Education in Austria

Submitted by Dillon Otto on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Vienna, Austria sponsored by the Department of Education…

I flew into Vienna, Austria on Saturday, January 4th and have been here for about six days. The country is beautiful and there is so much to do in just Vienna alone. There are so many things that have surprised me about this country already and it’s been less than a week. We take public transportation everywhere and it has been quite a struggle figuring it out. All of the street names are in German and German is the primary language spoken by the citizens of Austria, which has made it really tough figuring out which stops we need to get off and on at. We take a bus, a train, and then another bus to get to the school that we are interning at and it takes about an hour which seemed like a pretty crazy commute to us, although our adviser said that in Austria an hour commute is very common.

Working in the school in Vienna has been quite a culture shock because they are only in school from 8am to 12pm. I think it’s crazy because I don’t know how the students are able to really retain any information from having such a short school day. The other strange thing is that in Austria, students have to take off their outdoor shoes and put on “house slippers” which are either Birkenstock like sandals or crocs. The reason that they do this is to keep dirt and mud from being brought into the classroom from outside. The schoolteachers in Vienna also have to teach gym and be able to play either the flute, guitar, or piano if they want to get their teaching degree on top of teaching all of the other subjects. So, unlike in the United States students stay in their own classroom for most of the time that they are in school except for when they have gym, which the teacher hosts in another room. I also found it odd that between the teaching of different subjects, students take breaks to eat snacks, play games, and have conversations and these breaks are for as long as the teacher wants. It’s been really interesting because the students are very independent for being 4th graders and the teacher seems to have the freedom to teach and take breaks for as long as she deems necessary.

I’ve had the opportunity to teach English with the native speaker teacher and it has been awesome! The students are very good at English for being so young and they are all interested in the United States and where I come from. I’m excited to teach them as much as I can about the United States and to learn about Austria. That’s all for now and I look forward to writing about my lessons and the future experiences I’m going to have in Europe!

This first photo is the Hofburg Palace. The Hofburg is the former imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty, but today it is the residence and workplace of the President of Austria and is also the host of multiple museums. The name translates to “Castle of the Court” and has multiple different wings inspired by different eras of Austrian history. It was originally built in the 13th century and has been expanded upon by numerous architect.
This image is of St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom). The Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna. The Romanesque and Gothic form of the cathedral was initiated in the 1300s and was built on the ruins of two earlier churches, the first being built in 1147. St. Stephen’s is the most important religious building in Vienna and it’s multicolored tile roof has become one of the most recognizable symbols in the city of Vienna.