Student Teacher Placement in Schools Abroad
FAQs about SCHULWÄRTS!

Each calendar year we hold three or four rounds of applications, each for a six-week period, usually in September/October for the following year, December/January, March/April and May/June. If you’d like to be notified by e-mail about the start of the next round of applications, write to schulwaerts@goethe.de.

No, each placement period is planned on an individual basis after consulting with the candidate and the host school. On your application form, you can indicate your preferred placement period and possible dates of departure and return, taking into account the school holidays in your preferred countries, which are listed in the country profiles.

No, you don't have to be enrolled. What’s important is that you’re in or have done teacher training in Germany or are teaching school in Germany.

No, German citizenship is not required. What’s important is that you’re in or have done teacher training in Germany or are teaching school in Germany.

The Goethe-Institut has some 95,000 partner schools worldwide, including the so-called “Fit Schools” in the PASCH network. You’ll find information about Fit Schools at pasch-net.de. German is taught at Goethe-Institut partner schools. The Goethe-Institut provides them with support in the form of materials for teaching German, teacher training, projects and/or events at the schools. Most of them are secondary schools. Only in a few countries do children learn German at primary school. German schools abroad and so-called “DSD schools” are not Goethe-Institut partner schools, so SCHULWÄRTS! cannot place student teachers there.

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is an educational approach that combines foreign language learning with subject-specific content. In the case of Content and Language Integrated Learning in German, learning German is combined with content in such other subjects as biology, geography and art. In CLIL courses, in contrast to courses in German as a foreign language (DaF), students not only learn German, but also acquire subject-specific knowledge in and using German. For more information about CLIL, go to goethe.de/clil.

If you would like academic credit for your SCHULWÄRTS! placement, you should inquire at the Praktikumsamt (administrative office in charge of work placement and internships) at your university. Please let us know ahead of time, in your application, all of your university’s requirements for the awarding of academic credit for student teacher placement so that these requirements can be discussed with the host school beforehand and duly met during your placement. Otherwise it’s up to you to meet all your university’s requirements to obtain credit for your placement abroad.

If there is sufficient motivation and flexibility on the part of both the host school and the student teacher, you can complete your “practical semester” (Praxissemester) in a four-month placement. This requires some prior arrangements in the run-up to your placement, however, so you should let the SCHULWÄRTS! team know beforehand in your application. The University of Jena also offers counselling for practical semesters abroad. For information about this option, see the homepage of the university’s Teacher Training Centre (Zentrum für Lehrerbildung).

The preparatory seminars for placement abroad are held in Munich on weekdays and run for three days.

You should find out about your placement country on the German Foreign Office’s homepage, which provides comprehensive information about recommended vaccinations and the latest travel and safety advisories. The German Foreign Office has also developed a database for Germans living abroad called Elefand (Elektronische Erfassung von Deutschen im Ausland). Regardless of which country you’re travelling to, all student teachers are advised to register on this database. The German Foreign Office’s travel app is also worth looking into.

If your host school does not provide or assure you of accommodation, you should start looking for housing early on your own. Your supervising teacher and your contact at the local Goethe-Institut will provide tips and information about local rents, good housing locations, useful contacts etc. A SCHULWÄRTS! grant will not necessarily cover all the living expenses incurred in every host country. So find out ahead of time about the cost of living in your preferred host countries, e.g. through the country profiles.

Classroom technology varies from one country to another as well as from one school to another. Some of our partner schools are fitted out with modern equipment, though some only have a blackboard and CD player. Check with your mentor beforehand so as to be better prepared for the situation on location. Ask them whether to bring your own teaching materials, too, and which textbook is used. You’ll find ideas and material for teaching German as a foreign language on the Goethe-Institut homepage and on SCHULWÄRTS! online support.

Dress codes for teachers in many placement countries are more formal than in Germany. So ask your contacts at the local Goethe-Institut and at the school in your host country about appropriate dress before your placement.

Yes, by individual arrangement with the SCHULWÄRTS! team, you may be able to extend your placement beyond 16 weeks, subject to visa regulations and subject to the approval of your placement school and your contacts at the local Goethe-Institut abroad. Bear in mind that you must then cover your expenses yourself.

All our student teachers actually teach German in the classroom, whether or not they have any prior experience of teaching German as a foreign language. Since they are usually the only native German speakers at the school, their participation in pronunciation exercises and conversation classes is invaluable. To what extent you will sit in on or co-teach (German) classes or teach all by yourself will depend on your own wishes and qualifications as well as school regulations and conditions there and the arrangements made with the school (preferably prior to placement). Ideally, you should take part in teaching other subjects in German as well. In addition, the SCHULWÄRTS! placement programme attaches special importance to carrying out (extra-curricular) projects with your students.