
Together with staff members of Stiftung Mercator and the Goethe-Institut, impact hypotheses were defined at the beginning of the project, which were then tested in the course of the evaluation.
Project Manager Laura Wallor explains: “We investigated to what extent the programme was able to achieve its goals, for example, to what extent teacher training students were encouraged by “SCHULWÄRTS!” to go abroad and whether they experienced an increase in competence and knowledge through their participation in the programme.”
In addition to the qualitative goals, quantitative goals (especially the number of internships supported) were also examined. Another important aspect of the evaluation was the identification of unique selling points and desiderata in the social field of action of “SCHULWÄRTS!”. Methodologically, the evaluation comprised an guided self-evaluation, an online survey of the scholarship holders, in which scholarship holders from the first funding phase were also included for comparison, interviews with scholarship holders, a document analysis of internship reports as well as interviews with experts.
Based on the results of the evaluation, CHE Consult developed proposals and recommendations for the further development of the programme and discussed them together with representatives of Stiftung Mercator and the Goethe-Institut.
Arthur Tarnowski, Project Manager at Stiftung Mercator in the area of Europe in the World, thanked CHE Consult for the evaluation: “Thank you very much for the evaluation of “SCHULWÄRTS!”. The structured and clearly communicated approach at all times made the punctual and high-quality implementation of the evaluation possible.”
