Schools begin year with headscarf ban and greater autonomy

Schools in Lower Austria, Vienna and Burgenland will begin the new school year next week with a nationwide ban on headscarves for girls under 14 and expanded school autonomy, ORF reported.

From September, 27 schools in Lower Austria with particularly high numbers of children requiring additional support will receive a Chancenbonus, a funding scheme providing extra money for measures such as hiring teachers, psychologists or social workers. Schools can decide how to use the funds, so the education directorate does not yet have a statewide overview.

Schools will also no longer be required to establish separate German support classes or groups once they have eight or more students classified as requiring additional support. They can instead organise German-language learning within regular classes. Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr said greater autonomy also brought a responsibility to achieve better results.

Changes to promotion rules

Changes will also affect the MIKA-D assessment, which determines whether a student has the status of an extraordinary pupil. Students may now move up to the next year if their class or school conference gives them a positive performance assessment, even if the test shows that their German is “poor”. The same applies when moving from primary school to lower secondary school. Students whose result is “insufficient” must still repeat the year.

Schools with at least 15 classes will be able to appoint a middle-management team to support their directors. Up to four teachers per school may take on administrative or educational duties and coordination work, with a corresponding reduction in their teaching hours. The education directorate said it would only be possible to determine how many schools in Lower Austria are affected after the school year begins.

Headscarves banned for girls under 14

The most widely debated change before the start of the school year was the renewed ban on headscarves for girls under 14. A similar rule for primary schools was annulled by the Constitutional Court in 2020. The current regulation is also likely to be challenged before the highest court. An application filed in advance was rejected because the rule was not yet in force.

From the 2026-27 school year, head coverings that cover the head “according to Islamic traditions” will be prohibited for girls under 14 at public and private schools. Exceptions include school events and school-related events held outside the school, as well as home schooling.

If a girl wears a headscarf at school, teachers must ask her to remove it. If she refuses, the school management must meet with the girl and her parents. Further violations must be reported to the education directorate or lead to administrative penalty proceedings. Fines of between 150 and 800 euros may ultimately be imposed and, according to the ministry, can be issued more than once.

Support required during suspensions

Suspended students will receive mandatory support in the new school year. A binding support plan will be drawn up for every suspended child, with the involvement of their parents or guardians.

From a suspension lasting four days, students will no longer simply be excluded from school. They will spend up to 10 hours a week taking part in psychosocial measures or projects in or outside a school as part of their reintegration. They may also receive up to 10 hours of lessons to help them reconnect with their regular class after returning.

Wiederkehr said the daily structure was intended to prevent students from spending their suspension in places such as shopping centres or parks. Multiprofessional teams, particularly school social workers and school psychologists, will provide support, with suitable external organisations involved when necessary.

School data to be published

School-level data will be published for the first time in October. Performance data, including results from the iKM PLUS individual skills assessment and the central school-leaving examination, will only be published in a “fair” comparison that takes the composition of the student body into account.

Data from primary schools will be available first in the autumn, with information on other types of school following during the school year.