Austria is significantly overhauling its mandatory German Austrian language program for newly arrived students, following concerns over high rates of school year repetition. Previously, this program required non-native German speakers to spend several hours daily outside their regular classes. Critics often labeled these as ‘ghetto classes,’ highlighting their segregating nature.
Assessment data reveals a problematic outcome for these pupils. Indeed, a quarter of students undertaking these special language courses lost at least one school year. This directly contributes to Austria’s comparatively high number of over-age pupils. OECD data confirms this trend.
Many students found the experience disorienting. A 19-year-old refugee, for instance, expressed feeling ‘lost’ and ‘upset’ about being singled out from his regular class. Similarly, a 16-year-old Ukrainian student, Makarii, described losing friends and familiarity with his main teachers when moved to separate groups.
The program was introduced eight years ago under a conservative-far-right government. It mandated schools to provide separate German language instruction. However, the government has since relaxed this rule, allowing schools greater autonomy from the current academic year.
As a result, roughly half of Austrian schools have now abolished these separate classes. Nevertheless, the program’s impact will likely resonate for years to come. The proportion of over-age pupils in primary schools rose from 4.1 percent in 2015 to 5.8 percent in 2023. Secondary schools saw an increase from 6.5 percent to 9.1 percent in the same period.
Last school year, almost 60,000 ‘non-regular students’ were enrolled in these special classes. In Vienna, this represented every fifth primary school child. Figures from the Austrian Integration Fund (OeIF) indicate that 35 percent of these students came from Syria, while 27 percent originated from Ukraine.
A recent education ministry assessment for the 2022-23 school year highlighted the issue further. It found that 22 percent of 22,800 ‘non-regular’ students repeated a year once, and three percent repeated twice. Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr called these figures ‘far too high.’
Susanne Schwab, an education expert from the University of Vienna, explains the systemic flaw. Students in the support classes are not graded in core subjects like mathematics. Therefore, they cannot automatically progress to the next grade level, leading to an ‘automatic repetition.’
Schwab argues that this particular Austrian language program, implemented against ‘scientific consensus,’ generates ‘additional problems’ rather than solutions. Moreover, a 2022 expert report even pointed to ‘racist mechanisms’ and ‘institutional discrimination’ disguised as language support. Meanwhile, the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) has criticized the government’s decision to relax the program rules.
