Austria - 2012
Evidence of modifying school curricula and teaching materials can be modified to reflect the diversity of the school population
- Code:
- RED84
- Key Area:
- Education
- Strand(s):
- Equality
| Short Answer |
Yes, there is evidence that curricula and teaching material is modified. |
| Qualitative Info |
The presentation of the topic “migration” in Austrian schoolbooks for history and geography classes was recently analysed on behalf of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Europäische Geschichte und Öffentlichkeit [Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for European History and the Public] in the context of the research focus “Migration and Memory: Representations of Migration in Europe since 1960”. A sample of 82 schoolbooks for teaching “geography and economics” and “history and social studies” at secondary schools of general education issued during the last 40 years has been studied in order to find out, how migrants and the recent immigration flows to Austria are depicted. The research results show that the topic “migration” found its way into Austrian schoolbooks relatively late: until the 1980s, Austria’s recent immigration history was only sporadically mentioned. The amendment of the curriculum in 2004 brought relevant improvements for geography books, since it made “migration” an explicit subject matter in geography for secondary schools of general education. Nevertheless, it took significantly longer until Austria’s recent immigration history was mentioned in history books. Although the amendment of 2004 mentioned the overcoming of stereotypes, prejudices and racisms as well as the development of a global understanding of history as educational tasks, the history of migration is not specified as a subject matter in history classes for secondary schools of general education. Another important result of the survey concerns the way migrants are presented in the analysed schoolbooks. Although there have been significant improvements in the last 10 to 15 years, stereotypical depictions and dichotomous categorisations of migrants can still be found in current history and geography books. Nevertheless, one of the main narratives about migration presented in recent schoolbooks is the account that Austria has evolved from a country of emigration into a country of immigration in the second half of the twentieth century and that migration is a ubiquitous, ordinary phenomenon. This narrative is contrary to the predominant self-image that Austria is not an immigration country and therefore contributes to critically question the Austrian politics of memory, in which the topic “migration” is still marginalised. However, the Ministry of Education, Art and Culture has established the department "Migration and Education". The department supports teachers concerning multilingual teaching and intercultural learning and provides information on websites, teaching material and tutorials. Concerning national minorities: Schoolbooks and teaching material in the languages of the national minorities are regularly updated and advanced. In doing so, the Federal Chancellery seeks to cooperate with scientific institutes at Austrian universities and associations of national minorities. An example is the education service of the Burgenland which provides didactic material for bilingual instruction. Furthermore, the publication of a new schoolbook in Slovak (“Slovencslovo za slovom”) is mentioned. The Landesschulräte [Federal Education Authorities] are regularly carrying out enquiries to measure the degree of satisfaction of the teachers with the bilingual schoolbooks and teaching material. Sources:
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| Groups affected/interested | Migrants, Ethnic minorities |
| Type (R/D) | Anti-migrant/xenophobia, Inter-ethnic |
| Key socio-economic / Institutional Areas | Education |
| External Url | |
| Situation(s) |
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| Library |
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