In Vienna, Burgenland and Lower Austria, classes are back in session from Monday – for many, for the first time. Due to a teacher shortage, career changers are now helping out. There are also innovations in schools when it comes to lunch.
VIENNA. The summer holidays are finally over: classes resume in three federal states on September 4th. In Vienna, 242 thousand students will go to school at the beginning of the semester. This is the first time for around 20,000 children. School students go to class for the first time with a backpack and school bag.
Both the city of Vienna and the federal government have announced some innovations for this academic year. The Vienna Education Directorate wants to be well prepared for the start of the semester, but the staff situation does not look so good. Although there are 1,500 new jobs, there is a shortage of teachers.
106 people who changed careers in Vienna
In order to counter the general shortage of teachers, the Ministry of Education launched the “Class Job” project in autumn 2022. What was described by the Minister of Education, Martin Polaschek, as the “largest teaching offensive of the Second Republic” aims to allow side entry. People with academic training and professional experience can teach at the secondary level as career change agents.
In Vienna there are 106 career changers and students who will teach in secondary, secondary and new secondary schools from 4 September. But because this is not enough and there is also a desperate need for teachers in primary schools, Vienna’s deputy mayor and youth councilor Christoph Wiederkehr (Neos) calls for the extension to primary schools. The federal government has not yet planned for this.
Free lunch
There is good news for parents of children in full-day schools. From September they will have free lunch. Families of around 23,500 children are expected to benefit from this. The city of Vienna is spending a whopping €82 million on free lunches for the 2023/24 school year. More about this here:
Free lunch at Vienna’s full-day schools from autumn
There will also be a “Vegetarian Day” once a week in all full-time schools. Afterwards, only vegetarian dishes are on the menu. The aim in Vienna is to promote healthy and more environmentally conscious nutrition. There will also be financial relief for low-income families whose children still attend kindergarten or after-school care.
More on the subject:
“Vegetarian Day” is mandatory in full-time schools
Soldiers must help combat teacher shortage
Shortages of teachers and aid packages – what will change?
Every teacher in Vienna gets their own laptop