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Good Shepherd held an extraordinary assembly at the �ž�������߹ۿ� Springs Campus on Friday 12 May. These distinguished guests acknowledged the achievement of the College, presented Diplomas to students and acknowledged our current Diploma students: Mr Hoch - Head of Culture and Press Section of the German Embassy in Canberra and Mr Gruja - German Language Advisor for Australia for the Central Office for Schools Abroad of the Federal Office for Foreign Affairs.

Good Shepherd has been named a PASCH School, a distinction given by the Federal Government of Germany to schools with outstanding German language programs and achievements. We have become the first and only school in the NT and only the fourth school in Australia to be invited to join the network of more than 1500 partner schools worldwide. The objective of this partnership is to promote German language education in schools, intercultural meetings and the development of an international learning community.

As part of the PASCH network our students and teachers will receive excellent teaching resources, scholarships to Germany for top students, study-abroad programs, professional development for teachers in Germany, access to projects, competitions and many other events.

The “Schools: Partners for the Future” (PASCH) initiative was launched in February 2008 by Germany’s Federal Foreign Office. PASCH is coordinated by the Federal Foreign Office and implemented in cooperation with the Central Agency for Schools Abroad (ZfA), the Goethe-Institut, the German Academic Exchange Service and the Educational Exchange Service of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Federal States in the Federal Republic of Germany.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND GOALS

PASCH is organized according to four guiding principles:

• prospects through education,
• broadened horizons through multilingualism,
• access to language and education and
• joint tackling of future problems as an international community of learners

The network of German schools abroad and schools offering the German Language Certificate is being strengthened. Furthermore, cooperation with schools is being stepped up with a view to anchoring German as a foreign language more firmly within national education systems. In addition, scholarships for pursuing a course of study in Germany and opportunities for school exchanges and twinning programmes are made available.

What are the advantages for the students and teachers of PASCH schools?

What is special here is that the schools are closely networked together and maintain partnerships with schools and higher education institutions in Germany. The students become part of a global community of learners of German and can their exchange views and ideas on the www-pasch-net.de platform. Teachers also engage in discussions here on subjects relating to the teaching of German. Many school-leavers remain in contact through the PASCH Alumni network. Not only good German language skills, but also the global network later make it easier for students to enter German universities and companies.

The initiative is designed to arouse and sustain young people’s interest in and enthusiasm for modern-day Germany, German society and the German language. A global network of partner schools of the Federal Republic of Germany is being created; the schools become part of an international community of learners through shared activities and exchange.

PASCH offers attractive training courses that help give pupils and teachers qualifications that will serve them well in the longer term, thereby building upon the skills that the young people will need to study in Germany and in their later professional lives. It additionally aims to establish lively and long-lasting ties to Germany and to encourage schools, teachers and pupils to share their thoughts and ideas openly with one another and to work together. Furthermore, PASCH is linked to other foreign cultural relations and educational policy initiatives such as the “Kulturweit” (Bridging Cultures) volunteer programme, the Research and Academic Relations initiative, and “German – Language of Ideas”.

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