Problems loom

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The number of children requiring special educational needs has risen in recent years.(Bild: Markus Wenzel)

The next problem is looming in the school sector. Around 700 special needs teachers will be retiring in the coming years. While the SPÖ warns of an impending staff shortage, the provincial education councillor is relying on lateral entrants. Demand in schools is increasing.

There were exactly 1182 special needs teachers in Upper Austria's classrooms last school year. More than half of these, just under 700, could retire in the next five years. This is the result of a SPÖ provincial parliamentary question to Deputy Governor Christine Haberlander (ÖVP).

This is how many could leave
For the calculation, it was assumed that all of these teachers will retire at the earliest possible age of 62. The largest number of retirements is forecast for 2027 with 162, and the number is expected to reach a total of 687 by 2030. For SPÖ education spokesperson Doris Margreiter, this is reason enough to issue a warning: "Appropriate measures must be taken now to ensure that the pressure on existing special needs teachers does not become even greater. Otherwise our existing special needs teachers are in danger of burning out," Margreiter calls for a "personnel offensive".

Measures must be taken to ensure that the pressure on existing special needs teachers does not become even greater, as otherwise they risk burning out.

Doris Margreiter, SPÖ-Bildungssprecherin

Career changers wanted
In her response to the inquiry, Education Officer Haberlander states: "The Upper Austrian Education Directorate will endeavour to ensure that the demand can be met in the coming years through the future possibility of hiring lateral entrants in the field of special education and through school organizational measures."

More children need support
The "need", i.e. the number of children with special educational needs such as an autism diagnosis, has risen to 6,119 pupils in the current school year. In the previous year, 5631 schoolchildren had special educational needs.

Susanne Kaltenböck, School Quality Manager for Special Needs Education in Upper Austria, does not believe that the wave of retirements among teachers will lead to a shortage of staff: "Further training and the new teacher training with a focus on inclusion will be able to compensate for this."