Major education report:

Elementary school students do well in math, but German is a problem subject

A new education study shows how well our elementary school students are doing.(Bild: P. Huber)

Austrian elementary school students are improving, as shown by the first nationwide results report from the iKM-Plus competency assessment. While performance is generally on the rise, German remains a problem subject. The comparison between federal states and cities is surprising. 

Good news: Our elementary school students are better overall in all areas of competence surveyed than they were three years ago. However, Austria's elementary school students do not receive good marks in German in the major school study "iKMPLUS." While 84 percent of students meet educational standards in mathematics, less than half do so in writing.

NEOS Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr speaks of an important step for school policy: "The iKMPLUS results give us a comprehensive picture of how Austria's pupils are doing in terms of achieving basic skills in German and mathematics," he said at the presentation. The report is "a massive step forward" because it enables genuine data-based school development. This data will also be used to decide which schools will receive support measures, such as the opportunity bonus or targeted German language support.

German remains a problem subject
While performance in mathematics is significantly better, there are still major deficits in German. Only 59 percent of students meet educational standards in reading (down from 62 percent in 2015), and 65 percent in listening (up from 63 percent in 2015). However, writing is particularly problematic: only 43 percent (2015: 40 percent) meet the specified standards in this area. This means that not even half of all children achieve the expected skills in writing texts. In comparison, mathematics performs significantly better: 84 percent of children meet or exceed educational standards in this area.

A new education study shows how well our elementary school students are doing.(Bild: P. Huber)

The results in mathematics are very encouraging, but in reading and writing we still see a need to catch up, especially in socioeconomically disadvantaged schools. 

NEOS-Bildungsminister Christoph Wiederkehr

Bild: Eva Manhart

Above all, the report shows that social class has a clear influence on school performance. "In schools with the highest socioeconomic status, 91 percent meet or exceed educational standards in mathematics and 70 percent in German (reading). In schools with the lowest socioeconomic status, the figures are only 61 percent in mathematics and 26 percent in German reading," according to the school report.

Not even half of Vienna's students can read properly
But there are also significant differences between the federal states. Burgenland performs particularly well: there, 91 percent of elementary school students meet or exceed educational standards in mathematics, and 71 percent in reading – top scores in Austria. The situation is quite different in Vienna. In the federal capital, only 77 percent of children meet the mathematics standards and 48 percent meet the reading standards – the lowest figures of all federal states. Vorarlberg follows with 81 percent in mathematics and 55 percent in reading.

According to the report, one reason for Vienna's weaker overall scores is the social composition of its schools: 58 percent of Vienna's elementary schools belong to the most socially disadvantaged categories, compared to only around 13 percent in the rest of Austria. However, when schools with comparable social backgrounds are considered, Vienna's schools often perform even better than those in other federal states.

Overall, most federal states are within the expected range of results when the demographic composition of the pupils is taken into account. Burgenland and Salzburg even manage to exceed their statistically expected scores.

City comparison: Wels at the bottom, Klosterneuburg at the top
A look at larger cities also reveals significant differences. Nine of the 20 cities analyzed are below the respective state average in mathematics, and twelve cities are below average in reading.

The cities that are at or above the state average include Klagenfurt, Dornbirn, Bregenz, Leonding, Baden, and Krems. Klosterneuburg is particularly well above average. At the bottom of the list, on the other hand, are Wels and Traun, which lag significantly behind the respective state average in both mathematics and reading. Feldkirch, Innsbruck, Wiener Neustadt, and Steyr are also among the cities with the weaker results. Klosterneuburg, Baden, Krems, Eisenstadt, Leonding, and Klagenfurt, on the other hand, achieve top marks – they are significantly above many other cities in both mathematics and reading.

What is iKMPLUS?

It is a national assessment of basic skills that has been conducted since 2022/23. In the third and fourth grades, skills in mathematics and in three areas of German (reading, listening, writing) are assessed.

The iKMPLUS report summarizes the results of the individual skills assessment PLUS – standardized tests that are conducted annually in the third and fourth grades. These tests assess how well elementary school students have mastered basic skills in German and mathematics. The report shows how many children meet educational standards, how performance develops over several years, and where there are differences between regions or social groups. The data is intended to help schools and education policymakers identify weaknesses early on and implement targeted support measures.