New school trial: 1st round successfully completed

A new school trial, which was launched in December 2004 by the Bildungsdirektion (Directorate of Education) in cooperation with BAfEP 8 (Bildungsanstalt für Elementarpädagogik: Educational Institute for Elementary Pedagogy) and Interface Wien, is showing its first positive results at the end of the school year!

The aim of the school trail is to enable or facilitate access to the regular school system or the training market for young people who have come to Vienna as part of family reunification – often without knowledge of German and with an interrupted educational history.

A transition level gives these students aged 15 to 18, who otherwise often drop out of the regular school system at the end of compulsory schooling, the opportunity to complete compulsory schooling with a certificate for successfully completing the 9th grade and transfers them to secondary schools or initial training programs (primarily in the health, social, and educational sectors). In 24-30 hours per week, the young people learn German as a second language, English, ethics, values education, society and culture, mathematics, basic digital skills, personality development, educational and career orientation, school-independent in-depth study, and sports.

While BAfEP 8 provides the teaching staff and classrooms and integrates the students into school events and practical activities (from attending concerts to practical training in the company's own practice kindergarten), the project InterSpace - Basisbildung für Jugendliche from Interface Wien is responsible for selecting and supervising the students, as well as providing language, psychosocial and social work support.

Of the 16 InterSpace students who started in December 2024, 14 students completed the 9th grade with a positive school report by June 27, 2025, the end of the first pilot year. Two dropped out early of their own volition.

The 14 students were all placed at different schools and training centers: HTL Wien West (5), Rudolf Steiner School (with sponsor for the school fees) (3), A Fit course (6), apprenticeship for hairdresser (1) and A|B|O youth (1).

The second round will begin on September 1, 2025, with approximately 16-18 young people from the InterSpace project. The pilot phase of the school trial will run until the school year 2026/27.