The School Teacher Exchange Program STEP was established in 1986 unter the Aegis of the then-Senator for Schools, H.R. Laurien. A Memorandum of Agreement on March 27th, 1999, which was expanded upon on September 16, 2002, placed responsibility for the organization and administration of the program in the hands of the Checkpoint Charlie Foundation. Since 1986, STEP has been financed by the Berlin Department for Education, Youth and Sport, and has been consistently refined and expanded as needed to address the requirements of its participants. STEP currently consists of four main programs:

Preparing for the USA

since 1986
“German Teacher Exchange Program“ (GTEP): German school teachers of various subjects from all German federal states go to one of our US partner states to teach for 1-3 years.

View the list of available German teachers for the 2010/2011 school year (arranged alphabetically by school types): List of STEP-Teachers 2010/2011

With Walter Momper in the Prussian Parliament

since 1987
“Advanced Academic Training“ (AAT), which was renamed the “Educational Enrichment Program“ (EEP) in 2002: a two-week continuing education visit to Berlin for teachers, principals, administrators and other multipliers in education. Participants come from partner states Texas (since 1987), Delaware (since 2002) and Nebraska (since 2003).

Getting to know the Americans

since 2002
“Experience America“- Continuing Education Seminars in cooperation with the International Council of Delaware for high school English teachers from Berlin and Eastern Germany in Newark, Delaware. The program takes place during the fall and winter breaks, with each German federal state sending approximately 9 participants.

Links

• Amity Institute: Our partner for the J1-Visa in the U.S.

• ESTA: Online registration for short-term travel to the U.S.

• Embassy of the United States: The U.S. Embassy in Berlin.