criticism of “Lessons like in Maria Theresia’s times”

In the results of the PIRLS reading study from 2021 presented this week, Austria’s fourth-grade elementary school students finished slightly above the EU average, but lost a few points compared to 2016 – the OÖ Nachrichten reported.

Structural weaknesses in the domestic education system also became apparent again. Above all, social differences in Austria have an above-average impact on children’s educational opportunities. “Nothing has fundamentally changed in the past 20 or 30 years, regardless of who was in government”, criticizes educational researcher Stefan Hopmann. According to Hopmann, politicians should have intervened massively here a long time ago. Because if a fifth of the students are not able to read enough for the secondary level (middle school, AHS lower level), this error will continue.

According to Hopmann, other forms of lesson organization would be needed in Austria for better results. “In Austria we have the central problem that parents’ commitment, homework and similar things play a completely exaggerated role, where you can’t just learn what school needs in school alone.” That a teacher teaches an elementary school class for four years “a failed project”.

“Only – nothing has moved. Basically, we still organize classes the way we did in Maria Theresa’s time, and that also explains the mediocrity of our results to a large extent”, says Hopman. Hopmann was annoyed about how the PIRLS results were handled, for example when the Ministry of Education interpreted them as proof of his good work. “Everyone reads what they feel like doing in this study. I’m starting to find that very annoying.”