Current Issues of Educational Policy in Austria

Gender-specific Training and Career Prospects

There are still quite some gender-specific disparities concerning the educational standards of the Austrian population. This also affects career prospects to quite some extent. Thus, the number of females having attended compulsory school only is much higher than the number of males having attended compulsory school only just as the lack of vacancies for apprentices affects females much more than males.

Moreover, the trend towards leaving school prematurely is much more pronounced with females than with males (see Country Background Report "Transition from initial education to working life", Federal Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, July 1997) and females are also less likely to avail of further education possibilities (second educational pathway).

Females tend to choose rather gender-specific types of education and occupations. This does not only show in the choice of compulsory subjects but also in the choice of apprenticeship trades, of technical and vocational schools and colleges, of "Fachhochschul"-courses and university studies. Females rather tend to avoid technically-oriented education and training courses.

And in addition to that, comparative studies carried out at international level (COMPED, TIMMS) do show significant gender-specific differences when it comes to interest and performance in fields like computer science, mathematics and science.

These findings have resulted in a number of socio-political and educational initiatives such as:

Specific Educational Counselling

There are specially trained teachers to whom students may turn for information, guidance, counselling in decision taking processes, assistance and individual counselling. Depending on the student number, each school provides one to three of these specially trained teachers, who are allocated 1 hour per school year for every 10 students.

These educational counsellors are organized in work groups on a nationwide basis and co-operate with the respective schools, the students' counsellors at lower secondary schools and the lower level of secondary academic schools as well as with other counselling institutions for final-year students (Public Employment Service, student unions of universities and so on).

Annually held vocational and educational information fairs, a multimedia network and regular coverage in the public media aim at providing students as well as their parents with basic information on educational and vocational opportunities and chances.

School and Quality Development

Currently the Austrian education system is about to be changed from a centralized administrative system determined by laws and regulations to a flexible, decentralized and autonomous system.

School Autonomy Regulations

Within a certain framework schools providing general education are given the opportunity to adapt their curricula to the individual schools' needs and to develop their own profiles and specific priorities. Thus, lower secondary and secondary academic schools may introduce their own modified curricula for compulsory subjects and may individually decide upon how many hours a week these subjects will be taught. In addition to that, schools may also offer non-assessed options. Decisions based on this autonomy are taken by the school community (school forum, school community committee).

Much attention is being paid to school autonomy at technical and vocational schools and colleges. School autonomy regulations provide these schools with the opportunity to specify in certain areas and to develop their own specific profiles, thus meeting the needs and requirements of the individual regional areas. For that purpose the individual schools may opt for a deviation from the standard curriculum of up to 5 per cent of the overall number of lessons per week. And in addition to that, schools may also autonomously decide to offer additional, voluntary subjects in order to provide students with the opportunity to acquire important additional qualifications.

Ever since 1995 the quality network for technical and vocational education has been linking school development and quality management through the provision of practices and strategies used in the industry. The network aims at motivating all technical and vocational schools and colleges to provide for systematic quality development and for quality assurance. In doing so schools will continue the old tradition of providing high-quality education at technical and vocational schools and colleges.

Feedback

Only recently parents and students throughout Austria have been provided with the opportunity to comment teaching methods, pedagogical and social skills of teachers and so on. The relevant feedback-sheets which are designed to provide teachers with a feedback on their performance may be obtained from schools and from the Regional Education Boards.

Promotion of Foreign Language Learning in Austrian Schools

In Austria the European Year of Languages (EYL) 2001, organised by the Council of Europe and the European Commission, was very successful and gave a new push to language learning. More than 500 activities realized by schools, universities and many other organisations took place in Austria. Since the EYL measures have been undertaken at European and at national level in order to ensure sustainable success: The European Union has worked out an action plan to promote language learning and linguistic diversity. The Council of Europe encourages its Member States to set up national “Language Education Policy Profiles” and continues the promotion of linguistic diversity by organizing an annual [Interner Link: European Day of Languages (broken link)] (September 26).

In Austria, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has defined national priorities based on the objectives of the European Commission’s action plan. Its focus is on Early Language Learning, Better Language Teaching and Building a Language Friendly Environ-ment. The Ministry established the Austrian Language Committee (Österreichisches Sprachenkomitee) where various organisations (e.g. schools, teacher training institutions, universities, adult educational institutions, the social partners) are represented to support the objectives and implement measures taken so far. Austria also participates in the Council of Europe’s initiative European Day of Languages and in developing an Austrian Language Education Policy Profile. In 2004 the Ministry founded the Austrian Centre for Language Competence (Österreichisches Sprachen-Kompetenz-Zentrum) that contributes to language policy development and coordinates and implements innovative approaches in language education.

