Curriculum
Music teacher training for elementary schools (primary education) and general secondary schools (secondary education I) at teacher training colleges
In general, trainee primary school teachers do not specialise in particular subjects: the teacher teaches every subject. Trainee general secondary school teachers must choose two subjects. The first must be German, mathematics or English. Students are free to choose the second from all the other subjects, including music.
To gain admission to both courses students must have attained the academic standard required for university entrance (the Matura in Austria) or have passed an examination entitling them to study at university. In addition, they must pass an entrance examination (to determine their suitability). Courses last six semesters with a total of 180 ECTS credits being awarded for the completed course. Before they can graduate, students must have written a dissertation for their bachelor’s. Graduates are awarded the title “Bachelor of Education”. A particular feature of courses at teacher training colleges is the high proportion of practical training (see table 2 & fig. 1).
Compulsory subject areas | ECTS credits |
Human sciences | 39 |
Subject-related courses and subject didactics | 84 |
Studies geared to classroom teaching or classroom-oriented practical training for teachers at polytechnic schools | 36
|
Additional studies | 12 |
Bachelor’s dissertation | 9 |
TOTAL | 180 |
Table 2 & figure 1: proportion of ECTS credits awarded for MTT for primary schools and general secondary schools (source: Hochschulcurriculaverordnung 2006)[3]
Music teacher training for secondary education at music academies
Teacher training courses for music teachers require students to study music in combination with another subject. Students must choose either a second school subject of equal status from the current school curriculum or a training course for teachers of musical instruments at secondary schools. In Austria, music education and this particular form of instrumental music education can only be studied at the three art and music academies in Vienna, Salzburg (which has an additional site in Innsbruck) and Graz. To gain admission to this course, students must have attained the academic standard required for university entrance (the “Matura” in Austria).
All teacher training courses for arts subjects are “Diplom” courses. These last at least nine semesters and consist of 80-140 semester hours[4]. 20 to 25% of the total number of hours must be devoted to themes relating to educational theory and subject didactics. A relatively small number of optional subjects are chosen: the number of semester hours varies from three to 14, depending on the academy. In addition to these lessons, students do practicals at schools that last several weeks and have around 14 semester hours of general educational subjects. The dissertation accounts for 14-18 ECTS credits.
- Figure 2: Training of secondary school teachers at university in Austria. Following graduation students are required to do one year’s teaching practice.
Figure 3 compares the curricula at the three Austrian music academies
Figure 3: Comparison of the percentage of ECTS credits stipulated in the curriculum for each subject group[5] in Austria. The diagrams do not include credits awarded for teaching practice & general educational subjects, the dissertation and optional subjects.
Following completion of the degree course[6] graduates are allocated a school at which they teach each of the subjects they studied to one class only for one year as probationary teachers. During this year they are closely supervised and receive further training (see figure 2). Qualified teachers are required to attend further education courses for as long as they are active in the teaching profession.