2023-04-18 14:31:07
Parliamentary groups discussed strategies to eliminate the shortage of teachers
Vienna (PK) – Austria has been fighting a shortage of teachers for years. The upcoming large wave of retirements will further aggravate the situation in the coming years. However, the reason for the lack of offspring is not so much the bad image attributed to the profession. The difficult framework conditions, such as a lack of staff to provide support, especially at the beginning of the teaching activity, make the job less attractive. According to a study, beginners are often overwhelmed and therefore drop out.
Minister of Education Martin Polaschek wants to counteract these developments with a teacher offensive. The school is to be given a new image, new target groups are to be recruited and the training of educators is to be further developed. However, this is not enough for the opposition parties, many trade unions and experts. They call for far-reaching reforms. The framework conditions at schools urgently need to be improved in order to make the teaching profession more attractive once more.
The causes of the shortage of teachers, necessary improvements in the school system, lateral entry and the job profile of teachers were discussed yesterday in Politik am Ring, the Internet TV program of Parliament moderated by Gerald Groß, representatives of the five parliamentary groups with Andreas Schnider from the Quality Assurance Council for Pedagogue Training (QSR) and Heidi Schrodt from the initiative “Borderless Education”.
Causes for the teacher shortage apart from demographics
Deputy Rudolf Taschner, the ÖVP education spokesman, confirmed that the shortage of teachers was foreseeable due to the demographic development. The course is currently being set – late, but still. FPÖ instruction spokesman Hermann Brückl criticized that Federal Minister Polaschek was still inactive last year, although the problem had been apparent for ten years. The shortage of teachers would be a result of the many unsolved or incorrectly solved problems of the past as well as changes such as digitization or immigration that were not taken into account.
MP Sibylle Hamann, education spokeswoman for the Greens, also mentioned the social transformations that would make schools the place for negotiating these new areas of conflict. The teachers are not trained for this and their worries and fears are often not taken seriously. They felt increasingly overwhelmed. In addition, according to Hamann, there is a lack of sufficient career prospects, and compared to others there are hardly any opportunities for advancement. SPÖ MP Elisabeth Feichtinger pointed out that many who did the training had been lost because they mightn’t find a job at the time and therefore switched to other professions. Andreas Schnider from the Quality Assurance Council for Teacher Training noted that he saw a general problem in the public sector when it came to recruiting personnel. One would also not be prepared for the changing labor market, such as the need for flexible working hours, part-time work and the like.
The many part-time contracts in particular are another reason for the teacher shortage. If all teachers in Vienna worked full-time, there would be no shortage there, moderator Gerald Groß interjected into the discussion. According to MP Taschner, the trend towards part-time work is generally found in society and also has something to do with the school structure. Heidi Schrodt from the initiative “Unlimited Education” and NEOS education spokeswoman Martina Künsberg Sarre responded that there was an urgent need to systematically investigate why part-time work is increasing. Schrodt suspected the many challenges and lack of resources as one cause. Especially in urban areas “many would be at the end”.
Another problem discussed by the panellists was the extended training. Brückl criticized the length of the training, which was a year longer than a “normal” university degree. Schnider agreed with this criticism. The aim was to increase the training to eight to ten semesters in line with international standards, but the universities then increased it to twelve semesters on their own initiative. The universities also took on too much, they focused on the technical and neglected the practical, Taschner interjected. All three pillars, the pedagogical, the technical and the practical, should be given equal attention in the teacher training course.
The three-year bachelor’s degree and the part-time master’s degree would have made the training more attractive, said Taschner. However, the deputies Hamann and Künsberg Sarre emphasized that many would be overwhelmed by the part-time master’s degree, with this training system you only lose the good people. Feichtinger also sees this excessive demand. As a young teacher you are too much on your own, there are no accompanying measures, especially in practice. You have to “pack the newcomers in cotton wool and say, we’ll accompany you, you’re not alone,” like in Finland in the first few years,” demanded Künsberg Sarre.
