"Failure to integrate"
Vienna: More and more first-graders with German language problems
The number of exceptional pupils in Vienna's elementary school has recently risen by a quarter, with around 13,500 children in total unable to follow lessons sufficiently in the 2022/23 school year due to German language problems. One third of Vienna's first-graders now have extraordinary status. Two thirds of these children were born in Austria, according to a response to an ÖVP inquiry by City Councillor for Education Christoph Wiederkehr (NEOS).
The majority of exceptional first graders have also attended kindergarten in Austria, two thirds for more than a year. For Vienna's ÖVP education spokesperson Harald Zierfuß, the fact that they still do not speak German well enough to be graded regularly in all subjects by the time they start school is a "massive educational and integration failure".
Graphic: So many blackboard pupils cannot follow lessons
ÖVP calls for an increase in German teachers in kindergartens
The Vienna ÖVP has long been calling for a massive increase in the number of German teachers in kindergartens and compulsory kindergarten attendance at the age of three for all those who do not speak sufficient German, according to Karl Mahrer, leader of the Vienna ÖVP. He warned of negative effects on children's educational opportunities. As a result, this could lead to youth unemployment, a lack of prospects, crime and radicalization.
The SPÖ and NEOS are thus robbing thousands of children of their future opportunities every year and leaving the city with massive problems.
Wiens ÖVP-Bildungssprecher Harald Zierfuß
The Greens also call for more language support
Vienna's Green Party also called for more language and German support. According to Julia Malle and Felix Stadler, who are responsible for education at the Vienna Green Party, kindergartens must be provided with sufficient resources to ensure that effective language support can take place at every location.
Family reunifications: NEOS warn against overloading the system
Education councillor Wiederkehr recently explained the rising number of exceptional pupils with an increase in family reunifications and warned of an overload of the Viennese education system. Vienna was already taking on the basic care of more asylum seekers than would be provided for in the quota distribution between the federal states. In addition, most refugees come to Vienna after their asylum procedure has been successfully completed.
Pre-school orientation courses
Wiederkehr therefore demanded that, in addition to penalties for failing to meet the provincial quota, non-employed persons whose asylum procedure has been completed must live in the province in which the procedure was carried out for a further three years. In order to prevent schools and exceptional pupils themselves from being overburdened, children who are not yet ready for school, for example because they have lived in Turkish refugee camps for years and have no experience of school, will initially attend pre-school orientation courses in Vienna from this semester. In addition, Vienna has already increased the number of language support staff in kindergartens, which should also bring a delayed turnaround for exceptional pupils.
What are exceptional pupils?
A child is classified as an exceptional pupil if they have the intellectual maturity for the relevant school level but are unable to follow lessons due to a lack of German language skills. For a maximum of two years, exceptional pupils can therefore not be graded in subjects in which a positive assessment is not yet possible due to German language problems. Since the 2018/19 school year, the School Organization Act has provided for up to 20 hours of German lessons in separate German support classes for exceptional pupils. If the pupils already speak German a little better, there are six hours in the German support class. The prerequisite for this is a minimum number of pupils, but according to a survey, a third of school administrators do not adhere to the requirements and continue to provide German lessons in regular classes as they did in the past.
Trade union wants securities
Meanwhile, Vienna's top compulsory school teacher representative Thomas Krebs (FCG) has called for more action to be taken against violence in schools. The current measures are "like trying to stop a tsunami tidal wave with a sandbag barrier". Specifically, he called for securities and the possibility of checking pupils who repeatedly endanger others at the entrance. In addition, pupils should be supervised in special facilities after a suspension, i.e. if they are excluded from lessons for a certain period of time due to repeated violence, before returning to their regular class.
Vienna's FPÖ education spokesperson Maximilian Krauss emphasized in a press release that the Freedom Party had been calling for security staff at hotspot schools for some time. Education councillor Wiederkehr should also set up "boot camps" for "unruly pupils".
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