Family reunification

Children up to the age of seven are the largest group

Teacher with kindergarten children

(Bild: Oksana Kuzmina - stock.adobe.com)

Children up to the age of seven are the largest group when it comes to family reunification of migrants. After schools, kindergartens have also recently warned of a lack of space and excessive demands. The proportion of children who had a first language other than German was just under 59% in Vienna in 2022/23.

Nationwide, it was a third, with more than a quarter of four and five-year-olds needing German support. This also includes children who speak German at home. At the start of school in 2022/23, around one in four children still had problems with the language of instruction. The "Startklar" association, which specializes in language education and offers German language support in the afternoons, particularly in Vienna and Lower Austria, sees "red" due to the recent family reunions of migrants.

Educational opportunities fall by the wayside
"It is the right of children to have the opportunity to learn German at first language level," said chairwoman Janine Fischer. Under the current conditions, however, the educational opportunities of many children are falling by the wayside. Politicians would therefore have to fund additional language support, among other things, and consider language as a cross-cutting issue in education.

According to the Vienna ÖVP, there are currently around 296 full-time equivalents for language support staff in the capital's kindergartens. The government program announced that this number would be increased to 500. Another problem is the current ratio of specialist staff to children, which does not make it possible to respond to the little ones individually and support them in an age-appropriate manner.

Divided opinion on external support staff
The use of external support staff is not welcomed by all nurseries. "Relationships instead of external support staff", was a recent comment on the Educare platform, which called for more funding for pedagogical staff in elementary educational institutions. Language support must be integrated directly into children's everyday lives. The Network for Elementary Education in Austria (NEBÖ) is also critical of external forces.

It is unacceptable that kindergarten teachers themselves do not speak German and then look after the children in a foreign language.

FPÖ-Bildungssprecher Maximilian Kraus

Maximilian Kraus, FPÖ education spokesperson, expects demand to increase further in the coming years. He said in a press release that many kindergarten teachers have poor German language skills themselves and look after the children in another language.