Tutoring Demand in Austria Remains High
According to the tutoring barometer of the Chamber of Labor, around 31 percent of students needed tutoring in 2025, with 18 percent using paid services. Additionally, 45,000 students could not afford the necessary tutoring. Due to inflation, the costs have risen to 800 euros.
Tutoring Demand Highest in AHS Upper Levels
The highest tutoring rate is in the AHS upper levels, where according to the Ifes study among parents of nearly 5,000 students, almost half need support. But even in primary schools, the proportion was already at 22 percent recently. Compared to previous years, the numbers have increased significantly, emphasized AK education expert Elke Larcher. Fifteen years ago, 20 percent of all age groups needed tutoring - whether it was paid courses at institutes or with students, support from people outside the family, or free offers from NGOs. Incidentally, for a good tenth of the students, tutoring was also on the program during the summer holidays, which cost parents an average of 450 euros according to the survey.
300 Euros More for Tutoring Than Five Years Ago
According to Larcher, tutoring is not only taken to prevent a retake exam, improve grades, or be accepted into the desired further school. A third of parents stated that the material covered in class was not sufficiently understood. Two-thirds of the tutoring is for the subject of mathematics. The median family spending on tutoring services has increased by another 50 euros compared to the previous year, and by almost 300 euros compared to 2020. More than half of the respondents in the AK survey this year spoke of a noticeable to very strong financial burden.
Quarter of Parents Must Practice with Children for School Daily
In addition to spending on tutoring, parents in Austria also have to invest a comparatively large amount of time in their children's school careers, according to the survey: 79 percent of students need at least occasional help from their parents with homework, studying, and practicing. Nearly a quarter need daily support. Three-quarters of the affected parents reported being under time pressure as a result. "If parents have to buy their children's academic success with a lot of money or stress, then something is fundamentally wrong," commented Ilkim Erdost, head of the education department at AK Vienna, on the current data. Data from time-use studies from countries like Finland, Norway, or the Netherlands would prove that it can be done differently. She urgently called for investments in more all-day school offerings and more resources for particularly challenged locations through the opportunity bonus, "so that education can take place in schools and parents, students, and pupils can be relieved."
Call for Reform of Math Teaching
Expert Larcher also advocated for a debate on reforming the number one tutoring subject, mathematics. The curricula and teaching methods need to be reformed so that the subject becomes practical and application-oriented, and students are less afraid of it. With a view to the new school year, which starts on Monday in Eastern Austria and a week later in the other federal states, the AK also calls for relief in school costs. Schools should receive a budget so that they can procure school materials for children and adolescents without bureaucracy, said Erdost.
The Greens see the study as an "alarm signal." Educational success should not depend on the "parents' wallet," criticized education spokeswoman and deputy Green club chairwoman Sigrid Maurer. SPÖ education spokesman Heinrich Himmer took the study as an opportunity to once again call for the nationwide expansion of all-day schools. These would create "real equality of opportunity," said Himmer.
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.