English teaching jobs in Austria—in every setting imaginable
Every year, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science, and Research (BMBWF) collaborates with provincial school boards to place more than 140 teaching assistants in communities large and small in all nine Austrian provinces. The BMBWF places US teaching assistants in Austria at more than 200 schools and in over 1,800 classrooms, and they have contact with an estimated 40,000 students every week.
While completing your application, you can indicate your preferences in terms of province, city, and/or region. Fulbright Austria works closely with the BMBWF to place applicants according to their preferences and backgrounds; however, positions in urban centers such as Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, and Graz are limited, so you should also be prepared to take an assignment in smaller, less metropolitan, or rural communities.
In addition to indicating your location preferences, you can also specify in which type of school you would prefer to teach English. Austria has a highly differentiated secondary school system that is substantially different from the US, so we encourage you to review our section on how the Austrian system is structured.
An introduction to the Austrian school system
Early tracking
One of the largest differences between the Austrian and the American public secondary school systems is that Austrian children are placed in a specific academic or vocational track quite early—as young as 10. Austrian students are streamed into two major groups after the completion of 4th grade (the last year of primary school, or Volksschule). At that point, a child's parents must choose between the Gymnasium—the university-preparatory track—and the Hauptschule, which has a more vocational focus.
Gymnasium
The Gymnasium continues from American grades 5 to 12 (in Austria, numbering starts over at the beginning of Gymnasium, so these are Austrian grades 1-8). The Gymnasium generally follows a liberal-arts model, though there is more of a focus on 'core subjects' than electives compared to an American high school. At some Gymnasia the students can focus on a particular field of study, such as languages or natural sciences, while continuing their general education. At the end of a student's Gymnasium years, the student takes a comprehensive school-leaving exam and is granted the Matura, a diploma or higher secondary school leaving certificate that entitles the student to enroll in most Austrian university programs.
The Gymnasium is referred to as an Allgemeine Höhere Schule (AHS) because it provides a higher level of general education for those who will presumably proceed to university and pursue professional careers. There is also a second branch of secondary schools that grants the Matura called Berufsbildende Mittlere und Höhere Schulen, or BMHS.
BMHS
After the first four years of Gymnasium or Hauptschule (see below) (American 8th grade/Austrian 4th form), students can elect to leave the AHS's general curriculum to attend a Berufsbildende Mittlere und Höhere Schule (BMHS). In a BMHS, students complete the general education necessary to receive the Matura and continue on to university while concurrently completing vocational training in a wide variety of different fields. Students at a BMHS generally spend an extra year in secondary school (graduating at 19) because their vocational training requires extra coursework. There are many different types of BMHS that train students in numerous fields, ranging from various branches of engineering (Höhere Technische Lehranstalt – HTL), to business and tourism (Handelsakademie – HAK) and kindergarten teaching (Bildungsanstalt für Kindergartenpädagogik – BAKIP)–and that is just a select sampling of the many fields of specialization you may encounter as you teach English in Austrian schools. Upon graduation, students can continue to university or work in the field in which they have been trained.
Neue Mittelschule
The Neue Mittelschule continues for another four years after the Volksschule, along the same lines as the Gymnasium but with a more vocational and less academic focus. Upon completion, superior students may be in the position to transfer to an AHS or BMHS to get the Matura and become eligible for university. More typically, however, students from the Neue Mittelschule go on to the Berufschule and Lehre, where they receive further training in their field while completing an apprenticeship. There are over 250 recognized trades in this track, ranging from opticians to hair stylists and printers.
Placement of USTAs teaching English in Austria
As a teaching assistant in Austria, you will generally only work with students over the age of ten. Most teaching assistants are assigned to an AHS (Allgemeinbildende Höhere Schule - general higher secondary school) or BMHS (Berufsbildende Mittlere und Höhere Schule - higher secondary school with a vocational or technical specialization), though there are some placements at schools dedicated to fashion, forestry, farming, and many other fascinating fields. For more information about the Austrian school system, please consult this helpful diagram.
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