and Education

Introduction.-A free neutral Austria was created by the signing of the State Treaty on May 15, 1955-terminating almost 17 years of bondage! Full realization of this new status, however, was not achieved until the last foreign troops withdrew in the autumn of 1955. Not too long thereafter, Austria was admitted to the United Nations climaxing her efforts to reestablish herself in the family of nations.

All phases of governmental and private life were affected by her new position. A sudden spurt of rebuilding appeared. Education and educational institutions were included in the reconstruction program. Educational reforms which had been dormant during the occupation seemed about to be effectuated. Shortage in school buildings, particularly on the secondary school level, called for an expansion in construction. Almost equally acute was the lack of qualified teachers, as the pupil population exceeded pre-war levels. Austrian elementary schools and the preparation of their teachers were still governed by a law intended for a huge nineteenth century Empire. Educators agreed that a completely new school law was called for. Inadequate salaries received continual attention and teachers' organizations promised—“A new salary law in January 1956."

Austrian parents and teachers looked with confidence to a new education to meet the new goals set for the Second Republic. The tri-fold pattern of the new state gradually became clear: national, neutral, and international. The first received immediate attention. "Education for Citizenship" ranked first among aims drawn up by teachers' conventions, called in 1945. To understand this, one must recall that Austria ceased to exist in March 1938. A whole generation of her youth had never known their Fatherland, and fully believed the German Reich to be their nation. Hence, post-war educational literature and decrees re-echo the need for Austrian History as the core for all curricula. On the other hand, Austria emphasized her need of being a part of the world community by continual cooperation with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

In adidtion, thousands of Austrian teachers and students have participated, and continue to do so, in educational exchange programs with England, the United States, France, Italy, and many other lands.

Austrian education in the aftermath of war. The present structure of Austrian education reflects the forces that have molded Austrian history. The definitive school legislation governing elementary, secondary, and higher education was set during the Empire. Due to the autonomy of the educational structure in the Dual Monarchy, it was possible to keep a national system of education emanating from the Ministry of Education in Vienna, even after the dismemberment in 1918. The famous "School Reform," initiated in Vienna during the early twenties, introduced new forms of school and curricular organization. Just before the debacle of 1938 some of the long-sought reforms in teacher education seemed about to be attained. It was to this level that Austrian education returned at the end of World War II in many areas of elementary and secondary education. The Nazi domination. cancelled out the entire Austrian educational system, suspended its private schools, and moved the Ministry to Berlin. Yet these negative aspects served as a spur to post-war educators to return to the Austrian educational law existing prior to March 1938.

The Allied Occupation, too, has had lasting effects upon Austrian education. In fact, a report on Austrian Education in the period 1945-1956 can scarcely be written without some reference to the reorganization of Austrian education in the various zones of Allied Occupation under which a stable parliamentary government was set up in the late spring of 1945. One of the chief aims with reference to education, was to restore the centralizing Ministry of Education and get the entire school system into working order. In spite of the distressing social and economic conditions under which they labored. Austrian teachers, parents, school authorities, and students worked cooperatively to rebuild their destroyed schools and a faith in their restored government.

The avowed aim of the new Ministry was to restore schools along the lines operating when the National Socialists took the country over, rather than to plan an immediate school reform.1 However, the Minister of Education, Dr. Hurdes, made it clear in his keynote address in November 1945, that a completely new school law was needed since the present structure under the Elementary School Law of 1869 "is

1 Building a New Republic. Times Educational Supplement (London), No. 1588, (Oct. 6, 1945), p. 472.

creaking with age, and meant for an Empire rather than the small dismembered fragment that is Austria.'

For expediency, the Ministry of Education returned to the 1932 curriculum and school laws, especially in the realm of teacher education. The laws of 1922-38 represented the highest peak in educational advancement attained in Austria. Featherstone points out that this constituted in itself really a "new system of education" for Austria, since the philosophy and type of education offered in the years preceding the Nazi invasion while old historically, were utterly new and completely different from those of the Nazis.3

Some laws were difficult to change; for example, the existing salary schedules, which included not only teachers, but all government employees. The complicated salary laws have led teachers' organizations to demand a complete overhauling and return to the simpler form existing before 1938. It is generally agreed, however, that there is a need for a recodification and simplification of almost all present Austrian school regulations.4

One of the chief causes for the 10-year delay in effecting these recommended legislative reforms was the quadripartite occupation. At first considerable diversity in practices existed in the various federal lands of Austria, but after 1947, there was no doubt that supervision and control emanated from the Ministry of Education in Vienna. There was reluctance however, on the part of all members of the Coalition in pressing new bills through Parliament, since such legislation was subject to review and possible rejection by the Allied Control.

