Choice for Schools in German Language Support

Schools are to be given more options for German language promotion for extraordinary students starting from the coming school year. A corresponding regulation is to be decided in the Council of Ministers on Wednesday. In addition to the existing mandatory model with (separate) German language support classes and courses, schools can alternatively develop an autonomous support concept for their location.

German Language Promotion to be Further Developed

Students who are classified as "extraordinary" are those who do not have sufficient command of German to follow the lessons. In the school year 2024/25, this was nearly 50,000 children and adolescents, with a little more than 40,000 of them attending primary school. Since 2018, there has been a support model introduced by the ÖVP-FPÖ government with German language support classes and courses. In the current government program, ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS have agreed to further develop this and increase the number of positions for German language promotion.

Previous Support Has Not Worked Sufficiently

The latter has already happened, with 1,300 positions reserved for this from the current school year. The autonomous choice for schools is now to represent the further development. "Given the high number of children who still do not have sufficient command of German, we must acknowledge that the German language promotion of recent years has not worked sufficiently," said Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr (NEOS) in a statement. "For two reasons: There were too few resources - we have improved this by doubling the number of German language support staff. Secondly, there was a centrally controlled directive from the ministry to all schools on how the German language promotion should look exactly. This does not work sufficiently because every school is different, the students are different."

Schools Receive Choice

The school can therefore either maintain the current model or autonomously develop its own. In the autonomous model, the existing resources serve as a basis - however, schools can choose integrative models instead of their own German support classes, where support takes place within the regular class. For this, they must develop a concept that describes the organizational and pedagogical implementation, the qualification of the teaching staff, as well as the planned impact and success measurement of the measures taken. The Ministry of Education provides quality criteria for this and offers training opportunities and implementation support.

The change is welcomed by the SPÖ: The option opens "the door for integrative models, in which extraordinary students are increasingly taught together with regular students," said education spokesperson Heinrich Himmer in a statement. This corresponds to a long-standing SPÖ demand. "Science tells us very clearly that second language acquisition works best when there is a lot of contact with native speakers." Quite different is the FPÖ: The Vienna club chairman Maximilian Krauss clearly opposes mixed classes in which children with and without German language skills are taught together. "This practice harms everyone. Those who already know German, as well as those who still need to learn it. The teaching becomes a language education experiment, and the educational level continues to decline."

Currently only little integrative German support

Integrative German support is currently relatively rare in Austria. According to the Ministry of Education's figures, 82 percent of extraordinary students were recently supported in separate classes or groups in German. This also corresponds to the current requirement: From eight affected students at the location, a separate support class or group must be set up.

In the German support classes introduced in 2018/19, students who do not have a good enough command of the language of instruction and are therefore classified as extraordinary students are supported in their own classes in German for up to two years, up to 20 hours per week. They only spend subjects like crafts, music, or physical education with their regular class. German support classes are only intended for children in the first school level or newly arrived lateral entrants in Austria. The idea of separate support classes is comprehensive German support so that students can quickly transition to regular classes.

(APA/Red)

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