BG Tanzenberg
Education in Austria – some basic information
The compulsory education in Austria starts with a year in kindergarten at the age of five. But also many 3-and 4-year-old children attend the kindergarten. School starts at the age of six and children have to stay at school for nine years.
After four years at Volksschule (which is compulsory) they can choose between Hauptschule, Neue Mittelschule or Gymnasium (compareable to junior high school) where they have to stay for four years, too. Then there are many possibilities of further education. At the age of fourteen the teenagers can choose between:
· another four years at Gymnasium
· BHS (Berufsbildende Höhere Schulen), these are schools educating for specific professions. There are many different types of BHS, for example there is HTL, where they mainly learn about computers, machines, and other technical stuff. BHS education lasts for five years.
· If they have already stayed at school for nine years, they also could go working.
At the end of these schools you have to sit an exam which is called Matura (you can compare it with SAT or ATC).
I visit the school BG (which stays for Bundesgymnasium) Tanzenberg. So I´m studying the majors maths, German, English, Latin and Ancient Greek and many minors; e.g. geography, history, biology, PE (Physical Education) etc. My favourite subject is Maths, because I´m really good at it and I like logical thought. My least one is Geography. I think our teacher isn´t so good at explaining things.
Because of many other free time activities I don´t do an extra activity at school. But there are a lot of extra-curricular activities offering at our school; e.g. drama, ECDL etc.
I check out the website of Greenhill High and found out subjects they offer that we don´t have at our school. They for example offer social studies and word processing.