Elementary teacher education.-The reconstruction of schools and teacher education in the various zones of occupation is the story of a heroic struggle of teachers, parents, and students to build a new way of life. The City of Vienna, for example, divided into four governing Zones: American, British, Russian, and French, found itself in a sorry condition in the spring of 1945. Only 102 school buildings of the city's 410 were unaffected by the heavy bombings; 38 had been completely destroyed. Getting the children back into the schools seemed an insurountable problem. In May 1945, it was estimated that about 70,000

Ludwig Battista. Die Paedagogische Entwicklung des Pflichtschulwesens und der ehrerbildung von 1848-1948. 100 Jahre Unterrichts Ministeriums Festschrift. Wien: Bundes nterrichtsministerium, 1949. p. 166.

W. B. Featherstone. The New Education in Austria. Teachers College Record, 48:78. November 1946.

Hermann Zeissl. Die Rechtsorganisation des Pflichtschulwesens der Lehrerbildung und der Schulaufsicht von 1848-1948. 100 Jahre Unterrichts Ministeriums. Festschrift. Wien; Bandesministerium fuer Unterricht, 1949. p. 192.

pupils of compulsory school age were in Vienna; the bulk of the child population were still in protective shelters in the country. The sudden return of these youngsters by early summer shot the pupil population up to over 90,000. There were no adequate school facilities to handle them.5

The City School Board was hastily reassembled, and the dauntless citizens of Vienna went to work with tools, pails of mortar, and bricks to rebuild their schools. Most of the work was on a voluntary basis, and constituted a remarkable example of a grassroots movement of citizens driven by a common purpose to provide their children with a sound, basic education.

Much less easy to overcome was the teacher shortage. It is true that the Nazis far from neglecting teacher education, had encouraged it; and, if anything, there was an overproduction at the various state teachertraining schools. The shortage referred to was one of properly qualified personnel. Before teachers were permitted to resume their positions, it was necessary for the four-power board, organized for the purpose, to examine their political activities during the Nazi occupation. By April 1946, 5,550 teachers had been certified and returned to their classrooms. This did not even begin to fill half the teaching posts. It was necessary to recall many retired teachers and to provide for temporary licenses.6

It was not surprising that teacher education received prompt attention. Refresher courses were set up early in the spring of 1945 in the three state teacher-training schools of Vienna. After the return of private school property, the Ursuline teacher-training schools in three of Vienna's districts also were included in the retraining program. In-service education of teachers, rather than the preparation of new teachers, was the first concern of the city. It was not possible to attend both, and the reconversion of older teachers seemed less onerous. Young teachers who had just started on their careers were included in these early workshops, not only because of the need for a political reorientation, but because the greatly abbreviated type of training courses given in the teacher-training schools from 1939 to 1945 was deemed inadequate.

5 Albert Krassnigg. Das oesterreichische Schulwesen nach 1945; Das Wiener Pflichtschulwesen seit 1945. Paedagogische Mitteilungen. Beilage zum Verordnungsblatt des Bundesministeriums fuer Unterricht, Jahrgang 1953, Stueck 10, Wien: Unterrichtsministerium, 1953. p. 92 and 93 Ibid., p. 92-94.

7 Anton Simonic. Die Wiener Lehrer-und Lehrerinnenbildungsanstalten seit 1945 Paedagogische Mitteilungen, Beilage zum Verordnungsblatt des Bundesministeriums fuer Unterricht, Wien: Jahrgang 1953, Stueck II, p. 116.

Austrian educators were anxious to catch up on methodology and curriculum organization. A great need was felt for demonstration elasses where the newer techniques might be presented. This meant restoring the old practice or model schools which were always attached to Austrian teacher-training schools. Before long, the practice schools and the 2-year courses for kindergarten teachers and instructors in handicrafts and needlework, as well as for teachers in the afternoon play schools, called "Horts" (see p.) were in full swing.8

Teachers' organizations participated fully in this reeducation program and made it possible to prepare large numbers of teachers in a comparatively short period. Eighteen branches of the Teachers' Associations Ibid., p. 92.