Lower Austria says all teaching posts will be filled

Lower Austria’s education directorate has told ORF that all open teaching positions and hours are expected to be filled by the start of the school year, as they have been in previous years. “There is no teacher shortage in Lower Austria,” it said on Monday, while noting that recruitment is still under way.

Interest is particularly strong in primary schools, where significantly more applicants have applied for the advertised positions than there are posts available. Across all school types, the directorate said there were roughly twice as many applicants as advertised positions.

Shortages remain in some subjects and regions

The situation is more difficult in special-needs education and in middle schools for subjects including art and design, technology and design, music education and the so-called STEM subjects: mathematics, information technology, science and technology.

There is also additional demand in some parts of the Weinviertel and in Bruck an der Leitha. The education directorate said all positions and teaching hours would nevertheless be filled by the start of the school year.

Lower Austria has around 22,000 teaching posts, according to the directorate. This year, 485 posts in compulsory schools and 298 posts in the higher-school sector were newly filled.

Changes and criticism in the education system

Schools have faced several changes this year, including a ban on headscarves for girls up to the age of 14. Children requiring additional German-language support must also attend summer school, while 400 schools identified as facing particular challenges were due to receive more staff.

The provincial Freedom Party said the education system was currently not working as it should. State party manager Helmut Fiedler said many pupils had major deficiencies in German and that teachers were dealing with too much bureaucracy.