Teachers give German classes a catastrophic report – Austria

Since the 2018/19 school year, separate German remedial classes have been taught in Austria for children and adolescents who do not speak German well enough to follow regular lessons. In a survey by the University of Vienna, teachers did not give the model a good report: 80 percent of respondents (around 1,300 teachers from all federal states with the exception of Salzburg) said they would find better teaching in a class group with additional German support.

For the unrepresentative study by Susanne Schwab’s team from the Center for Teacher Training at the University of Vienna, we surveyed pedagogues whose school offered at least one remedial German class (with 15-20 hours of funding in separate classes) or a German remedial course (six hours of independent financing). About a sixth of them teach themselves in a German remedial class or remedial course, in which students of different age groups and sometimes very different language levels come together in order to promote German.

In general, the current model of German tutoring classes is perceived as (quite) negative, especially by the teachers who teach there. However, according to respondents, in order to effectively implement inclusive language lessons in the regular classroom, at least two teachers would have to teach a class with a maximum of 16 students, more than 60 percent of whom have German as their first language .

Above all, teachers criticize social exclusion in the model of German tutoring classes, in which students are only assigned to the usual regular classes in subjects such as drawing, music or gymnastics according to their age and have to take a test of linguistic progress at the end of each semester: the children would be isolated and in between The regular and German support class is torn from side to side. “There is little sense of community for the children,” a teacher is quoted.

Furthermore, according to the survey, playful learning is not possible in the exchange with peers of different linguistic levels and the potential of linguistic models of the same age remains unused: “There is a lack of classmates as linguistic models. This is how the flawed German when dealing with peers (who promote German), “he says. elsewhere.

At the same time, there is strong pressure on children to do well on the MIKA-D language assessment so that they can move on to the regular class. Once there, however, the students would once again lack the prerequisites to be able to compete in subjects such as mathematics or English with the other students in the regular class who had been able to acquire knowledge in these subjects since the beginning of the year.

The study also cites a major deficiency that only a minority of teachers have specific training in German language support: only 38 percent of German language support teachers and 44% of those who teach German language support courses. German have training in “German as a Second Language”. “I think it is questionable to convey something of which I have little idea,” is quoted from a teacher, who only received training on the subject in his second year as a German remedial teacher.

Respondents also complain about a lack of resources: according to respondents, there is not enough space, staff and adequate learning materials. Many respondents also viewed the MIKA-D test with skepticism, which decides whether to switch from the German special class to the regular class. For 48% of German special class teachers, it is not (rather) possible to make clear decisions about resources using MIKA-D.

Researchers from the University of Vienna emphasize that it should not be the case that students with a lack of German language skills feel like a burden and that German support classes are subsequently seen as a relief to the regular classroom teacher. Furthermore, German remedial classes should not contribute to the segregation and marginalization of pupils with other primary languages ​​in separate classes. “Therefore, the education system should seek a more conscientious, more considerate and more open approach to multilingualism on the part of the teaching staff,” he said. This could be achieved, for example, through more specific and sensitive training on this topic.