Necessary improvements in the school system
It became clear in the discussion that it was less the bad image of teachers than the general conditions in the schools that led to this deficiency. A main problem, everyone agreed, would be the excessive bureaucracy, which does not exist in other countries; centralism must also be questioned.
Instead of putting money into to correct the image, according to SPÖ deputy Feichtinger, it should be used to improve the general conditions. There is also a need for more autonomy in the schools, which would often be legally possible, but would not be implemented due to a lack of support, criticized NEOS MP Künsberg Sarre. One should orientate oneself to other countries like Finland and Estonia, in whose school systems three points would be central: “Autonomy instead of bureaucracy, science instead of ideology and trust instead of control”.
Another consensus in the discussion was the need for more support staff in schools. As in other countries, the school must be opened to other professions, expert Schnider stated. It cannot be that in service law all persons apart from the teachers are still referred to as “persons from outside the school”. Green education spokeswoman Hamann explained that the government currently has a lot of work to do and that a number of things have already been initiated – for example by means of federal-state agreements. More psychologists, social workers or secretariats are needed to relieve and support the teachers. Expert Schrodt also cited the importance of teamwork: teachers should have a team in which they would find appropriate support, and that already in the field of elementary education.
From the benefit of lateral entrants
Education Minister Polaschek’s teacher offensive also includes promoting lateral entry. Schnider reported from practice that there were 1,850 applicants, 80 percent of whom were certified. The selection would therefore be twice as high as in teacher training. Three groups of lateral entrants might be identified, namely those who would have been driven out of the profession by politics 25 years ago when it was said that teachers were not needed and who are now returning, then those from the university Mittelbau, especially from the Mint subjects, and those who wanted to give something back to society following many years in professional life.
The fact that the lateral entrants cannot eliminate the shortage of teachers is already evident from the numbers, said Greens MP Hamann. The federal minister would be supported in this project, said FPÖ teaching spokesman Brückl, since lateral entry had been called for for many years. Criticism came from NEOS education spokeswoman Künsberg Sarre because the opposition parties neither received enough information nor were they involved, although they all had the same goal, namely to eliminate the shortage of teachers. MPs Taschner and Feichtinger pointed out that lateral entry would not be possible at all school levels, and that it would actually be unimaginable in elementary school.
It was unanimously argued that career changers bring new impulses, they should be seen as enrichment and the initiative as an opening. Experience from the most diverse areas of society comes with them to the school, Hamann noted, which also leads to dynamism. This might have been used much earlier. According to Künsberg Sarre, a serious problem is that too many obstacles are put in the way of career changers. If you want good people, you have to be more skilful. SPÖ MP Feichtinger expressed her hope that those in particular who had changed jobs due to a lack of jobs would now return. The experts Schrodt and Schnider discussed the importance of close monitoring and support for lateral entrants. Schnider explained that a lot had been taken over from Teach for Austria, but also from companies, and that a new model had been developed.
Teaching as a meaningful and socially valuable profession
The allegedly bad image of teachers was questioned by the discussants. Schrodt, like MP Hamann, said that there was often unjustified teacher bashing in the media, that teachers were not reported in a favorable light. However, according to Hamann, the “dramatic experience of distance learning” during the Covid 19 pandemic improved the picture significantly because it made the variety of activities and responsibility clear. Before you start an image campaign, Schrodt interjected, you should investigate what this bad image is actually all regarding.
If you want to be a teacher, you have to like children and love the subject, she continued, but the framework conditions, which would include a good leader, are also important. The motto of every educator should be: “None of my children must go astray”. SPÖ MP Feichtinger considers teaching to be an “incredibly meaningful profession” in which – like in politics – one can make a difference. One has the privilege of a young clientele and can contribute to social development, emphasized Schnider. ÖVP MP Taschner emphasized that one is working for the future by using education to make young people “responsible and free people”. There might hardly be a more meaningful profession.
The next broadcast of Politik am Ring will take place on Monday, May 15, 2023. It will once more be broadcast live from 9 p.m. in Parliament’s media library. All episodes of Politik am Ring are permanently available there. (final) gst
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