Schulschließungen in Österreich – Ein Fazit nach einem Jahr Pandemie

In contrast to Germany and Switzerland, in Austria schools were closed three times during the COVID-19 pandemic. The school lockdowns and their effects on all stakeholders have been intensively researched; with, for example, over 20 surveys (N>50,000 people) on the first lockdown in Austria. The findings from these studies are only partially consistent with those from Germany and Switzerland. However, initial comparative show that in Austria and Germany the psychological stress perceived by students and their parents increased significantly over the past year. At the same time, initial performance studies from Germany indicate that no dramatic COVID-19-related learning losses were observed. As in Germany, an increase in the use of digital media in schools and in the learning time at home can be observed in Austria. These findings nourish the hope of similarly low learning losses in Austria. Nevertheless, the pandemic has highlighted the weaknesses and strengths of the Austrian school system. Policymakers are called upon to support in particular those groups that suffered most from the system’s weaknesses during the pandemic. For this purpose, remedial measures for socioeconomically disadvantaged and/or low-performing students are particularly important. Finally, the scientific community is called upon to research characteristics of (crisis-)resilient school systems, schools and teaching in order to be able to derive implications for the future.