Austria

According to Manfred Krenn, researcher at the Working Life Research Center in Vienna, people who are deemed unemployable stay on the lowest step of a new caste system that builds on education titles and grades. His recent study argues that competition on the job market and pressure for further education and advanced training lead to a downward spiral for people “low qualified people.”  Furthermore, he found that less educated people have less access to education programs and their employers do not encourage them to pursue further education.  (In 2009, for example, 5.6% of less educated individuals attended an educational program, whereas 42% of academics participated in further education programs).  Krenn finds fault in middle- and upper-class notions of knowledge determining what’s tested.  To remedy this, according to Krenn, education programs should refer more to the socio-economic criteria of the people concerned.  Additionally, schools should be aware that students from underprivileged families start their school career under different conditions than their wealthier peers and that a need for cultural accommodation exists.