Current features of foreign language teaching in Austria

• European Language Portfolio:
  The ELP is an instrument developed by the Council of Europe for the individual presentation of linguistic and intercultural learning experience. National (Austrian) versions of the ELP for various age groups are being developed by the Austrian Centre for Language Competence, as commissioned by the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.
  
  
• Educational Standards at Year 8, in Modern Foreign Languages (MFL)
  The Austrian Centre for Language Competence runs a project concerned with educational standards in the subject of MFL, including the development and content definition of standards in MFL, on the basis of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages; the creation of a pool of exercises and examples, to make MFL standards more concrete, and the use of measures of quality assurance for the creation of exercises and examples.
  
  
• SPIN – SPrachenInnovationsNetzwerk / Networking Innovations in Language Learning:
  With SPIN a nationwide structure is going to be established by the Austrian Centre for Language Competence to facilitate the exchange of information and of experience, and to give assistance in the implementation of innovative language projects. Co-operations with regional partners (e.g. regional school authorities, institutions for in-service training or adult education, individual schools and individual teachers) are being established, to strengthen collaboration and information exchange between the various levels of educational action. A pilot network has been established in Styria. This regional network is to serve as a model for the subsequent creation of further networks in other Austrian regions.

Which languages are taught in Austria?

More than 96 % of Austrian schools offer English followed by French, Italian, Spanish and Russian. The Austrian curricula offer a fairly wide variety of languages. Minority and neighbouring languages - Burgenland-Croatian, Czech, Hungarian, Italian, Slovenian, Slovakian and Romany - feature in many curricula of almost all school types. The teaching of migrant first languages became part of the mainstream system in primary, secondary, special needs and pre-vocational schools in the school year 1992/93. It is offered as a voluntary exercise or elective subject covering two to six lessons per week in approximately 15 languages, the greatest share being accounted for by Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian and Turkish.

The school types within the Austrian educational system do set their priorities as follows:

Primary Schools (Volksschulen, grades 1 to 4)

Since the 1998/1999 school year, children are introduced to a foreign language (mostly English) starting in the first grade. Schools offer English, French or the language of a neighbouring country. As of the 2003/2004 school year, foreign language instruction has become compulsory in grade 1 and 2 of primary school. The instruction of a foreign language takes place in an integrative manner during the first two years of school. In grades 3 and 4, foreign language instruction is a compulsory exercise with one weekly hour. All primary school pupils receive instruction in a modern foreign language from grade 1 onwards – a step turning Austria the European pioneer in this field.

Regular Secondary Schools and the Pre-vocational Year (Hauptschulen, grades 5 to 8, Polytechnische Schulen, grade 9)

A modern foreign language is a compulsory subject in secondary schools – lower cycle, grades 5-8. In most cases this is English. The Hauptschulen may decide to follow the curriculum drawn up by the Ministry, or their own curriculum in accordance with a framework determined by the Ministry. In the latter case, schools may provide teaching that is more focused on languages.

Secondary Academic Schools (Allgemein bildende höhere Schulen, grades 5 to 12)

In secondary academic schools two foreign languages are compulsory. All secondary academic schools provide for lessons in English as the first foreign language. French and Latin classes are offered at almost all schools. Many of the secondary academic schools offer also Italian and Spanish, a few of them Russian. The second foreign language starts in grade 7 or 9. Three quarters of all secondary academic school graduates have learned two modern foreign languages.

Part-time Vocational Schools (Berufsschulen, starting in grade 10)

Ever since 1996/97 a foreign language is compulsory for all apprentices. Apprenticeship training for occupations in the tourism sector provides for a second modern foreign language. Language training also proves important in paving the way towards higher education.

Technical and vocational schools and colleges in Austria (Berufsbildende mittlere und höhere Schulen, grades 9 to 14)

Much attention is being paid to the teaching of languages for special purposes and to job-oriented communication skills. In almost all schools English is the first foreign language. The range of second modern foreign languages offered - although not in all types of vocational schools and colleges - comprises French, Italian Spanish, Russian and languages of the neighbouring countries. Recently students have also been provided with the opportunity to take internationally recognized language certificates such as the First Certificate in English or the Cambridge Certificate in English for International Business and Trade and certificates for other languages.

