Even after the end of the corona pandemic, there will still be elements of digital learning in schools. “There will perhaps be more and more forms of hybrid learning in which face-to-face teaching and independent work alternate,” said Education Minister Heinz Faßmann (ÖVP) in an interview with APA. The summer school will be expanded – from 2021 on, mathematics will be offered in addition to German, and subject classes will also be offered in elementary school.
2020 was not an easy year, said Faßmann. “Who was it for?” But you have to make the best of it. “The bottom line is that we managed it quite well. Of course, there were also a few hops, some unfortunate formulations. But my look back is not angry.”
“As a result of Corona, we were able to bring the importance of digital teaching to the surface much faster than we had even suspected before,” said the minister. The idea of independent learning, new communication instruments such as video conferences or the concept of learning platforms have become common. “Obediently, of course, that triggered a strong surge of dynamism.” This momentum will be used and continued for the digitization offensive that will start in autumn 2021 with the issue of digital devices to the fifth and sixth grade.
He is proud of the summer school that started in 2020. “Who would have thought that we would hold school events in the long, previously inviolable summer months?”, Says Fassmann. The construction with playful elements instead of a drama course was also well received.
Therefore, one will expand in 2021: “It has rightly been criticized that the summer school was only fixed in German.” From the coming year, mathematics will also be offered as well as subject classes in elementary school. In addition, the number of seats is to be doubled to 50,000 and more money is to be invested accordingly. Faßmann, on the other hand, cannot imagine extending the duration of two weeks. “There is also a social need for relaxation.” There will also be no obligation to participate. “We want to focus on those who have poor starting conditions at home or who have accumulated learning delays. At the same time, however, there shouldn't be any stigmatization when it says: This is for those who have been left behind.”
It has not yet been determined whether there will be similar regulations for staying seated in 2020/21 due to Corona as in the previous school year. In any case, at that time you were allowed to move up to the next class with only a fiver on your certificate. Even with two or more Unsatisfactory, advancement was possible without a repeat examination if the teachers' conference agreed. “We have had good experience with this regulation. However, it has not yet been determined whether it will be adopted for this year.”
The decision as to when pupils in German support classes will do their MIKA-D language level assessment has not yet been made. Faßmann was methodologically unsatisfied with a recently published study by scientists at the University of Vienna. 80 percent of the approximately 1,300 teachers surveyed stated that they would find teaching in a class group with additional German support rather than their own German classes better. “That was not a representative study, but one where anyone could report. And interestingly, only one sixth of the sample were teachers from a German remedial class.”
There should be no special rules for students from a certain age and teachers who have an indirect test for the coronavirus. In any case, participation in tests is not a prerequisite for attending school. But those who do not participate may have to wear an FFP2 mask from a certain age. “But this first requires a legal basis and an ordinance from the Ministry of Health. And it should not be a special regulation for teachers, but a general one for the public service.”
