School autonomy

In the Austrian education system, school autonomy means the decentralization of decision-making powers. This means that schools can decide on certain matters themselves with the participation of school partners (teachers, legal guardians, pupils), in contrast to those areas whose implementation is centrally specified on the basis of legal requirements and decrees. As part of these freedoms, schools are also able to set priorities and differentiate themselves from other schools. Linked to this, however, is the requirement of educational policy and administration that school development is mainly the responsibility of the individual school .

history

After years of stagnation and strict regulation of the scope for decision-making, criticism of the efficiency of the centralized control increased. The term "school autonomy" was first used in a press conference of the Vienna City School Council in 1988 , which opened the nationwide discussion of regional and country-specific solutions to the increasingly acute problems at secondary schools . Competitive approaches in the education system or the facilitation of educational initiatives from the teaching body as well as the suppression of party-political or bureaucratic requirements, which were ultimately taken into account in the 14th amendment to the School Organization Act (SchOG; Federal Law Gazette No. 323/1993) were discussed.

In the course of the 2000s and 2000s, school autonomy primarily enabled a school curriculum autonomy within framework specifications, whereby schools can change the number of hours for subjects based on ministerial specifications and introduce new compulsory subjects , non-binding exercises or optional subjects , which resulted in numerous schools with a special educational focus.

With the education reform 2017 ( Education Reform Act Federal Law Gazette I 138/2017) school autonomy was further strengthened (autonomy package ) . The central concern is that the federal government primarily defines the educational standards and targets of the standardized maturity and diploma examinations (“ Central Matura ”), and that schools have a great deal of freedom to achieve them. There is more focus on quality management. Among other things, many school experiments were transferred to this tool, but since then the autonomy has encompassed numerous aspects of school organization.

Shaping

The following areas and methods are mentioned for the autonomy of the school:

• Lesson organization:
  • Use of the flexible lesson time (hour blocks, opening of the 50 minute units)
  • Liberally determined opening times (the start of lessons is brought forward)
  • Formation of groups according to content and technical aspects ( course system : class, year, interdisciplinary, interdisciplinary, project-oriented)
• Organizational development:
  • Development of a pedagogical concept (evaluation and determination of the current situation, deriving goals, structuring the organization of lessons, ...)
  • Professional communication (coordination of all educators in a class or in subjects, with school partners and other stakeholders)
  • Beneficial cooperation z. B. with (supra) regional or international (outside) school partners
• Personnel selection and development:
  • Professional personnel selection process (advertisements, structured selection interviews, planned induction phase)
  • Lived personnel development in schools (development discussions, lesson planning based on the strengths and potential of the teachers)
  • Further training as a personnel development tool (targeted notifications of requirements directly to PHs for the organization of tailor-made courses & workshops)
• Individualized lesson development:
  • Use of diagnostic instruments (language competence diagnosis, learning progress discussions, etc.)
  • Use of extended forms of teaching ( project lessons , open forms of learning, free work, use of technology, peer learning , networked, coordinated content)
  • Competency-based performance assessment ( alternative performance description , etc.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information sheets on school law. ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) Part 4: School autonomy , p. 5. 
2. ↑ Education Reform Act 2017 , Parliamentary Materials.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Autonomy Package . bildung.bmbwf.gv.at, as of April 6, 2018 (accessed July 2, 2019).