Indicator history

Two good practice initiatives can be found in the area of anti-racist awareness-raising in schools. The two projects aim primarily at triggering debates about the topics “racism” and “prejudices” among the pupils and at pointing out the positive aspects of a multicultural society. Another good practice initiative, the launching of a Master course in linguistic pedagogy and multilingualism, aims at promoting the languages of Austria’s national minorities.

The project Macht/schule/theater is a nationwide theatre initiative. It was launched in June 2008 by the Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture together with the associations CultureContact Austria and Jungle Vienna in the framework of the broader initiative Weiße Feder (White Feather). The main focus of the theatre project in the school year 2009/2010 was everyday racism. The objective of the initiative is to trigger an intensive debate about the topics “everyday racism”, “violence” and “violence prevention in schools” among the pupils who are involved in the theatre performances as well as among the mainly young audience. Additionally, the initiative also aims at raising awareness in the general public on the mentioned topics. With the assistance of professional artists the pupils elaborate the plays in workshops themselves. Thirteen playhouses all over Austria work together with at least two schools and render a professional performance possible. In the school year 2009/10, 13 plays were performed, for example: Auslandia in the “Jungle Vienna-playhouse for young people” and Ressentimental Journey/Heimat in der Fremde, Fremde in der Heimat (Ressentimental Journey/ Home abroad and foreigners at home) in the playhouse of Salzburg.

Another project was Together in Vienna – photo competition for Viennese vocational schools 2010. The project was initiated by the Education Authority Vienna in March 2010. With the support of the Association “Economy for Integration” and the KUS- network, a photo competition for pupils in vocational schools was organised. The project focused on the multiculturalism of Vienna and its positive aspects and potentials. The objective was to encourage teachers and pupils to debate the topic “diversity in Vienna” in a creative way. Furthermore, the issues “diversity management”, “prejudices” and “exploration of one’s own origin” should be addressed in the course of the project. Finally, the pupils were supposed to take photographs which show the different aspects of Vienna and its inhabitants. In order to implement the principle of “political education”, the teachers and their classes were invited to participate in the photo competition.

The Master course for linguistic pedagogy and multilingualism started in the summer term 2010 at the Pedagogic Academies of the Burgenland, Lower Austria and Carinthia. For the time being, the following target languages are offered: English, Croatian, Slovenian and Hungarian. The Master course aims at instructing participants, who speak one of these languages as second- or first language, in teaching the respective language to others. Another explicitly mentioned objective is the promotion of the acceptance and appreciation of the languages which are spoken in multilingual areas. They should be considered as important languages of great social and economic relevance.        

Source: http://www.machtschuletheater.at/; http://www.miteinanderinwien.at/; http://www.ph-burgenland.at/Masterlehrgang_Sprachpaedagogik_und.523.0.html