In addition, high costs – New curricula are years old when introduced

From the autumn, the first classes of primary schools, secondary schools and AHS junior classes will receive new curricula. That was the good news. Because Austria wouldn’t be Austria if that happened without any problems. Because the plans were already drawn up in 2018 and have now been reviewed and adjusted again for two years. For example, there were changes in the field of financial education and political education. In addition, national defense and social partnership were more firmly anchored.

Plans were made before Corona
The introduction will take place on a rolling basis from the autumn. The current seventh graders will remain in the old system. Those who start their school career in 2026/27 will do so on the basis of a curriculum that is approximately ten years old. Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) has therefore announced that new topics and current content will be discussed regularly in the future and will be included accordingly in the short term.

Hundreds of thousands of euros extra costs for publishers
The delay in introduction has another negative side effect. Because the textbooks for the first grades are not yet ready or approved by the Ministry of Education. Maximilian Schulyok, Managing Director of Österreichischer Bundesverlag: “Our books are sent to the schools in January to be viewed and selected. This year we have to send unreleased samples for viewing. We developed preliminary content very early on based on the planned changes, which we are now adapting. But if we had waited until everything was decided, we wouldn’t have stood a chance.” Let’s hope the final release of the books will be sooner now.