Comenius week in Schwäbisch Gmünd: Focus on diversity and inclusion!

Die Comenius Week 2025 an der PH Gmünd förderte Mehrsprachigkeit und Diversität in der europäischen Bildung mit internationalem Austausch.
Comenius Week 2025 at PH Gmünd promoted multilingualism and diversity in European education with international exchange. (Symbolbild/NAGW)

Comenius week in Schwäbisch Gmünd: Focus on diversity and inclusion!

Schwäbisch Gmünd, Deutschland - The Comenius Week at the PH Schwäbisch Gmünd offered a platform for discussion about multilingualism, diversity and inclusion in European education in its 18th edition. The event took place in early April 2025 and was an important place in international exchange for both teachers and students from different European countries. Participants from Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Norway, Spain, Italy and Switzerland took part in the event, supplemented by current guest students from almost all continents, such as Ph-gmuend.de reported.

The focus was on the differences and similarities of the European education systems as part of the week. A central topic was inclusion in school lessons, whereby workshops and lectures stimulated the exchange about proven teaching practices. Highlights of the event included teaching visits to local daycare centers and schools as well as intercultural city rally, which enabled the participants to discover the variety in Schwäbisch Gmünd. Reports of bpb.de make it clear that education plays a central role in the integration of migrant children, which makes the background of the participating students all the more relevant.

Diverse program for promoting cooperation

The Comenius Week program not only included lectures, but also a German course and a joint project work in internationally mixed groups. Such interdisciplinary approaches promote problem -solving strategies and the cooperation between students from different countries. It is particularly important that the students were accommodated by pH students in order to get an insight into the everyday life of their hosts. Dr. Monika Becker, Head of the Academic Office, underlined the importance of these personal contacts for the internationalization of the teaching degree.

A further goal of Comenius Week is to arouse interest in longer stays abroad. Some participants plan to spend a semester at a partner university. This internationalization is, as it were, an answer to the challenges that arise from migration and multilingualism, such as that was summarized in the anthology "Migration, Multilingualism and Inclusion", which was published by Claudia Schlaak and Sylvia Thiele. According to the Specialist portal-paedagogik.de , this band delivers both educational and practical approaches for the lessons.

Education as a key to integration

The discussion about migration and education is particularly relevant in Europe. Historically, immigration was often regarded as a temporary phenomenon, which has proven to be misleading. Children with a migration background often experience educational policy disadvantages that are not only based on socio -economic status, but are also intensified by inadequate language skills and lack of interaction with locals. These aspects illustrate the need for political measures that make the education area integrative in order to create equal opportunities and to reduce social inequalities, as the bpb.de .

Overall, the Comenius Week at the PH Schwäbisch Gmünd shows how important the dialogue between different education systems is in order to promote diversity and inclusion in education. The results and findings of this event could also have a positive impact on the future design of education systems in Europe.

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OrtSchwäbisch Gmünd, Deutschland
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