Most recently there were an average of two Extra driving time per class. In the school year 2021/22, the Ministry of Education has planned 1.5 hours per week per class in 9th school grades and final classes. The planned two extra hours at elementary schools and 1.5 hours in other classes are initially fixed in the winter semester.
Due to the ongoing exceptional situation, the support measures for students with learning backlogs will be continued in the coming winter semester, said Education Minister Heinz Faßmann (ÖVP) in a statement to the APA. “And we will also make sure that there will be appropriate funding opportunities in the following summer semester,” he announced plans for a continuation. “The extension is necessary because the desired learning success often could not be achieved through distance learning, especially at primary level.”
According to the current status, a total of 127.9 million will flow into the additional funding hours in the next school year. Around 18.7 million euros come from the EU’s REACT fund, which is intended to prevent disadvantages and educational deficits caused by the corona pandemic. They are reserved for the support measures already fixed for the entire school year in the 9th grade and final grades. The remaining funds – just under 109.3 million euros – will be used for grants for all other classes during the winter semester 2021, with the focus here, as before, on locations with a particularly large number of students with special needs.
Due to the change from face-to-face lessons, shift work and distance learning, pupils – especially those with little knowledge of German – were particularly challenged in the past school year. From January onwards, two additional hours per week were offered for the Matura and final classes at the AHS and BMHS as well as supplementary lessons in the “non-teaching period” before the final exams. From March onwards, there was an average of two support hours per class for all pupils for support or small group lessons and individual support measures.
However, not all of the funds planned by the education department were exhausted, around 41 of the 117 million euros planned for this were left behind. While almost 100 percent of the support hours for the graduating classes were used, the other support hours only made up an average of two thirds. According to the feedback from the education directorates to the ministry, this was mainly due to the fact that the teaching staff was already busy or overloaded due to the corona situation, the shift work made it difficult to hold the support hours in the class and the students did not have any additional workload given the already high stress Hours seemed reasonable.
In practice, according to the Ministry of Education, remedial classes were held between 0.5 and four hours per week per class, but none at all at individual schools. The main focus of the funding measures was the language of instruction, German; 50 percent of the funds at elementary schools and 40 percent at secondary schools were used for German funding.
In addition to the additional funding hours, the ministry intends to continue other offers that were launched in the past school year: The free learning aids on the weiterlernen.at portal will be expanded as part of REACT and extended until the end of 2022. A total of at least 19,000 schoolchildren who have learning delays or who have problems with learning are to be looked after via this line. The video interpreting service launched in April is also set to continue as part of REACT until 2022. The offer is intended to prevent misunderstandings in kindergartens, elementary and middle schools on sensitive topics such as support, development or educational careers due to language barriers or cultural reasons.
