!!!Volksschule

Volksschule, term sporadically used from the late 18%%sup th/%  
century onwards and officially introduced in 1840 by the 8%%sup th/%  
revision of the  School Administration Act of 1805 ("deutsche 
Volksschulen") to replace the former name 
"Primarschule" (primary school). Preceded by various other 
schools providing elementary instruction in the mother tongue, such as 
 Deutsche Schule ("German School"),  Pfarrschule (parish 
school), and  Trivialschule ("trivium school"). The 1869  
Reichsvolksschulgesetz outlines the responsibility of the Volksschule 
as follows: "to provide moral and religious education for 
children, develop their mental activity, equip them with the knowledge 
and abilities they will need during further education and training to 
prepare them for (work) life, and build a basis for the development of 
able men and women and members of the community". Since the 
number of pupils determined that of teachers and classes (one teacher 
for 80 pupils), many rural Volksschule primary schools had no more 
than one to three grades well beyond the middle of the 20%%sup th/%  
century. These schools were only closed in the course of a reform 
following the  School Legislation of 1962. Today, Volksschule primary 
schools normally cover the first four years ("Grundschule"), 
and in very few cases they also run "Oberstufe" classes 
(years 5-8) following a curriculum similar to that of 
"Hauptschule" secondary schools (154 pupils attended 
"Oberstufe" classes in 1992/93). The compulsory subjects of 
reading, writing, German, "Sachunterricht" (Austrian studies 
and "nature" studies), mathematics, music, art and 
handicrafts, and physical education are supplemented by other 
obligatory exercises and subjects, such as road safety training and a 
modern foreign language. The traditional system of one class teachers 
for all subjects was gradually abandoned in the Second Republic in 
favour of a system with specialised teachers for religious 
instruction, crafts and the foreign language course.


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