At last children’s laughter rings through the nursery at Sindelfingen’s Brunnenwiesentraße 14. This is the first week of normal services again for the 100 or so girls and boys who fill the nursery with life. Outside, in the grounds, three pre-school children have their heads together. Gabriele Probst-Liebig watches carefully to see how the six-year-olds are communicating, especially their vocabulary and pronunciation. The education specialist is relieved that the long period of emergency cover only is over at last. “The pandemic has pushed many families to their limits,” she says.

The consequences of the pandemic on language development

It has been a difficult time for children’s language development too. For the children who speak a language other than German at home, an “extremely challenging time” is coming, says Gabriele Probst-Liebig. “First of all, they will have to get used again to the fact that our lingua franca here is German – with no disrespect to the languages they speak at home,” she says. And that means all the more work for the language expert, because children from immigrant families account for a large percentage of the Sindelfingen nursery, where the children speak a total of 26 different mother tongues.

Every child needs “food”

Intensive language support, however, is important for every child, whether or not they have an immigrant background. “Even children who have developed good language skills need ‘food’ to help them develop further,” stresses Gabriele Probst-Liebig. Interaction and understanding are always key. “The aim of language support is to achieve greater equality of opportunity. Every single child should be able to follow their own individual education career successfully,” she adds.   

Federal programme finances additional specialist

The 59-year-old graduate educationalist, who specialises in education for people with speech impairments, has a wealth of experience in language support for children. She has worked in early intervention centres and in speech therapy, before going on to train as a multiplier for language education. Since 2018 she has worked in the nursery in Brunnenwiesenstraße 14, where she is an additional specialist. Her post is financed by the Federal Programme for Language Nurseries.

Since 2016 the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs has run the nationwide programme Language Support Nurseries – because language is the key to the world. It fosters language education in children’s daycare facilities. The programme primarily addresses nurseries where a high percentage of the children have special language needs. For every nursery designated a special language support nursery, the Federal Government finances one additional specialist. In addition to language education in the everyday nursery setting, the programme prioritises inclusive education, cooperation with families, and dealing with digital media.

In Germany there are more than 6,000 facilities that benefit from Federal Government funding – about one in ten nurseries is a special language nursery, providing support for almost half a million children in their language development. Another 1,000 language nurseries are to be part of the government’s new action programme to help children catch up after the pandemic.

Mentoring and supporting the entire team

In her everyday work Gabriele Probst-Liebig advises, mentors and supports the entire nursery team, especially with regard to the children’s language development. It is very helpful that she is an additional specialist and is not assigned to regular nursery teacher duties. That gives her the leeway she needs for her work within the language support programme.         

She likes, for instance, to go into the individual groups in the nursery and observe how exactly children are given language support. One thing she looks at is whether enough opportunities for talking are used for language development purposes. “I always respect the needs of the children and the signs they give me. Are there children who are not involved, or who are being left behind?” she explains. Afterwards she reflects on her observations with the teachers in the groups. On other days she plays an active role and works with the children by way of example, providing other teachers with important impetus.  

Mindful dialogue and intensive exchange

“One important principle in my work is to build and maintain a mindful dialogue with the other teachers,” stresses Gabriele Probst-Liebig. She sees a mindful dialogue and intensive exchange as particularly important. “The entire work of the special language support nursery is about coming together and engaging. This is true of all interaction between staff and children, parents and within the team.”

Contact to families, even during the pandemic

The dialogue was maintained even throughout the long pandemic-related closures of the nursery. Gabriele Probst-Liebig and the nursery teachers regularly called families to speak on the phone. They wanted to know how the parents and the children were, what were their concerns and what support they needed. The nursery team also sent all parents a weekly letter to keep them up to date with the latest COVID-19 rules among other things.

This huge commitment is also appreciated by parents, reports Sibylle Rehm-Haug, manager of the nursery. The response to the work of Gabriele Probst-Liebig in particular has been very positive – and not only on the part of the parents. “She has a special place here as an expert in her field. Her views, coming from outside and seeing things with fresh eyes, is valued by both our teachers and by parents,” says Sibylle Rehm-Haug.

“A valuable programme“

The nursery manager is delighted that the language expert Gabriele Probst-Liebig is part of her team. “The special language support programme is incredibly valuable for our work – and it is not something that can be taken for granted,” stresses Sibylle Rehm-Haug. She intends to mainstream the findings from the programme in the long-term concept for her nursery.

In this, she can count on the commitment of Gabriele Probst-Liebig, who is just watching two girls in a group of young children communicate. “The aim is that every child, no matter where they come from and how they are growing up, can say ‘I’m in the thick of it and not just watching from the sidelines’,” she declares.

To foster the development of children and young people in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cabinet adopted the cornerstones for an action programme at the start of May. It provides for two billion euros to be invested this year and next year, partly to help children catch up on lost learning and to promote early childhood education. Within the action programme, provision is made for 1,000 new special language support nurseries.