A shortage of teachers, outdated education, schools that are offline: experts criticize the general condition of educational institutions in our country and call for sustainable and courageous reforms of politicians.
The school system is partly still in the Stone Age. Lessons like in the fifties, no extensive internet access. That is the verdict of many experts and parts of the opposition.
Anger escalated when Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) praised his “class job” model for recruiting career changers and charm offensives for high school students as a suitable remedy for the acute shortage of staff. Teachers and the union alarmedly rang the school bell. 33,300 of the 123,000 compulsory school teachers are over 55, 20,000 will soon retire. According to teachers, Polaschek’s unrealistic campaigns about the attractiveness of the teaching profession would yield little.
Traveling is educational: especially in Estonia and Finland
Critics point to other countries. In Estonia or Finland, all schools have been online for more than 20 years. There, the schools choose the teachers – students are also involved, NEOS education spokeswoman Martina Künsberg-Sarre reports after a business trip to the north. The mandatary finally calls for courageous reforms from Polaschek. Especially in the field of digitization. “Handing out laptops is not enough.”
Expert: “Only the best should become teachers”
Education expert Andreas Salcher also sees a valuable role model in Canada. “In such lands, learn only the best.” This also goes hand in hand with integration – Canada selects its immigrants – who are then often linguistically better than “native”.
For Salcher, these are home-grown problems. Too many part-time teachers (up to 40 percent); compulsory academization of the profession. “Studies show that this is pointless. Support and feedback are much more important, especially in the first years of school.” The fact that things are not going better in Germany, for example, should not be an excuse. There is a need for better training and further training of teachers. Every child should receive the best possible education in the classroom. “With us there is too much of a gap between what is expected and what the reality is.”
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
