HLTA Vienna

May .... A reunion

The VBS (Vienna bilingual school) have links with Great Torrington School so every May for the past six years they have visited North Devon) This was good news for the HLTA's and Mark Freeman to have the opportunity to follow up the Vienna visit that took place in February.
On the Monday evening Mark Freeman, Chris Gibson, Julie Ogden, Trish Palmer and Shirley spent a lovely few hours with the staff drinking coffee and eating hob-nobs (favourite food whilst in England). We met at Braddicks holiday camp where the school were staying. Mark brought along some big books as a gift for the school, this was very well received. The children played football on the green for over an hour with no problems. The views of the beach from here are amazing and the children had been on the beach having a great time.
On Thursday morning Marian (Head Teacher) and Loretta (teacher) brought the 24 children along to St George's School in Northam to see where Chris and Julie work. The children spent an enjoyable hour working with year 2 students looking at designing William Morris prints on the computer. The surprise of being in an ICT suite was noticable as the VBS only has one computer per classroom. Chris then arranged for the school to visit St Margaret's (7-11) where Matt Cole showed them what goes on in years 3,4, 5 and 6. This was a happy reunion for the staff as Matt used to work at Great Torrington.
We feel very fortunate that we were able to repay a little hospitality to the VBS after the wonderful reception we were given whilst in Vienna.
Links will remain with e mails so perhaps next year we can meet again.

 In February 2007, eleven Higher Level Teaching Assistants from Devon LA visited Austria on an international study visit organised through TIPD (Teachers' International Development Programme). As far as is known, this is the first time such a visit has taken place which has been specifically designed for teaching assistants and reflects the high levels of responsibility now undertaken by such support staff in Devon schools.

The party, led by dcs Support Staff Adviser Mark Freeman, were:
Chris Gibson - St. George's C of E Infant School, Northam
Liz Hayward - Ashburton Primary
Sue Manley - Orchard Vale Primary, Barnstaple
Chris Mason - Orchard Vale Primary, Barnstaple
Glenys Mason - Mary Tavy Primary
Paul Newell - Berrynarbor Primary
Julie Ogden - St George's C of E Infant School, Northam
Trish Palmer - Filleigh Primary
Shirley Partridge - South Molton Community College
Josie Wensley - Bampton CofE Primary

Presenting the book of St. George's School                    Welcome to our school

Learning English through song

Thursday, 22 February 2007

Visit to a Vienna Bilingual Schooling (VBS) Primary School. The Focus was Bilingual Primary School Education (German-English) and differing teaching methods.Volksschule Vienna Bilingual School, Meissnergasse 1, 1220 Wien.We had a wonderful welcome in a specially arranged presentation from the children of the four bilingual classes who sang “Welcome to our school” in English The younger pupils then performed a German song called “Vogelhochzeit”. The older children sang a song called “A Rainbow of Colours….we are one” - very appropriate as the school is made up of 14 different nationalities. Six girls danced to a pop song, which they had practised in their free time.To our amazement, the Head explained they had a partner school in Devon: Great Torrington Junior School and the ten and eleven year olds visited Devon each year, staying in Westward Ho – a stone’s-throw from Chris Gibson’s house! Arrangements have already been made for links to be developed during their next visit in May.Chris and Julie from St Georges School, Northam presented the Viennese school with a beautiful photograph album about their school and the surrounding area.In Loretta’s room we were briefed by Marianne Richter, the Head, on facts about the school and given true Viennese hospitality.• The VBS scheme runs in 4 classes, Grades 1 to 4. VBS is a modern language project, initiated by the Vienna Board of Education, where Austrian children learn alongside native speakers, in this case English. The school is heavily over-subscribed.
• Approximately 50% of the children are Viennese and 50% are from all over the world, for example USA, Australia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
• Teachers follow the Austrian curriculum.
• Austrian and native English speaker teachers work together in the bilingual classes
• Children are assessed on their mother tongue and a second language and sit an interview to be enrolled on the project
• The two language groups are mixed in each class for part of the school day.
• During the first two years, pupils need only read and write in their native language
• Parents of children at this VBS School are very motivated and encourage their children, supporting the school.
• In most other subjects there is bilingual teaching. Other classes in the school, which are not part of the VBS, run the ‘Lollipop’ English scheme, which is for 10-20 minutes daily. English is ‘embedded’ across the curriculum at various times of the day in any lesson for example PE, science. Pupils learn by taking part in active learning, using songs and rhymes and visual aids to help reinforce the use of language. Children observed taking part were very enthusiastic.When we compared this approach with that towards the teaching of Modern Foreign Languages in our schools, we all felt that we had a lot to learn! Josie and Glenys.

