Landesberufsschule Bregenz

Hubert was a great host for my visit to Landesberufsschule Bregenz, I started with a morning meeting that eventually turned into almost a full day! Fascinating! 

Hubert even helped me to find a Telco shop and fix my mobile SIM problems.  :-)

Hubert Hosp is lecturer at the Landesberufsschule Bregenz (http://www.lbsbr2.snv.at/)

Discusion Points:

Vorarlberg

·         Taxes are higher in Austria but education and healthcare are free, oddly I haven’t heard any Austrians complaining about their level of taxation, they seem to accept the price of having a society as well resourced as it is

·         Education is effectively free even to other EU countries. I need to check and confirm this?

·         Discussed the challenges and opportunities of refugee education.

·         In Vorarlberg many people seem to work towards a job for life rather than job hopping. “it is like a work family”

·         If students choose to be assessed outside of the school system they can sit a chamber of commerce exam with 3 attempts and they can do this in 9 states if they wish to. Each attempt costs approx 500-700 euro. This is fairly rare. Most students are assessed in the workplace or through their school

·         Students are funded to study in their state but can move but they will need to have another employer to move to as well

Landesberufsschule Bregenz http://www.lbsbr2.snv.at

·         The college runs a wide range of course areas, very similar to Riverina Institute eg. Metal fab, welding, printing, plumbing, electrician and electronics, business admin.

·         Courses are made up of a smaller number of subjects than in the Australian system. Subjects appear to be larger in scope than Australian CBT units. Austria is not CBT at this stage but they are slowly progressing towards a CBT system. Some teachers seem to be concerned about what this will bring

·         They have very strong support services with counsellors and tutorial support staff for students

·         I was interested in the administration of the school and they appeared to have 2 senior executives plus a couple of clerical support staff. The rest appear to be teachers and support staff. I don’t have confirmation of this but I had a fairly detailed tour and I didn’t notice any other admin areas

·         Classrooms are modern and are typically rows of desks in layout but can be reconfigured if preferred for project team clusters

·         Great student facilities for breaks and meals

·         Attendance and marks system is recorded in a customised excel spreadsheet

·         Approx 90% completion of students in courses

·         They have a very strong support system from the businesses, college and chamber of commerce

·         Businesses typically have an in-house trainer who works in conjunction with the school

·         Non smoking except in designated areas

·         Equipment is very new - cars, tractors, excavators, plumbing, electrical etc. I noticed some very expensive printing equipment for students studying offset printing. Printers cost about 450K euro at a discount rate

·         It is common for businesses to help them to buy equipment at cost price or even as donations in some cases

Teachers

·         Teaching conditions are similar approx 750hrs/yr for similar wages as the Australian system

·         Teachers need 6 yrs of industry experience before starting a teacher role

·         New teachers have to start on a Bachelor in pedagogy. Teachers start on a Masters after finishing their Bachelor, not sure how many teachers have a Masters or are working towards it?

·         Approx teaching ratios - 1:7 ratio for practical work with tools, 1: 9-15 for theory work/project work

Assessment

·         Student work is graded from 1-5, Not CBT at this stage

·         Discussed the Australian CBT system where a student gets NYC if they miss one aspect of a unit, since they haven't transitioned to CBT yet they found this very harsh. I explained that we work with the students to give them every opportunity and support to get there but ultimately under a CBT system they have to meet all requirements.

·         Austrian government is slowly changing the education process towards a CBT system

·         Didn't see any examples of assessments or marking, I think teachers set their own assessment events and make a professional judgement. I didn’t see any examples of validation or moderation.

Communication with employers

·         Teachers have to give direct feedback to the employer, the student is given every opportunity but if they don’t perform as required it can lead to feedback to the employer that leads to a termination

·         Big variability across the year with busy and quiet times. Employers like to have students in the workplace for busy times but in classes for quieter times eg winter

Delivery model

·         Apprenticeship takes 4 yrs

·         Students have to attend 10 week study blocks in the classroom, the rest is in the workplace

·         Businesses have their own trainers in the workplace that liaise with schools