Austrians are entitled to vote from their 16th birthday. But many of them have no idea about current politics. Why is that? A search for clues about political education in schools.
“Mail for you!” I shout, waving a white envelope back and forth in front of my daughter’s nose. The almost 16-year-old opens the object with a mixture of reluctance and skeptical curiosity. Sender: City of Vienna. She begins to read slowly and aloud: “From your 16th birthday you are entitled to vote… I therefore invite you to an event of your choice… Michael Ludwig”.
She looks at me questioningly: “Who is Michael Ludwig?” “The mayor of Vienna,” I answer. She leaves the room with a mumbled, drawn-out “oookeee.” I stand in the kitchen, slightly shocked. What went wrong here? Did we not talk to her enough about politics? Was it never mentioned in school? Or does this simply fall under “no one is interested in politics at this age anyway”!? It’s good that there won’t be an election in October 2023. But who will give her the knowledge until the next election day? Who is responsible for political education?
In 2007, the voting age in Austria was lowered from 18 to 16 years. The discussion about political education in schools has been going on for at least as long. Should it be its own subject, should it be taught across disciplines? Where should we squeeze it into the schedule?
The first look at the Ministry of Education website is not very fruitful. It says: “Political education is anchored in Austrian schools in various ways. For all school types and school levels as a teaching principle as well as as an independent subject or as a combined subject in school types at secondary level 1 or 2. In addition, school democracy should make its contribution to political education.
Translated to me, this means: On the whole, political education does not take place at a specific point in time. It is not checked and it is left to the school or the teachers to decide whether and in what form they cover the topic.
But is that true? Not quite. Since the voting age was lowered, efforts have been made to promote civic education in schools. From high school, the topic initially slipped into the 8th grade as part of history lessons. Too little and too late, as the government at the time under Chancellor Werner Faymann quickly noticed.
Since 2016, political education has been taught in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th lower grades, but only as a small part of history and only on the condition that the teachers cover the entire history material. Which was not a given in Corona times.
The teachers have other worries
I meet a former neighbor on the way home. She has been a teacher at a new middle school in Meidling, Vienna’s 12th district, for over three decades. When asked about political education in secondary school 1 (lower school), she laughs. “We’ll be happy if we make it to World War II. There are students who leave school after the 3rd grade because they have already completed compulsory schooling (nine years of school, twice missed, editor’s note). “They’re just in the Middle Ages,” she says.
“The teachers obviously have other concerns,” I think. We’re still talking about politics. About the fact that more and more students end up in one class and there is no longer a maximum number of students. She shrugs her shoulders and says goodbye.
The teachers are demanding more support from politicians – more staff, less administration. In further conversations with teachers, I hear that cramming something into the curriculum is one thing, but practical implementation is another. They are overwhelmed by the social problems of the students and the delivery of the teaching material; there is no space for political education.
“From now on in all teaching subjects”
Vienna’s deputy mayor and city councilor for education, Christoph Wiederkehr from the Neos, is responsible for educational issues. The city council refers to the new curriculum that has just come into force for elementary schools and lower/middle schools. Political education no longer only appears in combination with history, but as an overarching topic “that must be taken into account in all teaching subjects.”
This means “not only equipping learners with knowledge, understanding and skills, but also enabling them to want to become active in society in the service of human rights, democracy and the rule of law”.
Furthermore, competence goals were set for the first time, such as “understanding and evaluating various political ideas and concepts such as power, authority and justice as well as principles of the Austrian constitution”.
“The mayor’s name must have been forgotten.”
Sounds good at first. But how exactly is this supposed to work? The key to returning lies in further training and further education measures for the teaching staff. Teachers teaching history and political education have already been able to request support from competence centers such as Polis (Politics in Schools) or the Center for Political Education (ZPB). Now this should apply to all teachers. According to Wiederkehr, during further training measures, they are explicitly informed that “political education must be taken into account as an overarching topic.”
“The school management and school supervision are superiors and it is their responsibility to ensure compliance with the curriculum,” says Wiederkehr. “If there are indications that the teaching work is not being completed, measures for further training must be initiated, or the success of the lesson must also be monitored in the class.”
And who controls whether political education takes place in class?
However, knowing the name of the current mayor of Vienna is not explicitly included in the curriculum. However, Wiederkehr admits that one can assume “that important figures in public political life will be discussed. The declarative knowledge about the current mayor must therefore have somehow been forgotten or passed by.”
The importance of political education is not only evident in Austria. Professors in Germany were calling out these days more democratic education in schools on. The tenor is that political education is often only a marginal phenomenon in combination with other subjects and competes with other smaller topics for hours. The consequences of this lack of engagement with this topic are political extremism and social polarization and “confidence in parties and in democracy, not only as a form of government, but as a way of life, is declining,” said Professor Klaus Zierer recently to the German Press Agency (dpa).
Own school subject problematic
In Austria, with the lowering of the voting age, the voices for a separate school subject “political education” became louder. The Greens demanded it at the time. In his “Speech on the Future of the Nation” in the spring, Chancellor Karl Nehammer of the ÖVP emphasized the importance of “schools that meet the demands of the times”. The focus should be on political education and media literacy. But the call for a separate subject became quieter. City Councilor for Education Wiederkehr sees the new curriculum as sufficiently anchoring the content. A separate teaching subject in secondary level 1 is not necessary.
There are many reasons why it is difficult to intervene in the timetable and create new subjects. “A student day cannot be extended endlessly,” says Patricia Hladschik from the Polis Center. “When a new subject is introduced, cuts have to be made elsewhere. “There is also no separate teacher training program for political education at the university; one would first have to be created. The fact that many students are not allowed to vote because they do not have Austrian citizenship is one of many current challenges. But this discussion is different.”
And my daughter? She still has a year until the election – but at least she now knows who Michael Ludwig is. The rest remains to be seen.
2023-09-21 03:02:11
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