In Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland, the holidays are over today. Upper Austria’s students still have a week’s grace period. This also applies to those who are currently being desperately sought after: educators.
8,600 teaching positions have been advertised at Austria’s schools this year – with a total of around 120,000 teachers. Just before the start of the school year, not all of them are occupied. Minister of Education Martin Polaschek (VP) tried to calm down at the weekend: “Some horror scenarios were predicted and outlined for the school year just starting. The lessons are all held. But it was and is a huge challenge for education management,” says Polaschek. Overtime, part-time and students (see report above) should guarantee that there are no downtimes.
In Upper Austria, 247 of the 1,300 jobs initially advertised are still available. According to the Education Directorate, there are 200 applicants for this. Individual subjects and regions are particularly affected by the shortage of teachers. According to this, the most difficult positions to fill are at middle schools and class-leading apprenticeships at elementary schools. Polaschek announced that there would be talks next week “on how we can improve teacher training”.
Source: Nachrichten
