Conspicuous pupils

“We are facing a dangerous tsunami”

More and more children have behavioral problems.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

The education system is on the brink. Politicians must take countermeasures now, "because we are facing a dangerous tsunami", warns author and education expert Andreas Salcher in an interview with "Krone" and krone.tv to mark the start of the vacations. The number of pupils with behavioral problems is increasing dramatically.

Salcher refuses to give a school grade to Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP), but a clear stain can be interpreted from his statements. "Minister Polaschek is a pure system administrator. There has been a total standstill for two years." However, the Austrian education system is heading towards more and more problems, "we won't get anywhere by talking nice and talking ourselves back to health", Salcher points the finger at the problem and shows what needs to change.

We won't get anywhere by talking nice and talking healthily.

Bildungsexperte Andreas Salcher

Kindergartens belong in the Ministry of Education
"The first and most important thing is not new, but has still not been implemented: We need the best kindergartens. We need to bring the position of early childhood educators into the education system. We need to train them like teachers and therefore pay them like teachers. And they must become part of the Ministry of Education. Because in elementary education, in kindergartens, you can compensate for social disadvantages and language disadvantages." 

Salcher at krone.tv

(Bild: krone.tv)

We need a completely new type of pedagogy
The second measure would be more school autonomy. There was already a school autonomy package in 2017, but it was not implemented. More autonomy should give schools the opportunity to break up the 50-minute lesson and class groups, bring in external people and carry out exciting projects. "In other words, a completely new kind of pedagogy. Very few schools are doing this, including schools in hotspots, they are doing it very successfully and it works. But most schools are completely unaware of autonomy because it has never been communicated and supported."

Comprehensive, all-day forms of school are the only chance to reach the educationally disadvantaged children whose parents cannot study with them in the afternoon.

Bildungsexperte Andreas Salcher

All-day school forms for children from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds
"The third is comprehensive, all-day schooling. This is the only chance to reach the educationally disadvantaged children whose parents cannot study with them in the afternoon. The educated classes send their children to all-day schools because the women are usually in work. The less educated do not. The woman is at home and sometimes everyone is at home."

Abolition of special needs teachers "completely crazy"
Salcher describes the increase in children with behavioral problems as "dramatic". "In some secondary schools, we have situations where a child is rolling around on the floor screaming, where they are stabbing their neighbor with a compass, where children sit apathetically in class all day. This is no longer manageable for teachers. We need specially trained experts for this. We are facing a very dangerous tsunami." Salcher describes the abolition of special needs teachers as "completely crazy". "Teachers and head teachers tell me that they urgently need special needs teachers and more school psychologists."

Teachers and principals tell me that they urgently need special needs teachers and more school psychologists.

Salcher

School system not prepared for problems
A parents' driving license is also needed, says Salcher. Parents should be required to attend courses to learn how to be parents. The payment of family allowance should be linked to participation, as with the mother-child pass. "I think that makes sense in terms of child welfare." Our school system is inheriting social problems for which it is not at all prepared. "A primary school class is not designed to have 25 children, half of whom can't speak German at all."

Children with a non-German mother tongue must attend summer school
A compulsory summer school, as originally planned, would also be very important. Children who spend the entire vacation in their country of origin can't speak German well again in the fall. "The learning loss for these children is simply unbelievable, while the educated classes send their children to tennis camp and take them to museums abroad. It's all stimulating and learning."