Minority schools in the South Tyrol and in the Austrian Burgenland: A comparison of two models

Abstract

Abstract In the Italian South Tyrol the German minority forms a numerical majority whereas in the Austrian Burgenland, the Croatian minority is small and confined to rural areas. The German minority has recovered from pre‐war repression, whereas the Croatian minority appears to be declining. These minorities thus represent two typological paradigms and this paper presents findings from a comparative empirical study, particularly those relating to education. After a presentation of the historical and contemporary legal and educational status of the minority languages, there is analysis of observations of actual language use in schools. The article then compares school authorities, curricula and opportunities for school‐leavers in the two minorities. The concluding section reports the latest developments in South Tyrol and the debate about the political and economic acceptability of separate school systems. The author concludes that education is a reliable indicator of how far a host‐state is willing to acc...