More than one in four Upper Austrian children have another first language

More than a quarter of children aged three to five in early education facilities in Upper Austria have a first language other than German, according to a new report from Statistics Austria, reported by ORF. Family Minister Claudia Bauer called for more German courses for parents on Thursday.

The report puts the share in Upper Austria at 26.8 percent. It records 60 percent in Vienna and 28.9 percent in Vorarlberg, while the figures are lower in Tyrol, at 19.4 percent, and Carinthia, at 17.9 percent. Complete data for Styria were not available. The report gives a nationwide figure of 32.1 percent of children with a first language other than German.

Bauer said parents needed to learn German themselves. She also referred to a planned law on integration obligations linked to the reform of social assistance, and said many women from migrant families currently find it difficult to attend German courses.

Nearly 95 percent of children aged three to five in Austria attend an early education facility, the report says. The attendance rate for children aged two and under is about 36 percent.

The report also found regional differences in childcare provision. Nationwide, 59.6 percent of facilities meet the criteria for compatibility with parents working full time. Bauer said childcare provision had expanded since the federal government began contributing to costs in 2008, but acknowledged that some regions still lack places and offer insufficient hours.

More than half of mothers with children under 15 work part time, while full-time work remains the norm for fathers, according to the report. The Freedom Party of Austria criticised migration policy following the release of the figures. The Austrian Chamber of Labour and Austrian Trade Union Federation welcomed the expansion of early education in principle, while calling for more staff and better staff-to-child ratios in kindergartens.