Motivation for the stay
Austria is one of the few countries in Europe that, like Germany, offers an integrated subject for integrated primary science and social studies (Sachunterricht) at primary schools and universities.
There has been an academic exchange between the Institute for Integrated Primary Science and Social Studies and KPH Vienna for several years now, which was to be deepened through the Erasmus+ stay. This includes the development of joint learning opportunities in the field of education for sustainable development (BNE) and university-based learning workshops in Vienna and Flensburg, as well as joint research projects that are to be published together in talks and publications.
Preparation and stay
Naturally, I travelled from Flensburg to and from Vienna by train. With a single change in Hamburg, the journey to each destination takes 12 hours. I stayed in a small rented flat near the city center.
At KPH Vienna, I taught courses in general studies education with a sociocultural focus and had interesting experiences with Austrian students training to become primary school teachers. During my stay, I exchanged ideas with numerous colleagues from KPH involved in primary teacher education, discussing similarities and differences between Vienna and Flensburg.
However, the most intensive collaboration was with my counterpart at KPH in the field of general studies education. We jointly developed plans for future teaching sessions (KPH-EUF), continued planning research projects (European teacher education in general studies), and prepared two presentations based on jointly collected research data.
Conclusion
The Erasmus+ trip to Vienna was professionally enriching for me, and the increased time investment was more than worthwhile. The close international collaboration with a fellow professor in general studies education over several days on specific topics and projects in our discipline was highly motivating and very enjoyable.
Vienna is a city rich in culture, and my colleague showed me several museums with relevance to general studies (Wien Museum, Haus des Meeres, Albertina). These sites are particularly well suited for teaching about extracurricular learning environments in integrated primary science and social studies, and we were able to immediately discuss their didactic and higher education relevance on-site. This led us to develop ideas for binational teaching formats.