"No shortage of teachers"

Career changer: “Didn’t want to take anyone’s job”

Helmut Petter-Weißenbacher (right) is the only lateral entrant at his school.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/contrastwerkstatt – stock.adobe.com, zVg, Krone KREATIV)

White hoodie, shoulder bag, sneakers, hair tied up in a bun - this is how casual Helmut Petter-Weißenbacher, a career changer, looks at BORG Althofen. How he feels in the classroom, what he says about the daily PE lesson and why he decided to become a teacher.

120 pupils, 19 teachers - including one career changer. Helmut Petter-Weißenbacher studied sports science, worked as a coach for many years and has been teaching at BORG Althofen since this school year - movement and sport in the gym and theory of sport in the classroom. We met him for an interview about his new career.

"Krone": What was your previous profession?
Helmut Petter-Weißenbacher: I am, or was, a sports scientist and worked as a coach for an Austrian sports federation for 16 years. I was responsible for a number of areas: "Active and healthy in the workplace" and "Active in apprenticeships", for example. I've been doing gymnastics with apprentices since 2008, so I was already working with young people before that.

Why did you want to become a teacher?
It just happened that way. I reached my professional limits five years ago and reduced my hours. Then came corona and it took a while for my motivation to come back and I said, okay, I want to do more again. Then I asked myself the question: what do I do now - go back to the company at 100% or do something completely different? So I looked around, found out about the career changer program and applied - and they wanted me!

Soccer is rarely played in the lessons of career changer Helmut Petter-Weißenbacher (right) - the focus is on healthy eating, different types of sport and the joy of exercise.(Bild: zVg)