Integration course "At home in Germany - politics, history and general information for immigrants and persons interested in naturalisation"

The concept for the courses "At home in Germany" was developed at the european forum for migration studies in connection with analyses and strategies for the improvement of integration processes. On this basis, the initiators of the project developed and tested these courses in a pilot project at the Centre for Adult Education in Nuremberg. The courses, which had the character of orientation courses, were precursors of the integration courses which are compulsory since the Immigration Act came into force in January 2005.

The efms accompanied the courses from October 2001 to May 2002. Within these one and a half years, 5 evening courses and 3 weekend courses were held at the Adult Education Centre in Nuremberg. The evaluation of the pilot project "Integration courses" included programme evaluation and impact analysis. With the programme evaluation the overall course concept was assessed and its quality was improved. The impact analysis concentrated on the measuring of learning processes and changes of attitudes among the participants.

On the basis of the results obtained from the programme evaluation and impact analysis it was possible to develop the pilot project into a compact measure. The participants were very much interested in the course concept and by involving various organisations (Centre for Adult Education Nuremberg, the efms and the advisory committee for the courses) it was possible to improve and develop the concept continuously.

Commissioned by: Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Arbeit und Sozialordnung, Familie, Frauen und Gesundheit, Bildungszentrum Nürnberg
Project period: April 2001 until December 2003
Researcher: Richard Wolf