Further Education and Training of Teachers

Post-secondary teacher training colleges (Pädagogische Akademien/Hochschulen) are paying increasing attention to didactic matters concerning foreign language training. Thus, the offer has been extended to include additional foreign language courses as well as courses on bilingual education and on teaching languages.

Recent studies published by the European Commission and the Council of Europe outline a future European profile for language teachers and language teacher educators. The results will be reflected and implemented on national level.

Foreign Languages as Languages of Instruction and Bilingual Teaching

In order to intensify the instruction of foreign languages, the Ministry of Education launched its project “English as working language” (Englisch als Arbeitssprache) in 1991. The project is a cross-institutional concept of subject-oriented learning of a foreign language. It was developed for English, but can be applied to other languages as well. The use of a foreign language as working language beginning in grade 5 means that the foreign language is used by teachers and students in other subjects like e.g. physics, geography and economics, history and social studies. This has the advantage of increasing languages skills and increasing the motivation to learn a foreign language. All secondary schools may offer additional foreign language instruction as an elective or optional exercise (e.g. “Gifted and talented education”) within the framework of curricular autonomy.

Since the early nineties several Austrian schools have set up pilot projects on bilingual education such as the Graz International Bilingual School and the Bilingual Secondary Academic School LISA in Linz as well as other bilingual schools in the provinces of Vienna, Styria, Carinthia, Salzburg, the Tyrol and Burgenland. In most cases teaching in English/German is provided although there are some schools which offer bilingual education in French/German or in Austrian minority languages (e.g. Slovenian in Carinthia, Croatian and Hungarian in Burgenland). The extent of bilingual teaching often varies within bilingual schools. Much emphasis will be put on the further development of bilingual school types and on the integration of lower secondary schools and part-time vocational schools into this model.

East and Southeast-European Languages

Taking into account the ever-increasing economic and cultural importance of East European countries, the teaching of languages spoken in these countries is to be given more attention and will be facilitated at secondary academic schools and at technical and vocational colleges. Moreover, Austria will make sure that special attention will be paid to East European languages and exchange programmes with these countries within the framework of the "European year of language learning".

Training Firms – Taking Business to School

Training firms are mock-ups of real enterprises which are designed to provide students with an insight into the complex structure and operational procedures of real companies.

As prescribed in the respective curricula, training firms have to be established and used for teaching purposes at all secondary schools for business and at all colleges for business administration in Austria. Moreover, they are recommended as an efficient teaching method for business education at technical and vocational schools and colleges.

In 1993 the basic idea of training firms was for the first time incorporated into European school curricula. By now almost 700 training firms have been established all over Austria.

In training firms students are presented with the various trade-specific business situations ranging from the procurement over the rendering of a service up to sales, just like in a real company. The necessary commercial and administrative steps have to be taken with regard to the respective commercial customs and in compliance with legal regulations.

Advanced Simulation

Goods and services just as money are merely virtual, though. Information and documents necessary for business transactions are exchanged by means of new and future-oriented technologies.

Many training firms have their own homepage and maintain business relations via e-mail with other training firms all over the world and with act, the service centre for Austrian training firms.

Just as real enterprises, training firms are sub-divided into various departments such as personnel, administration, marketing, production, accounting, logistics etc. Students are required to work their way through the individual departments and perform the respective jobs.

Educational Objectives

Interdisciplinary, action- and problem- as well as practice-oriented education in training firms aims at providing students with an insight into intra- and inter-operational procedures. Especially the steps taken by the virtual business partners prove to stimulate the learning process and have a motivating effect on the student's work.

The acquiring of key qualifications (e.g. the ability to work in teams, interdisciplinary thinking, language skills) enhances the graduates' mobility and flexibility in the international world of work.

Based on their business relations, students have started to establish school partnerships with foreign training firms which may eventually result in joint projects and the exchange of students.

Pilot Projects on Bilingual Education

The past few years have seen the first pilot projects on bilingual education such as the Graz International Bilingual School and the bilingual secondary academic school LISA in Linz as well as other bilingual schools in Innsbruck, Salzburg and Carinthia.

Much emphasis will be put on the further development of these school types. Thus, there are plans to double their number within the next to years and to integrate lower secondary schools and part-time vocational schools into this scheme.

Geändert am 23.02.2007