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Project Description: BioDAS

 

  • Project Title: Educational and Linguistic Biographies in (Trans-)National Educational Contexts – Comparative Studies at German Schools Abroad (BioDAS)
  • Research Focus: Educational and linguistic biographies of former students of German schools abroad in Southern Europe, North and Latin America, and East Asia
  • Project Team: Prof. Dr. Julie A. Panagiotopoulou (Project Leader), Dr. Timo Neubert (Research Associate), Eileen Geißler, Anna Heller & Senay Korkmaz ((former) student researchers as part of their theses)
  • Sample: Interviews with former students of German schools abroad in Southern Europe (12), Latin America (11), North America (4), and East Asia (2)
  • Research method: semi-structured biographical interviews (via Zoom)

 

Project description:

German Schools Abroad (DAS) are expected at their respective locations to prepare “non-German (speaking)” children and adolescents for a transnational educational trajectory or (educational) migration to Germany through “(inter)cultural encounters” (KMK 2017). Accordingly, the institutional language policy (Marten 2016) of the DAS is also geared toward the acquisition of transnational linguistic capital. In this exclusive multilingualism, the family languages of students classified as “non-German-speaking”—even though they are generally also community and official languages—play a rather subordinate role, as interviews with educators at various DAS schools reveal (Panagiotopoulou et al. 2020; Neubert & Panagiotopoulou 2026). Building on this issue, the ‘BioDAS’ project aims to reconstruct the educational and linguistic biographical experiences of former ‘non-German-speaking’ students at various DAS—specifically in Southern Europe as well as in North and ‘Latin America’ (see Neubert 2026; Neubert & Geißler 2026). The following questions will initially be explored using guided or semi-narrative (Helfferich 2019) biographical interviews conducted via Zoom:

  • What experiences of difference regarding (non-)belonging do former ‘non-German-speaking’ students address during their transition to the DAS and throughout their language and educational biographies?
  • How do they position themselves in the course of reconstructing their language and educational biographies, particularly regarding institutional language policies toward various (family) languages as well as (inter)cultural and (trans)national ‘encounters’ in the context of the DAS?

 

References:

Helfferich, C. (2019). Leitfaden- und Experteninterviews. In: N. Baur & J. Blasius (Hrsg.), Handbuch Methoden der Empirischen Sozialforschung (S. 669–686). Vieweg.

KMK (2017). Einsatz deutscher Lehrkräfte im Auslandsschulwesen als ein Instrument der Personal- und Schulentwicklung der Länder (Beschluss der KMK vom 13.10.2017). https://www.kmk.org/fileadmin/Dateien/veroeffentlichungen_beschluesse/2017/2017-10-12-EinsatzLK-ASW.pdf [abgerufen am 14.08.2020].

Marten, H. F. (2016). Sprach(en)politik. Eine Einführung. Narr Francke Attempto.

Neubert, T. (2026). Bildungs- und sprachbiographische Erfahrungen von Absolvent*innen Deutscher Auslandsschulen: Eine vergleichende Studie. Springer VS. https://link.springer.com/book/9783658513221

Neubert, T. & Geißler, E. (2026). “We were programmed to go to Germany” – reconstructing school experiences of graduates of German Schools in Peru and Spain in view of their subsequent educational migration to Germany. In: T. Neubert & J. A. Panagiotopoulou (Hrsg.), Deutsche Auslandsschulen als transnationales Bildungs- und Forschungsfeld: Kritische Perspektiven und aktuelle Herausforderungen (S. 117–133). Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-50301-7_7

Neubert, T. & Panagiotopoulou, J. A. (2026). „Wir kommen aus einer ganz anderen Kultur“: zur Herstellung ‚national-kultureller‘ Differenzen beim Übergang ‚nichtdeutsch(sprachig)er‘ Kinder in Deutsche Auslandsschulen. In: T. Neubert & J. A. Panagiotopoulou (Hrsg.), Deutsche Auslandsschulen als transnationales Bildungs- und Forschungsfeld: Kritische Perspektiven und aktuelle Herausforderungen (S. 79–97). Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-50301-7_5 

Panagiotopoulou, J. A., Rosen, L., Strzykala, J., Fißmer, J. & Neubert, T. (2020). German Schools Abroad: Teachers’ views on translanguaging and emerging research perspectives on children’s language biographies and educational professionalization. In: J. A. Panagiotopoulou, L. Rosen & J. Strzykala (Hrsg.), Inclusion, Education, and Translanguaging: How to Promote Social Justice in (Teacher) Education? (S. 185–202) Springer VS.

 

Theses and qualification papers in the project:

Geißler, E. (2023). „Weißt du, dass wir Deutsch richtig eingeprügelt bekommen haben?“ ‚Begegnung‘ und natio-ethno-kulturell-linguale (Nicht-)Zugehörigkeitskonstuktion aus der Perspektive ehemaliger Schüler*innen Deutscher Auslandsschulen [“Did you know that they really drilled German into us?” ‘Encounter’ and the construction of natio-ethno-cultural-linguistic (non-)belonging from the perspective of former students of German schools abroad]. Master’s thesis, University of Cologne.

Heller, A. (2025). „Es war wie, als wären wir in Deutschland gewesen". Transnationale Bildungsbiografien von Schulabsolvent*innen Deutscher Auslandsschulen in Hongkong und Thessaloniki [“It was as if we had been in Germany.” Transnational educational biographies of graduates of German schools abroad in Hong Kong and Thessaloniki]. Master’s thesis, University of Cologne.

Neubert, T. (2025). Bildungs- und sprachbiographische Erfahrungen von Absolvent*innen Deutscher Auslandsschulen in Südeuropa sowie Nord- und 'Lateinamerika' – eine vergleichende Studie [Educational and linguistic biographical experiences of graduates of German schools abroad in Southern Europe as well as North and Latin America – a comparative study]. Doctoral dissertation, University of Cologne.

 

Project-related presentations:

Panagiotopoulou, J. A. & Neubert, T.: German Schools Abroad – Places of Transformation or Tradition? Presentation on September 16, 2021, at the conference “Between Transformation and Tradition – Qualitative Research on the Change of Educational Institutions” organized by the DGfE Commission “Qualitative Education and Biographical Research” at Bielefeld University.

Neubert, T.: Educational and linguistic biographical experiences of graduates of German schools abroad in Southern Europe as well as North and Latin America – a comparative study. Presentation on December 1, 2023, at the Winter School “Comparison as a Method in an Increasingly Fluid World” organized by the DGfE Commission on “Comparative and International Educational Research” at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Research and Educational Information (DIPF) in Frankfurt am Main.

Neubert, T.: Transformation processes of various German Schools Abroad from the perspective of school graduates living in Germany. Presentation as chair of the working group “Crises and Transformations of German Schools Abroad” at the 29th DGfE Congress at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (March 11, 2024).

Panagiotopoulou, J.A. & Wagner, M.: Between the Transnationalization of Social Inequalities and Social Mobility: Schools Abroad and Their Significance in the Context of Transnational Educational Biographies. Presentation on March 20, 2025, at the conference “Transnationalization of Social and Ecological Inequalities and Their Relevance to Educational Science” organized by the DGfE Section “Intercultural and International Comparative Educational Science” at the Technical University of Berlin.

Neubert, T.: Educational biographical experiences of former students of private German schools abroad in Peru and El Salvador. Presentation on March 20, 2025, at the conference “Transnationalization of Social and Ecological Inequalities and Their Relevance to Educational Science” organized by the DGfE Section “Intercultural and International Comparative Educational Science” at TU Berlin.