LANGUAGES

FOREIGN WORKERS IN AUSTRIA LEGISLATION AND EVENTS

compiled by Andrea Moser

1962

School Organisation Act: school-age children of foreign nationals entitled to attend school.

1971

First remedial German courses for the children of “guest workers” at Austrian schools.

1974

School Education Act: pupils whose command of German is insufficient for them to follow in class entitled to attend school as “irregular pupils” for a maximum of two years. First session of the Mixed Yugoslav-Austrian Expert Commission on Education. Objective: mother-tongue support for easier reintegration in the home country.

1976

First session of the Mixed Turkish-Austrian Expert Commission on Education. Objective: mother-tongue support for easier reintegration in the home country. Introduction of additional mother-tongue teaching in Turkish and later in Serbo-Croatian on an experimental basis at Tyrolean schools.

1989

First German course for “guest workers” at a Tyrolean adult education centre (Volkshochschule).

1990

Decree issued by the Ministry of Education: teacher-training colleges instructed to develop in-service courses and qualifications for teaching children whose mother tongue is not German. Introduction of lateral entry classes (aka German for children of guest workers) at Tyrolean schools.

1991

The principle of intercultural learning adopted in the Austrian curricula. End of bilateral cooperation in the field of education in recognition of the fallacy of the idea of “guest workers” as people who return to their home countries. Establishment of the Counselling Centre for Foreigners (now Counselling Centre for Migrants) at the Tyrolean Department of Education.

1992

Standard curricula amended to include remedial German courses for irregular pupils, German as a second language for regular pupils, mother-tongue courses and the support teacher system.

2001

Remedial teaching introduced in the Caritas Integrationshaus in Innsbruck. “Frauen aus allen Ländern” (Women from all Countries): an assocation established as an educational and counselling facility for women with a refugee or migration background. Integration Office established at the Tyrolean Regional Authority; financial support for migrants attending German classes introduced in 2004.

2002

Courses in German as a second/foreign language established at PÄDAK Tirol (teacher training college). Remedial classes introduced by the Tyrolean Department of Education for children whose first language is not German.