Violence in schools

“Knives are standard equipment for some pupils!”

Thomas Krebs(Bild: krone.tv)

In the krone.tv talk, Viennese compulsory school teachers' union member Thomas Krebs finds clear words on the situation at local schools: "We need to put taboos aside, we need to talk openly about the problems and find viable solutions that help immediately." One measure called for was to stop the influx of families to Vienna, as there are already enough problems. For example, German is no longer spoken in many schools. And: "The knife is standard equipment for some pupils".

Hundreds of children have come to Vienna's schools in recent months as a result of family reunification. "We can no longer cope with the situation, we first have to get a grip on the problems we already have in schools," says Krebs in the krone.tv interview. One of the main problems that has existed for some time: "Teachers are no longer understood by pupils." German is no longer the lingua franca. Problems would multiply in many ways as a result.

"Children live in gibberish"
In practice, you very often see children coming from kindergarten and not speaking a word of German, Krebs explains the alarming development. "In some cases, German is no longer used as a lingua franca, simply because the non-German-speaking community is so large that the language is simply not spread among the children." Elementary education can do whatever it wants. The language deficit is then dragged along forever. "This means that these children live in gibberish and in a community where there are different rules, some of which no longer have anything to do with Austrian reality. And that is extremely dangerous."

"Crimes at school must be sanctioned"
Violence at schools is not just a problem in Vienna, figures from other federal states show that it is a nationwide and apparently social development. "What makes me very worried is the fact that violence is taking place. That a pupil feels the need to insult their teacher in the most vulgar way, for example. Or that people do not shy away from bringing weapons to school. For some pupils, a knife is standard equipment, just as others carry a wallet or a cell phone. That should not be allowed." We need to move from pure violence prevention to a situation where help and solutions are really available very quickly and reliably in acute cases. "Crimes at school must be sanctioned again."

Viennese compulsory school teacher unionist Thomas Krebs(Bild: krone.tv)

Pupil celebrated as a hero after suspension
Currently, suspensions can be used: "This is actually just a measure to counteract imminent danger and calm the situation." In some cases, suspensions are even counterproductive, Krebs explains. It often happens that the pupil comes back and is celebrated as a hero. The compulsory school teachers' union is therefore calling for more comprehensive protection concepts for everyone who enters the school.

"They are not auxiliary police officers"
According to Krebs, the children who are now coming are severely traumatized and have had experiences that children should not have to go through. They therefore need special support, which teachers can hardly provide for reasons of resources alone. "We are not auxiliary police officers or social workers." Support is urgently needed in a multi-layered and professional manner and it must be made clear where educational work ends and the work of others begins. Quite a few teachers would currently be throwing in the towel: "We are taking a highly critical view of the fall, we will certainly have far too few teachers and at the same time enormous problems in the schools that we have to overcome."