• Our mission statement
• Networks

Our mission statement

Success in education depends to a large extent on language skills. Language requirements can often pose a serious obstacle, however, especially for children and young people from families of low educational or socioeconomic level or of migrant origin.

The Mercator Institute for Literacy and Language Education is committed to improving language education, by

• researching and developing innovative concepts, measures and tools for language education and for the professionalization of teachers and educators.
• providing regional training for prospective teachers and national training for educators in nurseries, schools and adult education.
• preparing academic findings specifically for decision-makers in educational policy, administration and practice, and making them available in a variety of formats.
• serving as a central Germany-wide point of academic contact for language education and engaging in the debate on how to improve education.
• working on an interdisciplinary level, in national and international networks, following a benefits-driven and practical approach.

Through its research and academic services it provides to language education in a multilingual society, the Mercator Institute helps create more equal opportunities in the education system.

Networks

The Mercator Institute is a member of the Leibniz Education Research Network Alliance (LERN). In this network, 25 research institutions have joined forces to combine their expertise and increase the profile of the Leibniz Association in educational matters among research funders, political decision-makers, educational administrators and the general public. Furthermore, the office that coordinates the federal and state-level initiative BiSS-Transfer, a joint initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany to transfer language education, reading and writing support in schools and nurseries. It is closely linked to its predecessor, the initiative Education through Language and Literacy (BiSS). The Mercator Institute for Literacy and Language Education, the DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education and the Institute for Quality Development in Education (IQB) in cooperation with the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin are in charge of the initiative’s supervision.