überhaupt: das Kollegium

01:47 Jan 31, 2011 

ist das für die englischen Muttersprachler. Was nun würde Ihr Schulleiter wirklich sagen? Da ist so bißchen ein Seufzer drin, er kann die Leute ja gar nicht genug loben.

21:57 Jan 30, 2011 

Thanks for the information--no wonder I couldn't get it from googling different dictionaries! I think several of the answerers have given good suggestions along these lines. The previous reference to "das Kollegium" was not explicit, just the bit about "die Lehrerinnen," in the sentence I provided. I don't think more context would add anything useful.

21:08 Jan 30, 2011 

This expression (in correct usage) does two things: on the one hand, it's function is that of a hiatus, that is to say, it forms a break in the flow of speech, indicating that a new idea is going to be introduced, and at the same time (in most cases, especially when used with the colon), it takes up a topic which has already been mentioned before, in order to add a new aspect; or, it might summarize a number of previous statements in a few phrases, etc.

So, it's a rhetorical figure, which can be translated in many different ways. But to decide which translation fits best, normally one would have to know quite a bit about the preceding sentences/speech, to make sense of it.

So maybe there's some important context lacking here (preferably from the point where "das Kollegium" or those belonging to it were last mentioned). In this case, abundant quoting from the original could be quite helpful (and would be justified).

16:25 Jan 30, 2011 

Yes, it is strange, as are some other things in this document. It could perhaps have been written better.

16:17 Jan 30, 2011 

Without seeing the text, it is difficult to say, but perhaps it is shown as a new paragraph, when it shouldn't really be. A strange way of starting a new paragraph when it refers back immediately to something stated in the previous one.