Oral Matura: Continued Criticism of Inclusion Regulation

Shortly after the introduction of the rule, there was criticism from the teachers' union, and now the ministry wants a change according to the "Presse".

With the COVID-19 pandemic, some easements were introduced for the Matura - many of which have since been removed, but the inclusion of the annual grade in the Matura grade has remained. In the first year, there were occasional problems with the rule: Even those who submitted a blank sheet in the written Matura were protected from failing - as long as they had at least a C in the annual report card. In response, the rule was refined: Anyone who scores less than 30 percent of the points automatically fails.

In the oral Matura, there is no such point threshold. Here too, the report card grade is included in the Matura grade. However, the prerequisite is not a certain number of points as in the written exam, but merely "active participation" in the oral exam. Teachers' representatives criticized this years ago - the rule is too imprecise and could invite abuse.

Oral Matura: Reading questions aloud can be enough

This was reiterated by AHS teachers' union representative Herbert Weiß in the "Presse": "This rule practically invites exploitation." In fact, the Matura candidates only need to read the tasks aloud and say that they unfortunately cannot answer the question to prove their "participation". At least, a court interpreted it that way.

After the criticism a few years ago, the Ministry of Education had already promised to clarify the rule - but nothing has changed since then. Now, under the new pink department head Christoph Wiederkehr, they want to address the issue quickly. "A change will be necessary," it was said to the "Presse". The term "participation" is "imprecisely defined and does not provide sufficient clarity". New guidelines are expected in the next school year.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.