Razprave in gradivo, Ljubljana, March 1986, No.18 
Augustin Malle UDC 376.744(436.6=863) 
Slovenian Scientific Institute 
Klagenfurt/Celovec 
Austria 
ANNOTATIONS CONCERNING THE BILINGUAL SCHOOL SYSTEM IN CARINTHIA* 
The current public discussion concerning the continuation of the 
bilingual elementary school system in Carinthia reduces at first 
sight the critical situation of the minority school system to one 
of the many problems of institutionalized education. Yet, any 
reduction with regard to territory and contents would eventually 
bring about the complete breakdown of the minority school system 
in Carinthia, and would constitute a violation of Article VII of 
the Austrian State Treaty issued on 15 May 1955. 
In administrative as well as judicial areas of Slovene or mixed 
population, there exist bilingual, German-Slovene classes for the 
first three years of primary school for all those pupils who have 
been enrolled by their parents. Then again, all those pupils who 
have been enrolled by their parents are taught the Slovene 
language as a subject of instruction in all the remaining classes 
of compulsory education. 
The Slovene ethnic group in Carinthia has always accorded utmost 
importance to the educational formation of its members and still 
stresses the role of the compulsory elementary school - as it 
existed up to 1959 - as a mediator; this form of school had been 
established in the geographically clearly defined region of 
Carinthia and was created with the mutual consent of the three 
political parties that founded the second Austrian Republic as 
well as of the representatives of the minority. The 
representation of the Slovene ethnic group has emphasized in 
numerous memorandums, petitions and comments on drafts for bills 
or decrees, the necessity for an organized and organically 
constructed school system for its continued existence and 
development, and at the same time has given evidence of its 
constant openness and willingness to discuss it. 
The present, already historical, form of the compulsory bilingual 
elementary school was based on the wish to stabilize and enlarge 
the mastery of the respective mother tongues of the pupils and at 
the same time to introduce the second language. Circumstances 
which were of practically no importance 40 years ago, today 
influence the early bilingualism of members of the Slovene 
minority in Carinthia. Firstly, there are mass communications, 
which are overwhelmingly in the hands of the majority and are 
dominated by it linguistically and in terms of content. Secondly, 
the economic situation of the Southern Carinthian area and the 
concentration of places of work, which, due to planning, are 
located in the so-called Carinthian central area, bring about the 
fact that the Carinthian Slovenes spend only a part of their 
  
* Original: Slovene 
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Razprave in gradivo, Ljubljana, March 1986, No.18 
active time in linguistically familiar surroundings and are 
obliged to carry out a language switch, starting with their 
commuting to their places of work and most of all with their 
arrival there. This is true also for most of the professional and 
higher secondary schools, not taking into consideration the 
Bundesgymnasium fiir Slowenen. The Slovene culture and in 
particular the Slovene language have a low social status in 
Carinthia. The estimation of the language ranges from mere under- 
estimation of its range of application to the attitude of saying 
that knowledge of its dialectal variety is sufficient and its 
academic form unnecessary; sometimes it is even met with overt 
refusal, which culminated a few years ago in the statement that 
it was the language of the enemy of a free, independant and 
undivided Carinthia. 
In order to support the argument against learning the Slovene 
language, it is often argued that too much time is invested in 
learning it that could otherwise be spent learning a more 
important language, a world language. This argument can be 
questioned as there is no evidence for a qualitatively greater 
mastery of languages of the Carinthians in comparison with the 
rest of the Austrian population. 
In our opinion the low social status of the Slovene language has 
been affected by the actions taken by the legislative authorities 
and further aggravated by the territorial limitations on Slovene 
as an official language. 
Naturally this situation has its negative impact on education, 
Now as ever it can be argued that a considerable percentage of 
Slovene-speaking children have no access to education in their 
mother-tongue because they are not enrolled in bilingual classes 
by their parents. 
For a statistically surveyed part of the pupils, education in 
Slovene language ends when they reach the age of ten. About 25- 
30% of the pupils who are taught in Slovene in the compulsory 
school, do have Slovene in different ways (as a compulsory 
subject, a language used in class) once they continue their 
schooling. 
The school system in Austria has been improved and expanded by 
reforms to a considerable extent. The Carinthian minority school 
system has only insignificantly taken part in this process. 
