In the past ten years, pupil and student mobility (cf. below part 1) in the form of international school projects and cross-border youth exchanges as well as teacher mobility (cf. below part 2) has undergone a major expansion. This has largely been due to the internationalisation of the economy and the facilitation of mobility thanks to new means of communication.

Pupil and student mobility

Austrian schools (from primary level to the upper secondary level) have various options for establishing international contacts and enabling mobility. All projects can refer to either entire classes or individual pupils. Whereas projects for entire classes are generally carried out during the school year, individual pupils can also gain experiences abroad during the school holiday periods. Information about the various options of cross-border cooperation and learners’ mobility can be obtained from the Ministry of Education, Science and Research, which serves as the central coordination and service centre. Detailed information is available here.

Support (technical and financial) for international cooperation and mobility projects of Austrian schools is mainly provided by the EU programme Erasmus+. This programme and the associated funds are managed by the National Agency Erasmus+ Education. Statistics show that 129 projects involving 447 mobile learners were approved in 2015. In addition to European funds, there are also options for acquiring national funds to gather experience abroad, both inside and outside Europe.

There are only a few legal regulations in Austria regarding the recognition of learning outcomes obtained abroad. Usually the decision on this is the responsibility of the sending school. Before mobility projects are carried out, the Ministry of Education, Science and Research requires these schools to conclude corresponding agreements with the host institutions to ensure that the learning outcomes which learners obtain abroad are recognised in Austria. In the area of vocational education and training, increasing use of partnership agreements and learning agreements is being encouraged as part of the establishment of ECVET.

Opportunities for mobility for entire classes

Experiences abroad for entire school classes can be completed as part of school partnerships, class exchanges or intensive language weeks.

School partnerships

These are longer-term relationships entered into between pupils, parents and teachers of two or more schools from different countries, characterised by joint activities and continuous, mutual communication. As part of school partnerships, teaching projects which are compatible with the curricula of the schools are carried out, and foreign language skills or innovative ideas to enhance school quality are promoted.

Points of contact are the National Agency Erasmus+ Education and the Intercultural Centre, which arrange school partnerships and give advice about their organisation, implementation, legal situation and financing. Within Key Action 2 of the Erasmus+ programme, schools can also apply for funds to establish school partnerships. Information and suggestions for projects to be carried out between two (or more) schools can be found on the website of the EU’s online platform eTwinning.

Class exchanges and project weeks

Here an entire class goes abroad for a certain time (most often between one and four weeks), attends the partner school and stays with the families of the local pupils. The partner class in the other country will then make the return visit. The most frequent form of class exchanges is the project week. In the course of an exchange, the pupils of both schools can work together on jointly specified tasks as part of a larger project.

Intensive language weeks

These are a special form of project weeks which aim to improve foreign language skills. The pupils stay with host families and attend regular classes abroad. In addition, they work on a project topic. The goal is to establish contact points with the native population so that the pupils are exposed to the language as much as possible. Responsibility for the planning, preparation and implementation rests with the sending school, which can get support from special organisations.

Experience abroad for individual pupils

A large number of mobility options are available also for individual pupils. They can attend a school, a work placement or stay with host families for some time.

School attendance abroad

Austrian pupils between the ages of 15 and 18 years have the possibility to spend a school year, one semester or three months abroad during their school time. In this period they stay with host families, attend a state school and learn/improve the language of the host country. School attendance abroad is organised by various exchange organisations which handle all issues associated with the exchange.

In the event of school attendance in non-German-speaking countries lasting for at least five months and no longer than one year, credits can be obtained according to the Austrian School Education Act (Schulunterrichtsgesetz). Upon their return, pupils can progress to the next higher class or continue the school year without having to take any exams.

School attendance abroad is promoted by the Erasmus+ programme: as part of a “Strategic Partnership” (Key Action 2), groups of pupils can stay abroad at a partner school for between five days and two months. Pupils aged 14 or older can also go to a partner school for longer individual periods of learning (between two and twelve months).

Work placements abroad

Work placements abroad are also promoted by the Erasmus+ programme. The target groups are pupils at VET schools and apprentices but also school and apprenticeship graduates if these complete their work placement within a year of finishing school or an apprenticeship. The work placements can last between two weeks and twelve months and are either at companies or in training establishments. Before every mobility project, a written agreement is made between the participants. This contains a so-called “learning agreement” which specifies the competences to be obtained abroad and also the evaluation methods, for example.

Support for processing this is provided by a number of organisations in Austria, above all the Association to Promote the International Exchange of Apprentices, Young Workers and Trainers of the Economy(IFA). It is the central point of contact for information and advice for students in VET schools, apprentices, schools, and training companies. IFA organises work placements abroad and applies for the necessary funds. Every year some 2,000 students as well as 150 companies and schools use IFA’s services.

Stays abroad with host families

A pre-arranged stay abroad with a host family is an option for everyone who travels abroad but does not want to attend a language course and only has time in the holiday period. Such stays are organised by different organisations, many of which offer stays in several countries.

Teacher mobility

(Future) teachers can also go abroad for a certain period to work there and/or take part in continuing training. In 2010 the Ministry of Education, Science and Research set up a service point located within Kulturkontakt Austria, where teachers can gain information about the various possibilities of teaching and/or learning abroad. Options regarding teacher mobility include teaching at foreign schools, bilateral exchange of foreign language teaching assistants and in-service teacher training abroad.

As well as national funds, Erasmus+ also provides funding options for mobility periods of teachers: these can be for continuing vocational education and training and in the form of a teaching assignment or work placements, job shadowing or periods of observation. They can last between two days and two months and are carried out in schools, kindergartens or at non-school-based educational providers. As part of Erasmus+ Key Action 2, mobility measures for teachers and (pre-)school educational staff are also possible (e.g. via project meetings or periods of teaching and learning). In 2015, in the area of school education, there were around 1,700 mobility projects in total for Austrian teaching staff as part of the Erasmus+ programme.

Teaching at foreign schools

Austrian teachers have several possibilities to teach at foreign schools. They usually teach German as well as different subjects with German as the language of tuition and convey knowledge about Austria. The Ministry of Education, Science and Research hosts a website which gives an overview of all teaching possibilities abroad. The majority of the teachers working abroad do so at the eight Austrian schools abroad (in Istanbul, Guatemala City, two schools in Budapest, Prague, Shkodra, Mexico, Liechtenstein).

Furthermore, Austrian teachers also work at European schools and at bilingual schools in the neighbouring countries Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary. At these schools German is taught as a foreign language. In addition, long-term and short-term teacher placement programmes have emerged in recent years, which are organised in cooperation with institutions in host countries across Europe.

Bilateral exchange of foreign language teaching assistants

For more than sixty years the Ministry of Education, Science and Research has organised exchange programmes for foreign language teaching assistants (teachers and student teachers) on the basis of bilateral agreements. During their stay students and teachers assist staff at schools as native speakers in foreign language instruction; conversely, foreign students are employed as foreign language teaching assistants at Austrian schools. Language assistance programmes at schools for advanced teacher training students are also promoted with the Erasmus+ programme. These usually last one semester or a school year. The minimum funding period is two months, with twelve months the maximum period for receiving funds.

In-service teacher training abroad

In-service teacher training abroad serves to acquire subject-specific and linguistic competences but also to establish European contents and cooperation projects as fixed components at schools. Teachers can select from different in-service training measures, such as structured in-service training courses, periods of work placement or observation, and attendance of conferences abroad. The average duration of in-service training events is approximately ten days; the scholarship is around EUR 1,700 on average.