Staff shortage

Recruitment of teachers remains a challenge

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Anja Götz)

The recently published National Education Report shows that teacher shortages and the recruitment of teachers remain a major challenge.

Over the past ten years, the number of six to 14-year-olds has risen by five percent and is expected to increase by a further two percent over the next ten years - while at the same time teachers are retiring. Specifically, a fifth of primary school teachers and more than a quarter of secondary school teachers are currently aged 55 or over, meaning that these people will retire within the next ten years.

Slow "generational change" among teachers
However, the proportion of this group is declining slightly, and at the same time a third of teachers in these types of school are under 35 years old. According to Michael Bruneforth from the Institute for Quality Assurance in the Austrian School System (IQS), a "generational change" is therefore already slowly becoming apparent. 

The data in the 580-page report, which is published every three years, also shows once again the changing composition of the student body due to migration, with the parents of immigrant pupils often having comparatively low levels of education and household income. At the same time, however, one in three primary school children now has at least one parent with a university degree. "We have the best-educated parents ever, which could also have a positive impact on schools," says Bruneforth. 

Austria "not so bad" in comparative studies
This time, the National Education Report also includes a list of how Austria's pupils have performed in the various international comparative education studies of recent years - from reading and mathematics to digital and financial literacy. Austria is almost always slightly above the EU average, which section head Doris Wagner took as an opportunity to speak out against "complaining". "Mathematics in particular, the subject of fear par excellence, doesn't look so bad if you look at the results." 

There is still a need for action in the area of reading skills, and further efforts are also needed to promote gifted and talented students and reduce school and educational drop-outs.