Jemima is hugged again by her mother. The two are standing in front of a yellow school building in Wiener Neustadt. It's time for the state external examination - the annual test for children in Austria who are taught at home.
It will soon become clear whether studying at the living room table at home was enough to pass seventh grade. The entire annual material is checked, always before the summer holidays. About one in five examinees fails or doesn't even take the test. Things went badly for Jemima's predecessor. The two girls hug, then Jemima enters the middle school where the exam is being taken - it's English's turn.
"It's actually a normal day at school"
"I usually get up at six o'clock. Then I do sports or read the Bible. Then we have breakfast as a family. And then comes a completely normal school day," says Jemima.
Organizing herself and learning at her own pace is what she likes about home schooling. Home schooling also allows you to travel flexibly. It's one reason the family moved from Germany to Austria, where home schooling is allowed.
However, the family has to get the teaching materials themselves. Families who have decided on home schooling exchange information on messenger services. “It’s the most normal thing in the world in England and the USA,” says Jemima’s mother. “Germany is perhaps a bit of a latecomer.”
Is there a lack of interaction with other children?
In fact, home education is generally possible in many countries, unlike in Germany. And for some children, this model would definitely make sense, believe educational researchers like Barbara Schule from the University of Vienna. For example, for victims of bullying or for those with severe ADHD or autism.
Beyond that, she takes a more critical view of home schooling: "We know that children can actually only develop in a community. We are social creatures as people, and all of these things would then be taken away from them, for example who they want to be friends with. And that is also an experience that is important in the development of children and young people."
Jemima says that she doesn't miss classmates: "Because I can meet other people in my free time. I also go to the choir and go horseback riding, so I have a social outlet."
A quarter breaks off
In Austria, around 4,000 children were recently registered for home schooling. However, around a quarter of them stop home schooling during the course of the year, writes the Austrian Ministry of Education.
Jemima emphasizes that she learns very independently. But of course she also has support from her mother. Other families also say that this model is difficult to implement if parents do not have the time to support and guide their children in home schooling - especially for primary school-aged children. “Of course it helps that I also have a high school diploma,” says Jemima’s mother.
Originally the rule for lessons with a private tutor
In Austria, home education was enshrined in the constitution as early as 1867: the aim was to enable rich families and families from higher classes in particular to be able to school their children at home. "That means it wasn't actually homeschooling in the classic sense, but rather parents hired private teachers, sometimes together with other families or alone at home," says scientist Schulte.
At the same time, the obligation to prove that the children were still being taught the prescribed curriculum was established - a principle that is still guaranteed today by the external examination. Anyone who fails must repeat the year.
In individual cases, home schooling can even be prohibited. However, the Ministry of Education cannot say how often this has been the case recently. There are no numbers for this.
Today “movements against school as an institution”
Today, families choose home schooling primarily for pragmatic reasons, says researcher Schulte, for example because home schooling can be better combined with the parents' jobs. Or because of the children's special needs, for example diagnoses such as ADHD or similar.
Recently, however, the motives have partly shifted, says researcher Schulte. "What has become stronger recently are movements against schools as an institution." Anti-science is a particularly important reason.
Sex education, religious reasons or the accusation that “gender ideology” is being spread in schools are also reasons for wanting to educate children at home. "The idea is that things are being taught that the children shouldn't have anything to do with." Schulte continues that these are reservations that are “gratefully taken up” by right-wing populist parties like the FPÖ.
None of this is the case with them, emphasizes Jemima's mother. Her family wants to stay out of political debates. However, they want to stick to home schooling. In any case, Jemima passed the external examination.
