Immediately educational offensive: lack of teachers, mobile phone ban and new standards!

Immediately educational offensive: lack of teachers, mobile phone ban and new standards!

Christoph Return, who has been in office as Minister of Education in Austria for almost three months, faces significant challenges in the educational landscape. Together with the NEOS party, he pursues ambitious goals, including combating the lack of teachers until 2029. His political career already included a role as a city councilor and Vice Mayor in Vienna, which gives him a direct insight into the current educational issues. Change of change to the ministerial post fell in the middle of the election campaign for the Vienna City Council election, which also exerts pressure on its educational reforms.

A central concern for the improvement in the reading skills of Austrian students: inside. To achieve this, he has already put together an extensive package of measures. One of his first extensive decisions was the introduction of a cell phone ban for the first eight school levels, which is seen as an important element to promote concentration. He emphasizes school autonomy, but plans to introduce clear requirements for mobile phone use in class.

career changer programs and German funding

In order to counteract the shortage of teachers, return is planning to expand the “Class Job” career changer program at elementary schools. This program enables graduates of certain courses to receive regular teacher contracts, but requires a part -time study at an educational university. The pilot project, which already applies to the secondary levels, will also be available for elementary schools from autumn 2025 and will be carried out by "Teach for Austria".

Another aspect of his plan is the introduction of mandatory German funding courses for students with inadequate knowledge of German, which are to be offered before school starts and during the summer vacation. Return also plans to intensify German funding in kindergartens. These measures are crucial because 95% of the four -year -olds already attend an elementary education facility, but this also encounters resistance in conservative migrant groups.

resource equipment and quality in education

Return calls for additional resources for violence prevention and dealing with suspended students: inside. The planned measures also include an expansion of school social work in order to strengthen the social environment of the students: inside. With regard to the kindergartens, the next 15a agreement, which is due to come into force from 2027, is of central importance. This provides for more financial resources and is intended to create uniform quality standards for elementary education nationwide, including the introduction of a second compulsory kindergarten year.

The political discussion about educational reforms will continue in the "press hour" on June 1, 2025 at 11.05 a.m. in ORF 2 and on ORF ON. Among other things, the challenges of various society and cooperation in the first three coalition are dealt with.

The current statistics on teachers in Austria who record both public and private schools and universities are helpful to understand the entire situation in the field of education. This data is recorded as part of the Education Documentation Act (BILDOKG 2020) and offer important insights into the teacher structure in various school types and federal states.

for the years 2025 and 2026, 450 million euros have already been negotiated for educational activities in order to be able to wear the planned reforms in solidarity.

Extentation of information on teaching staff in Austria are available on the Statistics Austria statistics.at, while Kurier.at [KURIER.AT] (https://kurier.at/politik/inland/ Lehrermangelwiederkehr-wiederkehr-quereinsteiger-Volksschule-deutscherwerb-handybot/403018873) on specific programs and the challenges in the education system and ots.at ots.at provides further insights into the plans of the Minister of Education.