New school assistant

Support for son (10): notification came too late

No fewer than 1800 new applications for school assistance were submitted this year

(Bild: APA/Erwin Scheriau)

There continues to be criticism of the reorganization of Styrian school assistance. A mother from Kapfenberg waited six months for the notification, and her ten-year-old son only received the additional support he needed in class the following week.

"Everything worked smoothly under the old system," says Christina Schlegl from Kapfenberg. Her ten-year-old son received additional support from the school assistant at elementary school. But this year he moved to secondary school - and a new decision had to be made.

The Schlegl family therefore found themselves in the middle of a system change. As of this year, new notifications are no longer issued by the district authorities in Styria, but centrally by the state education department. At the same time, schools have been given more flexibility in the deployment of support staff. This should prevent too many assistants for children with learning difficulties or disabilities in one class.

Many applications arrived late
However, there are teething problems. According to criticism, schools and local authorities were only informed of the allocated personnel resources at short notice, and many parents did not have any information in their hands when school started. More than a third of the applications were submitted late, after the deadline at the end of March, argues the education department.

"I definitely submitted the application on time, namely on March 20," says Schlegl. Afterwards, she made several follow-up phone calls - and yet she and the school were left without information on the first day of school (which was not until September 16 instead of September 9 due to a renovation in the building).

Negative impact on son
The notification only came at the end of the second week of school. The assistant is to be available from next Tuesday. What does this do to the boy? "He is noticeably stressed and falls back into old, painstakingly trained behavior patterns," says Christine Schegl. 

The "Krone" asked the state of Styria: according to the report, the municipality of Kapfenberg was informed on August 12th how many hours of school assistance the entire school should receive. According to the new regulation, the municipality must apply for a supporting organization - in other words, it is the responsibility of the municipality. 

Neos club leader Niko Swatek (left) and ÖVP education councillor Werner Amon.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Christian Jauschowetz)

Exchange of blows between Amon and Neos
In the most recent session of the state parliament, the responsible education councillor Werner Amon (ÖVP) countered fierce criticism from the Neos and denied that there had been a glitchy start to the new school assistance program. Amon was particularly surprised about a case described by the Neos, according to which a father had to fight for assistance lessons at the expense of another child. This is actually not possible under the new system, according to the state councillor - but as the Neos did not disclose the father's details at his request, the specific case could not be investigated.