Budget of 4.5 million euros – Polaschek: more support for German in schools

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Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) expands the promotion of German in schools. In addition, ‘transition courses’ are being set up in which Ukrainian students can learn the language after completing compulsory education, thus making it easier to get a foothold in the school system and the professional world. There should also be support offers in the summer school.

In this way, primary school students should be able to receive German support even if they are no longer assigned to German support classes or courses. Currently, there are about 32,000 children and young people who, according to the MIKA-D language tests, cannot attend classes due to a lack of knowledge of German and are therefore listed as non-degree students.

They receive a maximum of two years of special German language support and are only graded in the subjects for which they can receive a positive grade. Since 2018/19, such students are generally required to take separate German remediation classes.

When the maximum duration of two years has expired, the students lose their extraordinary status and thus also their German promotion. In the future, however, the federal government will also make an offer to this group in primary schools, Polaschek announced at a press conference on Tuesday. It is not yet possible to estimate how many students are likely to make use of this extra offer.

From 2022, the federal financial framework provides 4.5 million euros per year for the financing measure and permanent positions are allocated on the basis of the proportion of special primary school pupils in relation to the total number of primary school pupils. Hamann assumes that the offer will mainly be available in metropolitan areas.

Summer schools as an important financing measure
As an extra measure, transition courses have been offered since the end of May for Ukrainian schoolchildren who no longer have to go to school. This is intended to support young people over 15 who want to improve their German language skills when entering grammar school or a BMHS or in a profession – even during the summer holidays. There are 27 lessons per week planned, the majority for German. The summer schools are also an important support measure for this group.

Currently, a total of 11,000 refugees from Ukraine have arrived in the Austrian school system, refugee coordinator Michael Takacs said, speaking of a “remarkable achievement”. When asked, Polaschek defended the fact that the ministry prefers its own remedial German classes for the education of Ukrainian children and young people, although these are quite controversial among experts. As Ukrainian refugees change careers during the year, they also need a special offer. Green Education spokeswoman Hamann pointed out that the individual German support classes are currently being evaluated in general and further improved after that.

Source: Krone

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