Wednesday 21st

In the afternoon Romy accompanied us to the Pedagogical Teacher Training Institute for the City of Vienna.

After his introduction, the principal, Dr Paul Kral gave a tour of part of the institute. We stopped to admire a series of black and white photographs as he explained their representation of the institute’s 84 year history and his personal ideology that teaching should be child centred with the teacher as an ‘artist’.

We also viewed the institute’s resources library. This provides materials and expertise for teachers from all districts of Vienna. In return, teachers leave portfolios of their work in the library to share their best practice.

We also heard from Gabriele Gstettenbauer, the in-service trainer for SEN. She highlighted two main areas of focus:
• Training covering general, physical, communication and behaviour related SEN, with emphasis on teamwork, differentiation and use of a framework for students.
• A programme for children with behavioural difficulties, providing peripatetic specialist support for both the children on the programme and their parents. .

Teachers have to complete a minimum of 15 hours in-service training per year with a maximum of 23 hours away from class teaching. The nature of the in-service training is decided by the individual teacher, although sanctioned by the headteacher.

We ended our afternoon with a presentation by Karin Pittner, one of 25 special needs advisory teachers for Vienna. They provide a referral service for teachers who have concerns about individual pupils who are working in mainstream classes. Much of her assessment is done with children in the last year of primary school to identify how many inclusion places are required at secondary level. However, she is also encouraging contact at the transition from kindergarten to primary, recognising the benefit of early intervention.

Trish Palmer, Filleigh Primary School & Liz Hayward, Ashburton Primary School

Wednesday 21st

Hornesgasse general secondary school.

Head teacher: Beatrix Taxer

• It is the biggest secondary school of its type in Vienna, with 400 pupils and 60 teachers. 10 of these teachers are not full time and teach in other schools as well.
• There are 6 inclusion classes with 2 teachers each, one class teacher and one special needs teacher. Usually classes are made up of 30 pupils or so and inclusion classes consist of 24 pupils, of which 5/6 are SEN. There are 25 different nationalities in the school (approx 30% are Austrian), and it is considered essential to integrate these.
• The school is currently testing the Dalton (spelling?) plan. Pupils are free to choose what they want to learn within a particular programme which lasts one or two weeks. It appears to encourage co-operation between pupils of all abilities, and pupils appear to be less aggressive while working this way. This plan appears to suit pupils with behavioural difficulties particularly well, as they become responsible for their own learning.
• One of the issues they face at the moment is truancy. The procedure for dealing with this is to send a total of three letters home to the parents, if the situation is still not resolved then it is handed over to the police whereupon a 100 – 150 Euro fine can be issued. There are no registers taken – the teachers “just know who is away”.
• Although behaviour is generally good, there has been a rise in divorce rates, particularly within the Islamic community, which has led to the behaviour of the boys in these families becoming an issue. The head was of the opinion that this was because the boys were missing the authority of the father.
• Any behaviour issues that do arise are dealt with in detailed discussions with the pupils and their parent/s.
• Amazingly, head teachers are expected to do all the administration for the school. This feat includes from dealing with the truancy issues, to ordering new furniture. She can’t see things changing any time soon because she doesn’t have time to get together with other heads to plan a strike!!
• There is no such thing as a supply teacher. If a teacher is ill their class is covered by one of the other teachers from the school.
• Secondary schools have a budget of 42 Euros per child per year and 11 more for SEN pupils. The government pays the wages and for the upkeep of the building.
Inclusion has been an ongoing theme everywhere we have visited so far, be it inclusion of abilities, languages or including parents in disciplinary procedures. The Viennese appear to place great stead on everyone being included in things, this was amply demonstrated in one particular class we visited, where out of 29 pupils, 1 was Austrian, and the rest was made up of 11 other nationalities. This group also was of mixed age groups from 11 to 14 yrs old. They were put in this group according to ability, as is the ethos of how they work here in this inclusive city.

