6Austrian models.htm

Various models in Austria

1. Additional German classes for children with non-German mother tongue
This means separate classes for 4 to 8 children for 2 hours a week. The main objective is for these children to learn German. Starting out from the actual situation of the children concerned, they should be motivated to talk. At the same time their vocabulary should be systematically increased. The principles of communicative teaching serve this purpose best.
The contact between class teacher and support teacher is essential as expectations can be met this way.

A disadvantage of this model is that these additional German lessons are only parallel to the regular classwork - and, therefore, out of regular class time. It is impossible to integrate this kind of teaching and learning into the normal class.

Especially for children who arrive in the middle of a school year this model has proven successful because it makes individual attention possible. On the other hand, the lessons available are limited.
2. Intercultural support teacher to foster cultural integration
In this model children of guest workers and refugees should get support in the acquisition of basic German within the regular class. The perspective has definitely changed from a deficit theory to a concept of integrated learning.
In addition to the class teacher there is a support teacher for five lessons per week. The two teachers have equal status and act as a team. Co-operative preparation and planning and team teaching require a re-orientation. Mutual trust and respect are essential. Half an hour per week is allotted for joint planning of lessons.

This approach is based on the belief that social integration - the acceptance of the children in every day life at school and in the classroom as well as in the local community - is the basis for language acquisition. With this additional help it should be possible for these children to take part in the regular classes more fully and much earlier.
3. Mother tongue education for children of guest workers (from Yugoslavia and Turkey)
First language teaching has been offered to children from Yugoslavia since 1975 and to those from Turkey since 1976. The pupils are to get the opportunity to use and develop their knowledge of their mother tongue; they are to get to know facts about their home country in order to be able to continue their schooling after returning there.
This concept rests on the assumption of back-migration; a right to bilingualism is - unfortunately - not recognised. The mother tongue seems indispensable as the "thinking language", which, in turn, can act as the basis for the acquisition of a second or third language. A neglect of the mother tongue leads to overall poorly developed linguistic abilities.

The teacher of the mother tongue acts as mediator between children, parents, and school.

Most of these teachers are appointed by their governments and sent to Austria for a four-year-period after which they return. Unfortunately, a considerable number of them does not speak much German (some no German at all) which makes co-operation with the class teachers and integration in the staff room and school environment difficult.

4. Classes for foreign language refugee children with a concentration on English

Children whose parents have applied for political asylum in an English speaking country are taught together in a class where English is used as the working language. This is to prepare them for the life and the language of their future country. Children who have no such prospects and are likely to stay in Austria are taught in German speaking classes. There they should acquire enough basic German (or English) in one year to be able to follow regular classes the year after.

It is to be criticised that this model is not based on integration, but creates a kind of ghetto. It is doubtful whether this model is , in the long run, successful.

The situation is different in the nine Austrian provinces and so are the measure taken to provide support. In Vorarlberg, where the maximum number of pupils per class is 30, a child with non-German mother tongue counted as 2 in 1990. This meant that a class with say 8 Turkish children would only need another 14 Austrians to be full with a total of 22. This, of course helped the class teachers to give attention and time to these children.

As money is running short in our national budget in 1998, this ratio has been reduced to 1,4. So at the moment the same 8 children count for 11,2; so the class would be filled with 19 Austrian children and have a total of 27.

Actually, it is not just the budget situation that has incurred this development. It is rather a shift of emphasis, a shift in the public debate and in public interest away from the integration of socially disadvantaged groups like guest workers to the integration of children with disabilities. These children now have a lobby, and new laws were put into effect in 1993 and 1997 respectively. So the flow of money has not so much been stopped as re-directed.