Technical education in international comparison: insights from Austria!

Technical education in international comparison: insights from Austria!

The Schwäbisch Gmünd University of Education went on an exciting excursion to the Tyrol University of Education, which took place from April 21st to 26th, 2025. This trip is characterized by an in-depth examination of the different approaches to technical education in Germany and Austria. The excursion was financed by the Erasmus+ program and led by Dr. Friederike Wolf and Dr. Corinna Mönch from the technology department led.

While German education policy primarily pursues an action-oriented approach that focuses on technology, Austria relies on a creative, interdisciplinary specialist concept. The aim of this excursion was to compare and critically reflect on the different educational concepts. Against this background, the extracurricular learning locations visited provided new insights into innovative educational settings and valuable exchanges with Austrian colleagues.

Comparison of education systems

In Germany, technical education is taught through a multi-perspective approach that includes both cognitive and practical experiences. This combination promotes craft activities and takes social, ecological and historical aspects into account in lessons. In Austria, on the other hand, the teaching subject of technology and design is broader in that it combines creative and reflective action with technical learning. The aim is to promote technical understanding, design skills and social responsibility.

These differences are part of a larger European context outlined in the Eurydice report “The structure of the European education systems”, which provides insights into the structure of education systems in 39 European countries. This report addresses various organizational models in primary and secondary education, as well as programs at the tertiary level, and presents updated national diagrams on the structure of education systems applicable to the 2023/2024 school and academic year. The duration of compulsory schooling and training is also examined, which is important for the discussion about vocational training and its access eubuero.de.

Vocational training in an international comparison

In the 2020 education report, the OECD emphasizes that dual vocational training systems, such as those in Germany, have particular advantages. By integrating practical professional elements, Germany achieves above-average results on the labor market compared to other countries. In 2020, there were 325 state-recognized training occupations in Germany alone. However, the report shows that there is still room for improvement in earning potential compared to academic degrees bpb.de.

The excursion from PH Schwäbisch Gmünd to PH Tirol not only reveals differences in the approach to technical education, but also shows how important the exchange of knowledge and experiences is for the further development of educational systems in Europe. The Erasmus+ program promotes this exchange and strengthens the opportunity to learn from a wide variety of models and their implementations. It is hoped that such initiatives will continue to contribute to improving education in Europe.