Tuesday 20th February 2007

Today we visited a Primary School at Friedrichscplatz 5, 1150 Vienna. This school had been selected because it had inclusion classes catering for children with learning difficulties as part of a school population which represented many of the different nationalities who have sought to make their homes in Vienna – emphasising it’s strategic position geographically at the heart of Europe. We were met by the Head Teacher Silvia Schemeilzl, who welcomed us to her school. We were briefed in the staff room about the school layout and some background of the school. We were then allowed access to almost every classroom within the school. These are some of the things we observed and found out for ourselves.• Class 1b consisted of 100% non German speaking children of 10 different nationalities.
• Staff are flexable in their approach to teaching.
• A new initiative was proposed by the teacher and set up by the school with full involvement of these teachers, the initiative was to set up a specialist unit to include a high number of special needs children from primary age up to and including senior school age children. This involved secondary school teachers coming to The sessions in the primary school with visits ti the secondary school by the pupils when secondary facilities were required.
• Within an average Inclusion class there is no more than 5 children with special needs.
• Most inclusion classes have two teachers, one which specialises in SEN or language.
• There were no whole school guidelines, playtime, food breaks, and behaviour sanctions were at the discretion of the class teacher.
• A speech therapist comes into the school twice a week for three hours, she currently works with 17 children in this school and visits 3 other schools. When children start school each child is assessed on a individual basis.
• Each class holds a informal circle time once week to discuss whole class issues.
• For each child the teacher has a budget of 38. euros to spend. But children with special Educational needs this is increased to 64. euro per child.
• Overall we found that this school had a very positive environment for developing the social and emotional needs of the children.
• The relationship between the children and the teachers was very relaxed and trusting.
• However we felt that the resources were limited and the building was outdated. As was the pedagogy we observed, in comparison to the English, highly structured and standardised curriculum. We were welcomed into every classroom by the class teachers and children. We all found the visit to be very enjoyable and informative. We then went our separate ways and took a tram to the Palace. A tour around inside and the wonderful gardens full of surprises enthralled all of us. Another wonderful meal and to bed ready for another excited day tomorrow.Chris Mason & Sue Manley

Day 2 Monday 19th February

We were met by Romy Holtzer who is in charge of primary education working from the European office of Stadtschul Vienna. She herself was once a primary teacher and, as part of her role, still teaches in her link school each week.

We introduced ourselves to Romy, this was enjoyable for all of us as we listened to each other and our various roles within schools. From this we feel Devon is very lucky to have such a multifarious group of HLTA's. Romy looked very surprised at all our skills and responsibilities.

Franz Schimeck came to meet us; Franz is the school inspector in charge of languages, also based in the European office of Education.
We listened to an overview of the education system in Austria. It was very informative the main facts we feel were important and showed differences between our two systems are shown below.

FACTS:
• Vienna has a very different education system from England
• no state pre school
• school starts age 6
• Primary is from 6-10
• At 10 decision as whether to go to secondary general or grammar
• Children have to complete 9 years compulsory education
• 40% are non German speaking
• 463 primary schools
• most schools are half day starting at 8am
• There are NO teaching assistants
• 23,000 primary and secondary teachers all on the same salary scheme
• 200,000 children (age 6 to 19)
• Teachers are appointed by the board of education
• They believe strongly in inclusion

Romy emphasised that education is the tool for the people. As in England the main problem seemed to be budgets.

Brigitte Morwald spoke to us, Brigitte has been on the board of education for 14 years and is an expert in SEN. Her main points were:
• Inclusion
• integration teaching NOT segregation
• classes are smaller (usually 22) with up to 5 SEN children and two teachers one teacher is a specialist in SEN
• if one child is autistic then only 2 other SEN children would be in that class as it is recognised that an autistic child will take much of the time
• Parents are very included in the inclusion system
• Statements go through very quickly in a matter of around two months
• Transport is provided and children are placed close to the home
There are a few SEN only schools and parents use these as they are full time and elevate the need for child care
We learnt that languages are a very important part of the education system. In 1989 it became compulsory for all students to learn English. English in all subjects plus actual learning of the language. Parents are very keen for their children to learn languages. Other languages are taught (Italian, French, Turkish, Croatian, Spanish) to include the diversity of languages spoken by the children in the multi cultural society.

During the afternoon several of us decided to explore the history and cultural of this beautiful and historic city. We enjoyed a ride on a horse and carriage and viewed architecture and explored inside a cathedral, as well as the parliament building and library. The weather was very kind to us today, cold but sunny. We are looking forward to tomorrow when we go to look at a Primary School

Christine Gibson and Julie Ogden St George's Nursery and Infant School, Northam
Allow

Day 1 Sunday 18th February

A 3.00 a.m. start in order to get to Heathrow to catch the flight to Vienna. Everything went very smoothly, no last-minute panics – except from the nameless group leader who had set off with the key which he should have given to the next-door neighbour to enable the cat to be fed….

Arriving in Vienna at 4.00 p.m. Cold, but bright and sunny. Our hotel is just five minutes walk from the city centre. Really spacious accommodation - some rooms complete with kitchenette. Just time to have a stroll around the city and find somewhere for the first Austrian meal. Be warned – Austrian portion-sizes are very generous. And they do love their pastries, noodles and dumplings – not for the gluten intolerant. Keep munching the side salad Chris!