Education and Training of Public Service Interpreter Teachers

This contribution seeks to outline strands of topics, perspectives, and research on the education of interpreter teachers for dialogue interpreting, with a specific focus on public service interpreting (PSI), without differentiating between sign language (SL) or spoken-language interpreting or any particular language combination or setting. We discuss the education of PSI teachers in the context of dialogue interpreting and look at theoretical and methodological approaches as well as fundamental questions of teaching and learning, which are inextricably linked. The contribution addresses fundamental epistemological considerations, which look at the origins and potentials of different approaches and are based on both empirical evidence and practical knowledge and experience. Building on questions of education sociology, we discuss methodological and didactic approaches to teaching and learning. We also focus on critical-constructive didactics, connected education, and networks of interpreting teachers, which hold the potential to strengthen the professional status of PSI and improve its public visibility.