Austria - Country Background Information
- Describing the forms of education in the country
- Identifying an ‘inclusive setting’ in the country
- What an ‘official decision of SEN’ means in the country
- What ‘out-of-education’ means in the country
The EASIE data collection covers all forms of education at ISCED levels 02, 1, 2 and 3.
This means any type of education organised by any approved / recognised educational provider: municipality, local or regional educational provider from the public or private sector, working with/for ministries responsible for education and areas such as health, social, welfare, labour, justice etc.
All children who stay in Austria permanently are required to attend school. This means that compulsory school attendance applies not only to Austrian children, but also to all children who are permanently in Austria, regardless of their citizenship. In Austria, compulsory school attendance is laid down in the federal constitution. In Austria it begins on 1 September following the completion of the sixth year of life and lasts for nine school years.
What are the typical age ranges for the ISCED levels?
| ISCED LEVEL 02 | ISCED LEVEL 1 | ISCED LEVEL 2 | ISCED LEVEL 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-6 | 6-10 | 10-14 | 14-18 |
Private schools in Austria are regulated by the Private Schools Act (PrivSchG), Federal Law Gazette No. 244 (1962). Private schools are established and maintained by other than statutory school providers. There are 2 types of private schools: Private school without public rights, this requires an external exam to receive a recognised certificate, and private schools with public rights. Private schools can be subsidised by the public sector – private schools from legally recognised churches and religious communities are always subsidised (teaching costs are covered, building maintenance is the responsibility of the private schools).
The private school sector is large in Austria, with almost every tenth pupil attending a school that is not under public law. Public schools are free, but tuition fees for private schools are widespread, they are therefore considered to be an educational path for the higher classes. By far the largest provider of private schools is the Roman Catholic Church. About two thirds of all students in a private school attend a Catholic private school.
The statutory schools include secondary schools, Waldorf schools, Montessori schools, Pestalozzi schools and educational workshops according to Wild. These schools have to finance themselves privately and have an agreement with the state (= statute) in which teaching and management are regulated.
Alternative education in Austria means private schools. The schools with public law (mostly Catholic schools) are statistically evaluated with the government paid schools. The status schools (Montessori, Waldorf-schools, etc.) are recorded separately.
Home schooling is recognised. There are numbers but no standardised statistics and no gender allocation.
For the EASIE data collection, an inclusive setting is operationally defined as a recognised form of education where the child/learner follows education in mainstream classes alongside their peers for the largest part –80% or more –of the school week.
80% clearly indicates that a child/learner is educated in a mainstream class for the majority of their school week. At the same time, it acknowledges possibilities for small group or one-to-one withdrawal for limited periods of time (i.e. 20% or one day a week).
Not all countries are able to provide exact data relating to the 80% time placement benchmark. Therefore, proxies –alternative data that can be used to represent the 80% benchmark –have been agreed upon.
For the EASIE data collection, the agreed operational definition is an official decision leads to a child/learner being recognised as eligible for additional educational support to meet their learning needs. Countries may have different types of official decision, but for all official decisions:
•There has been some form of educational assessment procedure involving different people. This procedure may involve the child/learner; parents; school-based team members, as well as professionals from multi-disciplinary teams from outside the child’s/learner’s (pre)school.
•There is some form of legal document (plan/programme etc.) that describes the support the child/learner is eligible to receive, which is used as the basis for decision making.
•There is some form of regular review process of the child/learner’s needs, progress and support.
School-age children with special educational needs are entitled to complete general compulsory education. This can be either in a special school or special school class that is suitable for them or in an elementary school, secondary school, new middle school, polytechnic school, lower level of a general high school or housekeeping school, if such Schools (classes) are available and the way to school is reasonable for the children, or if school attendance is possible with accommodation in a school home attached to the school or in another suitable student residence with the consent of the child's legal guardian.
An application to determine special educational needs must be submitted as soon as it is foreseeable that the child will not be able to attend classes in the elementary or secondary school, new middle school or polytechnic school without special support due to an impairment.
This happens either before school starts or later if it turns out during the course of school that the child needs special support. In this context, it should be noted that for the time being all pedagogical possibilities of the general school system must be fully exploited.
The application can be submitted by the legal guardian, the school principal or by official channels and must be addressed to the Education Directorate.
This has to determine in a procedure whether the child actually needs special educational support and which steps of support are necessary.
Before a written notification is sent to the legal guardian, the Education Directorate collects the necessary reports and also accepts reports submitted by the legal guardians.
A complaint to the Federal Administrative Court against the decision of the Education Directorate is permissible.
Parents and legal guardians can appeal against this decision to the Education Directorate.
If special educational needs are determined and when transferring to a secondary school, the education directorate advises the legal guardians about the existing funding opportunities and the most appropriate school attendance in each case. It informs them at which nearest school the special educational needs can be met. A support plan is drawn up for each child.
Within the EASIE data collection, specific questions examine children/learners who are out-of-education. This means children/learners who should, by law, be in some form of recognised education, but who are out of any form of recognised education. A recognised form of education is any type of education organised by or approved by any recognised educational provider in the public or private sector.
This refers to students who have dropped out of their training prematurely and do not have a diploma. Approximately 7.8% were recorded. The number of these students is increasing.
ISCED 3 only includes 15-year-olds. The number of students is much larger. The Ministry of Education only records compulsory schooling. By the age of 15, students can choose from a wide variety of different types of schools.
For the number of pupils with special educational needs, the statistics did not distinguish whether they actually already have it or whether the procedure for this has not yet been completed. It can be assumed that the number of students with special educational needs is actually lower.