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Example of good practice
Welcome to Primary School Rankweil Markt in Vorarlberg, Austria
The school is situated in Rankweil, a town of around 10500 inhabitants.
(You can find more information on the town here) As it is quite industrialised, a comparatively high percentage of guest workers (literal translation of the German "Gastarbeiter") live in the area, 18,5% of the inhabitants to be precise. Most of them have a Turkish background, others come from former Yugoslavia. To provide adequate schooling for these children is seen as THE challenge.
The headmaster, Theo Furxer, is an expert in the field of minority studies. He has written articles, contributed to the drafting of the Austrian curriculum, given courses on intercultural learning at the Teacher Training College Feldkirch, and co-founded the regional Centre for Intercultural Learning in Dornbirn. The following pages are based on a lengthy interview and two visits to the school.
In his school there are 216 pupils, 9 regular classes and 1 pre-school class.
20 percent of the pupils have a non-German mother tongue, which is a percentage that is about a quarter higher than the regional average. Obviously, there have to be special measures to balance these numbers and to ensure that all children in this school get the best education possible. The following pages will give you a glimpse of the work being done by a group of enthusiastic teachers and a headmaster who leads the way to intercultural understanding in the school and in the whole community.
These links help you to navigate through the main parts of the Austrian project
Telmie 
Primary
schools Minorities Disability Rankweil Lustenau Feldkirch
TELMIE
Project Homepage at Derby University
© Otmar Gassner 1998 e-mail: o.gassner@vlbg.at