Major imbalance – In which subjects is there a specific teacher shortage

For example, in the winter semester 2021/22, there were about 5,200 students enrolled in the history teacher training at secondary level (secondary school, AHS, secondary vocational education and secondary vocational education), which is only 400 fewer than for the English major, which has significantly more has hours. There are also relatively many students in the secondary subjects of geography (3600) and biology (2900). Physics and computer science, where there are staff shortages in several countries, are still relatively rarely studied (nearly 1000 and 600 students respectively).

Mathematics not very popular
There is also an imbalance between the main subjects: a comparable number of hours is provided for in the timetables. While nearly 5,600 students are currently being trained to learn English and 4,500 to learn German, there are significantly fewer maths at 3,200. It should be noted, however, that in teacher training, two teaching subjects or one teaching subject and one specialization (eg inclusive pedagogy) must always be combined.

Nearly 19,000 student teachers
In the winter semester 2021/22, a total of almost 18,600 people were enrolled in secondary teacher training. About 80 percent of them were active in exams, ie they earned more than 16 ECTS per academic year (30 ECTS corresponds to one semester of full-time study, please note). After four semesters, the dropout rate was 36 percent.

About 7,400 people have obtained a diploma of primary education, of which between 97 and 99 percent took exams. At 12 percent, the dropout rate is significantly lower than in secondary school.

Great need, longer training
According to the Ministry of Education, the need will be about 3,000 full-time equivalents per year in the coming years, of which 1,200 will be in primary school and 1,800 in secondary school. However, it should be noted that many young teachers do not enter the profession as full-time employees.

In 2015/2016 the teacher training was changed. For teachers of primary and secondary education, the duration of training has doubled to six years compared to the past, for the AHS and BHMS (vocational education for secondary and higher education) it takes one and a half years longer than before. In addition, teachers are no longer trained for specific school types, but for age groups (lower level or six to nine year olds, secondary or ten to 19 year olds). In view of the increasing teacher shortage, lately there has been an increasing demand to reduce teacher training. Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) announced that the entire teacher training program would be examined for improvement potential.

Improvements requested for teachers
For SPÖ education spokeswoman Petra Vorderwinkler, given the total of about 26,000 student teachers for the subjects of primary and general secondary education, it is clear that there are enough people who would like to teach children. “Clearly, the circumstances no longer fit. Increasing psychosocial problems among young people, ever-increasing administrative tasks, corona, distance learning – the additional challenges for teachers are more and more instead of less and no one is paying attention,” Vorderwinkler said in a statement. . She argues for measures to improve the image of the teaching profession and better preconditions, for example through administrative support staff, more and, above all, previous practice in training and more staff from other professions in schools, for example from the music world and sports.