Strengthen children – strengthen the future: rally for more economic education in schools

“Strengthening children – strengthening the future: economic education NOW” under this motto, the Foundation for Economic Education, together with teachers, students and the leading student representatives, presented their seven demands to the future government for fundamental improvement at a rally in front of parliament today of economic education in Austrian schools.

“The demand for more business education in Austria’s schools is not only supported by the majority of students, teachers and entrepreneurs. All parties represented in the National Council have already spoken out in favor of it.”announced foundation board member Matthias Reisinger in front of parliament on Tuesday morning and added, “What applies before the election must also apply after the election: the parties must get down to business and, if they participate in government, anchor strong economic education in the next government program.”

Also present on site were the deputy federal school spokesman Laurenz Repnik and representatives from the leading local student organizations AKS, Junos, Student Union and Verde, who together speak for 1.1 million students. At the rally, Federal School Spokesperson Laurenz Repnik repeated the demands: “We want to learn for life at school. The future government can now set the course to ensure that we receive the necessary tools for adult life at school and also to prevent youth debt.” Back in June, the four leading student organizations and the federal school spokesman published a joint statement for the first time calling for better economic education. The results of the Ö3 youth study show that both young people and adults support the demands, in which 83% of the young people surveyed were in favor of more business education. In addition, according to a survey by the Chamber of Commerce, 84% of local entrepreneurs support the demand.

Economic education in the government program and curriculum

Anchoring real-life business education in Austria’s schools in the next government program is the declared goal of the “Business Education NOW” initiative. This broad civil society alliance enjoys strong support from business, society and politics. The initiative was launched by the Foundation for Economic Education, which since 2021 has aimed to ensure that students learn how to use money responsibly and see themselves as part of the local economy. The alliance includes the Chamber of Labor, the ERSTE Foundation, the Association of Industrialists, the Innovation Foundation for Education, the MEGA Education Foundation, the Austrian National Bank and the Chamber of Commerce.

Three packages of measures for improvement

Three demands with a total of seven concrete measures were developed for strong, realistic and sustainable economic education. These were developed with the participation of experts and teachers and aim to further develop teacher training and teacher training, offer high-quality business education learning media and provide comprehensive support for school locations.

The first three measures start directly where teachers are trained and provide further training and ensure a good foundation. Specifically, this includes expanding the number of courses, subject-specific training offerings and increasing teaching practice. The second package of measures includes improvements in the teaching materials used and consists of the requirement to involve relevant experts in textbook approval and a focus on digital learning media. Finally, it is about strengthening schools, which could systematically offer better business education lessons by setting up a nationwide network and business education managers at schools.

You can find all the requirements in detail here.