The Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching (COST) is a group of colleges and universities that provides opportunities for quality international student teaching placement and supervision. This program gives future teachers the opportunity to try their educational theories in classroom situations within the context of a new country, a new culture and a new style of life.
Since 2005, student teachers from the U.S. have successfully completed their teaching assignments at Königin-Luise-Schule. The school takes advantage of their input as "native speakers" who especially enrich our English classes, as well as classes in Social Studies, Art, German, or even Math. Students are placed based on subject area for a period of 10 – 15 weeks.
The COST students come from 15 different universities, which vary in both size and location (Eastern Illinois University, Ohio University, University of Georgia, etc.). The COST program has been sending student teachers abroad since 1973. COST receiving sites are located all over the world, for example in Mexico, Ecuador, the Bahamas, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Switzerland, or Turkey. These schools tend to typically be international schools. Königin-Luise-Schule is one of only four schools in Germany that host COST students.
The major objective of the COST program, as with all student teaching programs, is to provide an opportunity for the student teacher to put into practice the knowledge and skills they have learned. The uniqueness of the COST program is the setting of a foreign city, country and culture. It allows the participants to gain international and intercultural experiences that will enrich their own classrooms when they return home. COST provides the opportunity for educators to exchange ideas and develop a more global and intercultural outlook on education.