Our Visit from Austria

We, Julia Offenburger, Marlene Graser, Anja Kapeller and Lisa Zellhofer, are students of the Private University of Education in Linz, Austria.  Currently, we are in Year 2 and Year 3 of our 5 year-long study programme.

Our teaching practice here in the Robert Wilkinson Primary Academy takes place from February 24th until the 6th of March 2020 and helps us gain experience in different classrooms from Year 1 to Year 5.  During these two weeks, our main aim is to get an overview of the school system in the UK and to see the differences in the curriculum, lesson planning and teaching skills.

So far, we have figured out some differences that an Austrian primary school starts at age 6 and ends at the age of 10. Moreover, a school day in Austria lasts from 8am to 1pm and it is not very common to have a proper lunch at school.  Beside that children just wear no school uniforms and most of the lessons tasks are based on school books and are all the same for all children.

We have already noticed that the teaching here at Robert Wilkinson Primary Academy focuses much more on the individual childs’ needs.

The use of technology here is much greater than at home and the Chromebooks help the children to work independently.

We have felt honoured to work with your children and are very thankful for this great opportunity.