International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
universities run by the Jesuits. There were various reasons for the success of the Society of Jesus in education
and school standards. The main aim-laid down in the rules of the Jesuit order was to help thy neighbour to a
recognition and love of God, and to help heal his soul, an act in the higher honour of God. From the very start
they made the effort to have the school lessons progress clearly step by step. They introduced a system of the
yearly class that was oriented towards a class that was homogenously proficient. The elementary schools, where
reading, writing and arithmetic were taught, were clearly marked off from the higher studies. Every Jesuit led
institution offered a five to six year basic education. The pupils had to be able to express themselves in Latin. In
principle here lay the form of a classical Latin school. After successful completion of the rhetoric class one could
devote oneself to further higher study and begin in either the theological, judicial or medical faculties. An own
faculty the so-called artists faculty which was completed with a master`s thesis allowed that master´s holder to
teach at a Gymnasium. The Gymnasium form of schooling was however reserved for the financially better off
and the aristocracy.
b) The “German School” the “Trivial School”
In 1773 Johann Ignatz von Felbiger (1724-1788) Abbot of the Sagan Monastery in Silesia was called to Vienna
by the Empress Maria Theresia (1740-1780) to reform the school system, in particular the Trivial School. In the
18 th and 19 th century a Trivial School in the Austrian Empire was to be understood as a lower German school
which was open to everyone. The so-called German school in Austria in the 15 th century was a school type
developed to prepare pupils for a working life in trade or craft. Here the pupils learned to read and write German,
arithmetic and knowledge of scales and units. It was a fee paying school since it was financed by the pupils as
well as the industry. It was a secular led school.
In 1774 with the General School Regulations introduced for the area of compulsory education, guidelines were
set out for the first time regarding lessons and the training and education of teachers in the lower German school.
The compulsory education of children at these state schools was fixed for six years. With this school reform
Maria Theresia founded the state school system. Model schools were set up to help with the training of the
teachers. However, even at this time the teacher training was not uniform and consistent. A teacher for a normal
school did not have to attend a university or academy, their training at this stage was for half a year, on the other
hand for a teacher at a Gymnasium completion of university was compulsory. This duel system is still running in
Austria in the 21 st century.
The development and spread of knowledge in the 18 th and 19 th century necessitated that the Gymnasiums provide
a purposeful education. In 1806 the University of Vienna established the department for pedagogy and two years
later the specialist subject teacher system was introduced into the Gymnasiums. A recognisable state exam was
introduced in 1856 which future teachers of subjects at the lower grades in Gymnasium had to take.
For the teachers in the compulsory education system, their training was increased step by step during the 19 th
century to two years. The Trivial school became the primary school and attendance was increased to eight years.
In 1869 the rearrangement of the lower school system in the state schools law introduced reforms for the training
of teachers in these types of school. Teacher training institutes were established where the course lasted for four
semesters, and ended with matriculation to teach. After two years probationary work the exam for teaching
proficiency was taken. Compulsory schooling was raised from six to eight years in this state law.
It is interesting to note that at the end of the 19 th century women were allowed to take up a career as teachers.
Education for girls was a luxury. For women who chose a job as their route to independence the way was often
very difficult. Women fought their way to a university education through pedagogic training. If a woman
married she was forced by law to give up her job, so called teacher celibacy. Job, household and children were
not compatible according to the law makers. Unmarried teachers scraped a meagre living, received poor pay, no
social status and were often quite isolated.
c) Changes in the school system after the First World War.
After the First World War and the establishment of the first republic of Austria the Social Democrats with their
recently compiled proposal, principles for the reorganisation of teacher training wanted to have the primary
school teachers educated at the university, and failed miserably with this move. The Social Democrat and State
Secretary for Education, Otto Glöckel, tried hard, but without success to introduce a general secondary school
for 10 to 14 year olds. With no differences between background, sex or social class, all children should have
access to an optimal educational development which would encourage their talents accordingly. He called for the
education of primary and secondary school teachers at the universities. The universities made a decisive block
against this proposal with the justification that for these teachers, academic or scientific criteria was not
necessary. A proposal to establish an academy for teachers found no majority in Parliament.
The social democrats did manage to establish a four semester higher education type of training for teachers, this
model however only managed to last a few years. Special, and further training courses did develop, where
strangely enough, university professors were engaged. It is to be noted here that the reforms introduced by Otto
Glöckel are still functioning today. He initiated an inner reform of the school system, for example the new
formulation and modernising of the curriculum, text books suitable for children, and compulsory schooling no
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