Indicator history

The Nationaler Aktionsplan für Integration (National action plan for Integration), which was published by the Ministry of Interior in January 2010, includes a section describing challenges, principles and objectives with regard to matters of integration in the area of education. In this section, the following declarations of intent are listed: the pre-school language promotion for children should be further developed; multilingualism and the principle of intercultural education should be taken into account in the entire education system; language courses for migrant women and parents of children with a migrant background should be advanced; the acquisition of German by new immigrants should be supported; teenagers with a migrant background should be supported in their educational and professional orientation; further education for adults with a migrant background should be offered to a greater extent; formal degrees and competences which were acquired abroad should be approved more easily; the training of teachers should include the acquisition of intercultural competences and anti-racist awareness-raising should be integrated into the school system.  However, organisations like ZARA and opposition parties like the Greens criticise that the NAP does neither indicate who is responsible for the implementation of the declarations of intent nor does it mention by whom these measures shall be financed.

There are many initiatives by NGOs aiming at promoting the advancement of students with migration background. The following represent just a few examples:

• > “Dynamo” is a comprehensive programme consisting of a network of partners, which offers a broad range of qualification skills and educational achievement for young migrant persons for integration into the educational system and into the job market.
• > EPIMA I+II (2002 – 2007): targeting asylum-seeking children, mainly through providing basic and advanced education, job orientation and preparation for the labour market, psychosocial counseling.
• > Educational project “BACH”: Basic Education – Coaching – Courses for the Graduation of Secondary Education.
• > Project Minerva: Basic Education – Preparatory Courses for Secondary Education Graduation – Developing of intercultural and social competences.
• > Re-qualification programme following Secondary Education Graduation – preparation for labour market in cooperation with the private business sector (apprenticeships, internships, employment)

Sources: http://www.integration.at/fileadmin/Staatssekretariat/4-Download/Bericht_zum_Nationalen_Aktionsplan.pdf; http://www.epima.at/; http://fluechtlingsdienst.diakonie.at; http://www.sos-kinderdorf.at; http://www.vhs-sbg.at; http://www.lobby16.org/; http://www.jubiz.at; http://www.integrationshaus.at.