Politicians have long used the slogan to attract more people with a migrant background to the teaching profession. At the University of Education (PH) Vienna, the share of immigrants among first-year students recently reached 35 percent. These would bring several benefits, explains PH Rector Barbara Herzog-Punzenberger.
If teachers themselves have a migration background, many culturally related misunderstandings can be avoided. At her PH, with an emphasis on diversity skills, an effort is made to prepare all students for as many scenarios as possible and teach them to explain things that may seem obvious to people with Austrian roots. “But it is something different if you know from your own family what it means to bridge these differences,” says the rector
“Parents are almost never disinterested”
Parents are “almost never uninterested” in their children’s success in school, Herzog-Punzenberger says, a common misinterpretation. When parents do not go to school, it is often because they are not familiar with the system or think they cannot understand or communicate it well enough. Then they would rather send someone there who they think can do a better job. Shame, for example because of your own bad experiences at school, can also play a role. “So these are all things that have nothing to do with disinterest, but rather with the fact that you do not feel welcome as you are.”
For the educational success of children and young people, it is important that teaching staff get parents on their side. “To be able to do that, I need to know what the thresholds are, so that parents can have confidence in the system.” In order to anchor this knowledge as broadly as possible in the educational professions, a professorship for Parental cooperation and social space orientation will be created.
Teacher training is not yet very diverse
Overall, from Herzog-Punzenberger’s perspective, there is still room for improvement when it comes to diversity in teacher education. An analysis of the curricula a few years ago showed that there were only a few compulsory subjects in this area for teacher training students, regardless of the type of school chosen. Plurality related to migration or religious diversity was almost never anchored in a compelling way. “That’s a big gap.”
After all, the entire school culture is shaped by the majority society and this must be dealt with consciously. From Herzog-Punzenberger’s point of view, families from different cultural or religious backgrounds who live here should also be able to see themselves represented, for example by celebrating their different festivals together.
Source: Krone
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