Adult Education

Adult education is the only field of education in Austria for which there are no legal provisions. Public and private providers offer a variety of complementary courses on personal as well as vocational matters.

School-based further education and trainingis provided by foremen courses, mater craftsmen courses, courses for building workers and schools for employed persons. The range of courses offered for employed persons is similar to those offered by secondary education, just as the objectives correspond to those of the respective schools and colleges.

Regional non-profit organizations offer courses which impart key qualifications and provide people with life skills. Supply is here determined by demand.

Further vocational training in enterprises is determined by the type and size of the respective companies and is often organized by the companies themselves.

1. Basic Information

Legal Situation
Besides school and university education, adult education serves as a third pillar in the Austrian education system.
Contrary to school and university education, there is no constitutional law regulating adult education. The only federal law concerning adult education is the 1973 "Law for Promotional Measures" [Erwachsenenbildungs-Förderungsgesetz] which regulates financial support of adult education and public libraries.

Apart from providing support to adult education institutions – a task which rests with the department responsible for adult education in the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Culture – the "Law for Promotional Measures" also contains provisions on the maintenance and management of Federal Centres for the Promotion of Adult Education [Förderungsstellen des Bundes für Erwachsenenbildung] within the individual provinces.

Objectives

• The general adult education sector offers a variety of different programmes and courses such as health and leisure time programmes, courses on personality development and cultural education as well as foreign language courses. Moreover, it also organizes socio-political events.
• Adult education also provides for the improvement of vocational qualifications, the acquiring of key qualifications, instruction in the use of new technologies and for the promotion of social and communication skills.
• The second educational pathway provides adults with the opportunity to take school-leaving and other certificates at a later point in their lives (schools for people under employment, Higher Education Entrance Exam, external exams, TVE-Diploma).

Adult education furthermore aims at offering people of all ages the opportunity to organize their lives autonomously and independently and to reach fulfilment.
These aims need to be realized so that adult education and further vocational training may meet the demands of the 21st century and of the rapidly changing world of work.

Providers of Adult Education

Courses and programmes of adult education are offered by the following providers:
Schools for employed persons, Public Employment Service, the Austrian Conference of Adult Education Institutions, interest groups, private providers and enterprises.
The most important providers of further vocational training are the adult education institutions of the social partners, i.e. the Vocational Training Institute [Berufsförderungsinstitut] and the Institute for Economic Development [Wirtschaftsförderungsinstitut].

  

2. Regulated and Career-related Further Education and Training

Further education and training is provided by foremen courses, master craftsmen courses, courses for building workers and schools for people under employmed persons.

Curricula and exam regulations for these schools and courses are issued by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.

As it is the case with initial training (in secondary technical and vocational schools and colleges or within the dual system), the quality of regulated further vocational training is determined by the aim to provide people with knowledge and skills which qualify them for certain jobs and to ensure that students will find an adequate job.

Quality is guaranteed by constantly adapting the curricula to new standards. Curricula are drawn up in close co-operation between experts of the school administration, the industry and the social partners (trade unions, the Chamber of Labour, the Economic Chamber).

2.1. Foremen Courses

Foremen courses [Werkmeisterschulen] offer further job-related theoretical education for people who have completed initial training in the industrial and trade sector. With an overall student number of 5,000, foremen courses can be considered the third largest educational institution in this sector, being preceded only by technical and vocational schools and colleges.

Foremen courses are mainly offered by private institutions, training institutions of employers' (Institutes for Economic Development) and employees' organizations (Vocational Training Institute); teaching is based on national curricula. Within the sector of regulated further education and training, foremen courses are the nationwide best represented educational facilities.

Education in foremen courses is purely school-based and comprises 1040 to 1280 hours (which corresponds to four semesters). Foremen courses end with an exam held before a committee. Successful completion of a foremen course qualifies the graduate to train apprentices and – depending on the field – to become self-employed after having worked in the respective field for four years.

Depending on their technical field, graduates of foremen courses either work in executive and/or leading positions in fields like project planning, production planning, organization, maintenance, sales management, production, testing engineering, supervision of building sites, the becoming operational of plants and staff training. Graduates of foremen courses are qualified for independent and responsible work but also for the instruction and supervision of other staff members.

Foremen courses for employed persons are offered in the fields of building engineering, biotechnology and food technology, industrial chemistry and environmental technology, electrical engineering, electronics, mechanical engineering, sanitary and heating engineering, plastics engineering, mechanical engineering-engineering operations and maintenance, mechanical engineering-automation technology and mechanical engineering-automotive engineering.

1.2. Master Craftsmen Courses

Just as foremen courses, courses for master craftsmen [Meisterschulen] aim at enhancing technical knowledge and at preparing students for their Master Craftsman Examination. Master craftsmen courses are established at secondary technical and vocational schools and do not collect fees.

Training at master craftsmen courses usually lasts for 2 years and ends with a final exam. After two years of work experience graduates of master craftsmen courses may start self-employment.

Master craftsmen courses are offered in the following areas: painting, sculpture, joinery and interior design, metal design, fashion design, ceramics and stove design, milling, baking and clothing, optometry and contact lens optics.

In addition to that, there are also more advanced courses for joinery, photography, graphic design, dressmaking and textile chemistry.

  

1.3. Courses for Building Workers

The aim of further education and training provided by courses for building workers [Bauhandwerkerschulen] is to secure employment and to raise qualification standards of employees in small and medium-sized enterprises.

New opportunities for raising seasonal workers' qualification standards during the dull season are to be created or existing ones are to be expanded.

Courses for building workers offer further education and training for bricklayers, stonemasons and carpenters. These courses last for three years and are held during the dull season at eight colleges for engineering.

Training offered by courses for building workers lasts for an overall period of three years. Classes are held for 13 weeks (45 hours per week) each year. Courses for building workers end with a final exam.

A maximum of two thirds of the costs for this type of further education and training may be refunded by the Public Employment Service [Arbeitsmarktservice] (one third being provided by the department responsible for labour-market policies and one third by the European Social Fund). A minimum of one third has to be paid by the employer. Refunding of the above mentioned costs is made conditional upon continued employment during the period of school attendance.

The right to attend courses for building workers is stipulated in collective labour agreements and subject to the respective regulations by the Public Employment Service. School matters are regulated by the School Education Act [Schulunterrichtsgesetz].

The curriculum of courses for building workers includes general just as technical subjects. In the academic year of 1996/97 a total of 900 students was registered, 525 of them received financial support.

1.4. Schools and Colleges for Employed Persons – Second Educational Pathway

The second educational pathway provides adults with the opportunity to take school-leaving certificates of a secondary academic school or a technical and vocational school or college at a later point in their lives. Furthermore, it gives people with completed initial vocational training (obtained at a secondary technical and vocational school or through apprenticeship training) the opportunity to acquire higher qualifications.

The range of courses offered for employed persons is similar to those offered by secondary education, just as the objectives correspond to those of the respective schools and colleges.

A pilot project on an integrated form of these three types of courses for employed persons was launched at the beginning of the academic year 1996/97. In its initial stage this pilot project which proves to be more flexible and also makes much use of open and distance learning is being carried out at 10 colleges for engineering. Depending on the educational background of the individual student, this new type of college for engineering for people under employment lasts six to eight semesters. This period of study, however, may be further reduced by a crediting of the individual student's skills and qualifications.

Regional non-profit organizations offer courses which impart key qualifications and provide people with life skills. Supply is here determined by demand.

Further vocational training in enterprises is determined by the type and size of the respective companies and is often organized by the companies themselves.

Geändert am 23.02.2007