Dropping out of school – Austria
The number of school dropouts and the associated home schooling for the 2022/23 school year has fallen significantly compared to the previous year.
A total of 4,601 children were provisionally withdrawn from school by the end of the last day of school, according to the Ministry of Education. This number is likely to fall further because these ads are being withdrawn or withdrawn. can be prohibited. In 2021/22 there were still around 7,500 reports.
In Austria, instruction is compulsory
In Austria there is no school requirement, only compulsory instruction. Children can also attend home schooling or a private school without public status (these do not have the right to issue school reports themselves, NB). However, this must be reported to the respective education directorate – this can prohibit this “if it can be assumed with high probability that the …. equivalence of the teaching is not given”. Pupils who have to attend a German remedial class are also not allowed to attend home lessons.
In the previous year, mainly due to Corona requirements, many school cancellations
In the previous year, 7,500 children were initially withdrawn from school, three times more than in normal years, mainly due to the Corona regulations. A third of these returned during the school year. The rest had to take an external examination at the end of the school year in order to successfully complete the respective school level – this year this promptly turned out to be significantly worse than in previous years, many did not even start and got stuck.
Homeschooling rules have been tightened
Due to the increased number of cancellations, the rules were tightened this year. Since then, cancellations for the coming school year have to be reported by the beginning of the summer holidays, previously this was possible by the end of the holidays. In addition, the external student examinations were bundled this year by separate commissions in order to prevent examination tourism in well-known “easy” schools. Parents were also invited to “reflection talks” at the change of semester.
“We have taken all measures to ensure the quality of home education,” said Minister of Education Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) in a broadcast. “It is very gratifying that many parents are again deciding to send their children to school at home and not to teach them. I am convinced that learning in a class community with trained teachers is an essential factor for a successful educational career is is.”
School cancellations in the federal states
In Lower Austria, 1,056 children were deregistered for home schooling for the coming school year, in Styria 838, in Upper Austria 822, in Vienna 497, in Tyrol 438, in Carinthia 339, in Salzburg 283, in Vorarlberg 209 and in Burgenland 119 all countries recorded declines.
These numbers will continue to fall. The school prohibits the registrations, for example, if the children were already deregistered in the previous year and did not successfully complete the external exams. The school year must then be repeated in the regular school. In addition, you can switch back to a school with public rights at any time.