Upon my arrival back in Klagenfurt after a lovely warm easter in Spain, I was greeted with seb-zero temperatures and snow blizzards galore... What a treat!
But thankfully this didn't last long and by mid april the weather took a turn for the better and now the whole region is enjoying beautiful sunny and hot days, we are talking 26 degrees by 10am!! Now that is a turnaround!
Thankfully scenes like this are now a thing of the past! (or at least 'til november time anyway!)
Lake Wörthersee in Klagenfurt
But with spring comes that dreaded time of year for many of my older students.. It's exam time! And most of my classes are preparing to take their matura exams in the next few weeks.
The matura is the austrian equivalent of A-Levels or the Abitur as it is called in Germany. Unlike in Britain the pupils must study a range of subjects and have little choice over what they do study. They must study the core subjects; maths, science, german and a foreign language so for the students at my school this is either english, latin or italian (or all three if they are very clever!!)
But out of the 8 or so subjects that the students study, they only have to do exams in 5, and these exams can either be written or oral tests. The thing that I find strange though is that they can chose which subjects they want to do the oral test in, not just the obvious option, a foreign language. So for example, I have students that are going to have an oral test for maths.. in which they must answer maths problems out loud in front of their teacher and explain their methods and workings out on a blackboard, whilst using all the correct mathematical terminology... sounds a bit too complex for me!!
Also if the students don't pass the matura, they cannot graduate from high school. They have to stay there, studying and taking the exams again and again until they pass... that's why I have some students who are 21 in a class of 17 year olds!
The exams are also created by the teachers themselves and usually the students know 2 or 3 days later whether they passed. When I explained that results day for us in the UK is usually a good 3 months after we sit our exams, they were shocked!
Also, in Austria, it is compulsory for the boys to do Zivildienst o Wehrdienst once they leave school at 18. This is either 6 months training with the army or 9 months working in a civil service job like as a paramedic, fireman, policeman etc. It is compulsory and the boys are paid around 200 euro a month for the work they do.
What do you think about the school system as I have described it so far? Do you think it is very different to that in the UK?
How would you feel if you had to stay in school 'til 21?
And boys, imagine you have to join the army upon leaving school? What do you think about that? Do you think it's good training for young men and teaches them valuable life skills, or do you think they should have the option to go on to study at university or start a job that they want to do once they leave school?
Let me know your responses... und wenn auf deutsch, bessere!
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