2023-07-03 04:27:25
In Austria, less than a third of schoolchildren are currently taking advantage of all-day schooling, as shown by Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) answering a parliamentary question from NEOS. In concrete terms, 29.8 percent of the children at elementary, middle and special schools as well as AHS lower levels attended an all-day school form or school afternoon care in the school year that was coming to an end. There are big differences depending on the federal state and type of school.
The bandwidth ranges from almost half of the six to 14 year olds in Vienna to almost 16 percent in Tyrol. In Styria, Salzburg, Lower Austria and Carinthia, around a quarter of the age group attends an all-day offer. In addition to Vienna, Vorarlberg and Burgenland (42.1 and 35.5 percent respectively) are above the Austrian average, and Upper Austria is below with a fifth. According to school types, the highest percentage is in the AHS lower grades (41.2). At the elementary and special schools it is almost a third, at the middle schools not even a fifth.
The NEOS emphasize to the APA that the numbers could still show too positive a picture. In Vorarlberg, for example, the value is distorted by the fact that pure midday supervision is also taken into account. “The expansion of all-day schools is happening at a snail’s pace and is another example of the fact that nothing is going on in Austria’s education policy,” criticized education spokeswoman Martina Künsberg Sarre. Minister of Education Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) should resolutely take over the coordination and set the pace in the jungle of competences between the federal, state and local governments, instead he does not even dare to look beyond his own responsibility. For example, his ministry has no information on holiday care, and the conversion of a school to all-day operation also means that the after-school care center is closed and there is a gap in holiday care. “‘Not my coffee’ can’t be the answer,” says Künsberg Sarre.
The NEOS, like the SPÖ, social partners and NGOs, have been campaigning for a faster expansion of the all-day offer for a long time. This is intended to improve the educational opportunities of students who cannot get the support they need to study at home. Above all, the all-day school is advertised, in which lessons, learning and leisure time alternate throughout the day. At the same time, more all-day offers should make it easier to reconcile work and family life. In the past five years, the number of all-day schools in Austria has increased by 551 locations to 2,937. Most of the changes from half-day to all-day schools were in elementary schools.
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