Almost all proposals made by the Carinthians were doomed to 
failure because of the missing political consent of the parties 
represented in Parliament and the Regional Assembly. Above all, 
the Carinthian Slovenes call for a regulation concerning the 
preparatory education, that is, the nursery school system; they 
call for organizational and pedagogical improvements within the 
bilingual elementary school, for a similar development in 
secondary schools and for improvements in teacher-training as 
well as in further in-service training of bilingual teachers. 
In our opinion the Slovene ethnic group could improve and further 
develop its educational situation on the basis of generally 
acknowledged pedagogical experiences and the agreed-on legal 
criteria. Yet, because of the missing political will, the 
necessary agreement with the representatives of the majority does 
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Razprave in gradivo, Ljubljana, March 1986, No.18 
not come about. The desired development of the bilingual school 
system can hardly be reached through legal steps as it is highly 
unlikely that judicial authorities should decide against the 
displayed consent of the parties in Parliament. 
Apart from the urgently needed settlement of preparatory 
education, which is acknowledged also in semi-official documents 
as being an unresolved question, the situation in secondary 
education remains extremely unsatisfactory. Because of its type 
of school, the graduates of the Budesgymnasium fiir Slowenen are 
rather limited in their choice of a career. It can be observed 
that this fact was of no major. importance until recently, as the 
Carinthian Slovenes were considerably disadvantaged in all 
professions. This is especially true of teachers of compulsory 
schools, as Slovenes had been practically excluded from the 
teacher-training school in Klagenfurt from 1920 to 1945. In the 
meantime, the Slovene ethnic group has gained ground considerably 
in some professions, whereas it still lags behind in others. the 
reason must be seen also in the inadequate structure of the 
secondary school system for the Slovene ethnic group. This can 
also be regarded as an indicator of the degree of the 
emancipation reached so far. The Slovene ethnic group bases its 
claim to an adequate school system on paragraph II of Article VII 
of the Austrian State Treaty. The claim to the elementary 
education in the Slovene language is the very prerequisite which 
secures the existence of the Slovene ethnic group. A structured 
secondary education is to ensure its development. The bilingual 
elementary school as well as the minority school system on the 
whole render the bilingualism of the members of the ethnic group 
possible. Yet a functional bilingualism can only grow and develop 
if the greatest possible number of the population of a mixed 
region is taught both languages in school and is able to use them 
in everyday life. 
The bilingual school system is suitable for reducing the existing 
prejudices separating the majority and minority group and the 
peoples. It serves well the international understanding. The 
collective education of school-age children from a mixed region 
helps them to get to know each other and constitutes a supporting 
element for the strengthening and growth of mutual respect and 
amicable co-operation. Yet the bilingual elementary school in 
Carinthia fulfils the orders of paragraph II of Article VII of 
the Austrian State Treaty, which guarantees elementary education 
in the Slovene language to Austrian citizens of the Slovene 
minority in Carinthia. 
In bilingual instruction pupils do not learn the Slovene language 
as a "foreign" language. In the Southern parts of Carinthia it 
has been a means of communication from its earliest days on and 
considered a "public" language as far as the population's 
attitude towards it is positive. 
Bilingual education promotes and develops the linguistic 
competence of the pupils and introduces them to the cultural 
heritage of two peoples. 
Some fundamental problems have to be pointed out briefly. 
Firstly, there are those concerning the majority and the 
minority: bilingual education makes greater qualitative and 
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Razprave in gradivo, Ljubljana, March 1986, No.18 
J 11 participants in the formative process, 
financial gente Sy the speande made on it, bilingual education 
In order to nd theoretical and organizational basis. Although, 
requires à ape case, one of its most significant functions is 
at least in ted members of the ethnic group as good 
ion of commit . 3 
eee also needs a public safeguard against any form of 
infringement. 
Secondly, I would like to draw your attention to problems which 
particularly concern the Carinthian Slovenes: apart from the 
generally existing concern for the school system, methods of 
procedure must be found which enable both parents and pedagogues 
to take an active part in the development of the syllabus and to 
decide about the necessary reforms of the minority school system. 
It will be necessary to devote more attention to the students and 
graduates of intermediate and secondary schools. In recent years, 
the Slovene ethnic group has increasingly taken into account the 
experiences and findings of the educational sciences to underline 
its demands. In future, it will be necessary to take into account 
also the experiences of other ethnic groups to help in decision- 
making, despite the fact that the Slovene ethnic group has to 
decide about its school system in co-operation with the federal 
authorities. 
394