Movetia Project in Austria – Germany – Switzerland
«Educational Approaches to Medical Conditions»
In the German-speaking countries (Austria, Germany and Switzerland) the professionals in the field of continuity of education for children and adolescents with medical needs have cooperated in a first and now a second Movetia project. As Switzerland is not part of the European Union, it runs its own mobility programme called Movetia which is similar to Erasmus. Dr. Robert Langnickel (University of Teacher Education Lucerne, Switzerland) has gathered an effective group of academic and practice-based working professionals from all three countries.
The first project from December 2023 to November 2025 aimed at developing a curriculum for a Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) called “Educational Approaches to Medical Conditions in Children and Adolescents” based on the CO-ACTIV model (Bamert & Kunter). The involved universities are going to offer a modular system of further training for hospital and mainstream teachers who want to specialize in this field. These trainings can be combined to a Certificate of Advanced Studies CAS and three of them to a MAS. In this context the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, the University of Würzburg and the Ludwigsburg University of Education have been offering a set of (online) lectures in German each semester free of charge. If you are interested, write an e-mail for the lectures of Wurzburg to: info-k-lehrstuhl@uni-wuerzburg.de and / or scan the QR code for the lectures of Ludwigsburg https://www.ph-ludwigsburg.de -> Pädagogik bei Krankheit.
In December 2025 a follow-up Movetia project started with a focus on transitions in this field. It is called “Brücken” (bridges) which stands for:
- Bildung ermöglichen – Enabling education
- Rückkehr unterstützen – Supporting re-integration
- Übergänge gestalten – Designing transition
- Chancen schaffen – Creating chances
- Kooperation fördern – Promoting cooperation
- Erkrankte Schüler:innen begleiten – Accompanying pupils / students
- Netzwerke stärken – Strengthening networks
This project emphasizes the cooperation of academic and practical work even more. There are five academic projects in cooperation with hospital and mainstream teachers:
- AP 3 Experience and perspectives of hospital teachers and teachers of the schools of belonging (University of Oldenburg, Germany) -> international exchange of material and knowledge
- AP 4.1 School transition processes in connection with medical conditions (University of Cologne, Germany) -> based on a quantitative study
- AP 4.2 Development of an online tool for teachers in schools of belonging (University Cologne & Wurzburg, Germany) -> based on a qualitative study
- AP 5 Children with medical conditions as experts (Pedagogical University of Salzburg, Austria) -> Photovoice study
- AP 7 Integration and synthesis of the results of all projects above -> developing handouts and materials for an online tool (University of Teacher Education in Special Needs of Zurich, Switzerland)
It is a crucial and important work in the German-speaking countries and we aim to generate even more knowledge and experience and to disseminate it both academically and in educational practice with children and adolescents with medical needs. We hope that the more such projects are successfully conducted, awareness of the needs of children and adolescents with medical conditions will increase not only among teachers, but also among policymakers and teacher education institutions.
Christine Walser, University Children’s Hospital Zurich, Switzerland
Email address: ch.walser@gmx.ch
Pierre-Carl Link, University of Teacher Education in Special Needs of Zurich, Switzerland
Email address: pierre-carl.link@hfh.ch
Robert Langnickel, University of Teacher Education Lucerne, Switzerland
Email address: robert.langnickel@phlu.ch
