Austria

From Language Education Policy Profile: AUSTRIA

Language Policy Division

Strasbourg
Ministry of Education, the Arts and Culture
and
Ministry of Science and Research
Vienna
2008

As in most other Council of Europe member states, the teaching of English dominates to
the extent of sometimes seeming to be synonymous with foreign language teaching. With
the exception of arrangements that have been made for autochthonous minorities and
migrants, whenever discussion focuses on early-start language learning it tends to focus
exclusively on English. In Austria as elsewhere the importance that is attached to
developing proficiency in English makes it difficult to get a hearing for diversification,
and even more difficult to imagine how it might be implemented. But English is so
pervasive in international media, especially the Internet, that there is good reason to
suppose that young people will learn it not only as a result of the teaching they receive at
school but also because it is an inescapable part of their cultural context. In this
connection it is worth noting that in a report by the European Network of Policy Makers
for the Evaluation of Education Systems,7 the highest achieving Norwegian pupils at
lower secondary level claimed they had learnt as much English outside the classroom as
inside.
http://www.culturalpolicies.net/web/austria.php?aid=422
Austria/ 4.2 Recent policy issues and debates

4.2.2 Language issues and policies

The dominant language spoken in Austria is German. Minority languages covered by the
Volksgruppengesetz (Ethnic Groups Act) are Croatian and Hungarian (found mostly in
Burgenland) and Slovene (found mostly in Carinthia). In Burgenland, the language of
instruction in a school depends on the number of students in that school speaking a
second language. Hungarian language instruction at the elementary level is provided for
the Hungarian minority in Burgenland. For the largest ethnic minority in Austria, the
Carinthian Slovenes, secondary education is provided in Slovene; a so-called "minority
education right" (see also chapter 4.2.1).

Already in 2008, and for a second time in 2009, the Ministry for Education, Art and
Culture, together with the Vienna adult education institutes, invited language institutions
from all over Austria to participate in projects and events in a Long Night of Languages.
In the EU Year of Intercultural Dialogue, 2008, as well as in the EU Year of Creativity
and Innovation, 2009, the promotion of multilingualism was an important issue for
cultural policy for the personal, occupation and social field as well as for the cultural and
social participation and political involvement of many people.