International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
THE NEW PROPOSALS FOR TEACHER-TRAINING IN AUSTRIA.
A POLITICAL PARTY SCRAMBLE WITH UNSATISFACTORY
RESULTS. ANOTHER CHANCE WASTED.
Alice Reininger, University of Applied Arts Vienna
alice.reininger@uni-ak.ac.at
THE WRANGLE OVER NEW EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS FOR TEACHERS.
On the 19 th November 2013 the ministerial decision with regards to the new employment contract for teachers,
which had been deliberated out over for 12 years in 35 rounds of unsuccessful negotiations, caused a storm
amongst teaching staff. The powerful civil service union (in Austria teachers are employed as civil servants) and
the teachers unions reacted promptly with threats of strike action. The majority of teachers supported strike
action. The chancellor Werner Faymann, in the daily press conferences at this time, defended the government
saying it has done everything it could to meet the unions’ demands. The moment of decision had now come
since there was a feeling that no concessions would be made on the union’s side. The ÖVP vice-chancellor
Michael Spindelegger added the Latin byword, the dice has fallen. In December 2013 the new employment laws
for teachers were passed in Parliament. In the following days there were heated discussions on the television.
The media inflamed the situation even more with their coverage.
However the results of an immediate opinion poll taken from the public showed that the majority of parents were
against the teachers taking strike action. The opinion was that the teachers anyway belonged to a group of
privileged workers; maximum number of working hours in a week and presence in the school between 17 and 22
hours with a mandatory requirement of 22 hours per week, and a starting salary of between 2080 and 2294 euro
before tax, depending on which type of school they work in, primary, new middle school, higher vocational
school, or grammar school. Certainly the teachers spend time with preparation, correcting work and similar
additional working hours, this, however is included in the monthly salary they receive.
The increase of two hours raising the teaching week from 22 to 24 hours with a starting salary between 2420 and
2720 euro before tax for all the aforementioned types of school has aroused great indignation and is not
acceptable amongst a large number of teachers. However if one compares the teaching hours, the starting salary
and the amount of holidays with other member states of the European Union, then one sees that Austrian
teachers are well ahead in their field. Some of the parents who were asked, were of the opinion that the teachers
were about to destroy their image themselves. The teachers tune is: the worm has turned.
It is clear – and nobody is arguing with this – teachers are jointly responsible for the future of our children, and
with their work make a worthy contribution to our society which is not only valued but also should also be
rewarded accordingly. Nobody is questioning this!
However, many old privileges which date from a bye-gone age are blocking every type of urgently needed
reform. It concerns not only the training of the teachers, but also the curriculum in the various types of school,
the employment contract and the views of the unions and their mandates. The government is now forced to act
and knows that it is on the winning side since the public mood is on their side.
The social partners play an important part in the Austrian political landscape. This is a system that has a long
tradition in Austria, and is a system based on the joint working relationship between federations of employers
and employees, chambers of commerce, agricultural chambers of commerce and industrial societies, all on a free
will basis. Their capacity to influence things is very large, although they are neither written into the law nor into
the constitution of the Republic. These social partners collaborate in the area of vocational schooling. They are
allowed take a position on school laws, and the proposed curriculum. Likewise they are active in the area of
training and education and career information, and support the collaboration between the vocational schools and
the industry and economy. The Austrian Chamber of Labour and the Chamber of Commerce and their respective
educational establishments contribute financial means to the so called Fachhochschulen (higher educational
establishments for applied sciences, with university status). Universities and higher technical colleges voluntarily
send their course curriculum to the institutions of the social partners. Many theme specific events and activities
are financially supported by the social partners. As well as relevant courses, they manage financial incentives for
further education and, of course, run a targeted lobbying for the social provision of additional resources.
HISTORICAL LOOK AT THE DUEL TEACHER TRAINING SYSTEM IN AUSTRIA.
a) The Gymnasium- or Grammar school
Let´s take a look back at the development not only of the school system, but also the teacher training in Austria.
In the Ratio Studiorum of 1599 the Catholic Jesuits, through their own initiative began to turn the former Latin
Schools into Gymnasiums, what we would today call grammar schools. This required that the teachers who
taught at the Gymnasiums should be suitably qualified to do so. They were clergymen who studied at the
1060