Culturally sensitive teaching with narrative methods

Rethinking vocational school teaching 

The vocational school is a place with a high percentage of trainees with migration history. Young people with a refugee background are being intensively recruited for training in geriatric (nursing) care, which means that many students are initially taught in the so-called VABO classes (pre-qualification year for work and occupation without German language skills). This is a challenge for teachers, since they often do not make progress with the usual pedagogical teaching methods of collaborative partnerships and with the existing, linear teaching materials.

Recognizing narrative teaching methods to break new ground in vocational schools.

The overall goal of the handout was to present storytelling as an intuitive holistic teaching method that can be used in the classroom to convey content and deepen German language skills in a way that is detached from teaching materials. Narratives help to gain trust and strengthen the class community. Teachers gained knowledge and understanding of cultural models with the respective methods, they received suggestions for an appreciative attitude towards the "others" through self-reflection and they are taught to live diversity by giving space to new approaches and recognizing resources in the "others". Vocational schools support the process of intercultural opening, thereby becoming "open schools".  

Successful case studies for narrative strategies as a pedagogical teaching method that can be learned and transferred.  

On behalf of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of Baden-Württemberg, a working group with two experts from each of the four administrative districts defined the characteristics of good narrative strategies as a teaching method and, in a further step, collected case studies from the four administrative districts and presented them in the handout following a theoretical section.

inter 3 developed a grid for the criteria of good narrative strategies as pedagogical teaching methods and accompanied this innovation process. It took on the task of preparing potentials and opportunities of the narrative method and strategy in education for further knowledge transfer activities