Education debate in Vienna: School selection should take parental background into account!

In the political arena of Salzburg, an ideological dispute over the freedom of choice of parents is raging in the care of their toddlers. While the freedoms (FPÖ) and the ÖVP advocate a system that supports parents financially who look after their children at home, the SPÖ, the Greens and the Communists warn of a step backwards in women's policy. They fear that the so -called Berndorf model, which provides for 150 euros monthly grant for parents who are supervising at home, is forced to impose women in economic dependencies. In comparison, the price for a place in a crawling group is over 1,000 euros a month, which increases the worries about poverty in old age. Nevertheless, there is no concrete occasion for this heated debate in Salzburg, while similar grants have long been established in Upper Austria, as Salzburg.orf.at reported.

Another important aspect affects the school selection in Vienna, which is becoming increasingly important. Judith Pühringer, head of the Greens, emphasizes that support for schools not only depends on the teacher, but also on the social background of the parents. In an ORF interview, she referred to the "educational misery", which is also answered by the NEOS, and suggested that the socio-economic background of the parents to be taken into account as a criterion for choosing school. This measure should serve to achieve better mixing of the students, since up to 99 percent of the children of non-German first language are in individual elementary schools. Pühringer urges the children's language skills to be discussed in a targeted manner in order to ensure an appropriate assignment, but without abolishing the system of desired schools, according to OE24.at .