Urban Disparities in inclusive and sustainable School Cultures in Graz, Austria. An analysis of sustainable and equitable school cultures in Austria’s urban environment.

1. Urban Disparities in inclusive and sustainable
School Cultures in Graz, Austria
An analysis of sustainable and equitable school cultures in Austria’s urban environment
MSc. Melina Tinnacher & Dr. Heike Wendt:Empirical Education Research Unit, Karl-Franzens University, Graz, Austria
Dr. Nora Luschin- Ebegreuth: Institute in Early Childhood and Primary Teacher Education, University of Teacher Education Styria, Austria

2. OVERVIEW
1.School development theory
2. Dimensions of the SDGs
3. Research
4. Focus & Instruments
5. Results
6. Discussion & Limitations

3. Teaching children global values
in school in terms of respect for all beings and our eco
system, will create new generations more
understanding and caring, as agents of change (White,
2020).

4. 1.Theories

5. 1. Theoretical
Framework: School
development theory
Assumptions:
• Policy recommendations and curricular provide normative
guidelines for activities in schools
• Actors within schools have a certain degree of autonomy and
academic freedom to interpret requirements and define their
own focus (Fend, 2006)
• Lasting change requires accommodation on structural,
organizational, personnel and curricular level (Rolff, 2016)
• Lived change requires that it is shared, valued and supported by a
majority of actors in the schools (Rolff, 2016).
• Schools are also required to make their profiles visible and give
account of their activities to society
• networks are a response to global change scenarios and is leading to a
mix of the internal school system and the external environment
(Altrichter,2010)
• The voluntary national report on the implementation of the SDGs in
Austria (2020) also states that school networks make an important
contribution to achieving the 2030 Agenda
Focus of this study:
To what extent are burning issues, as
formulated in overarching policy
frameworks, implemented and lived
at schools in Graz.

6. Dimensions of: Inclusion, Diversity & Sustainability
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
SDG4: “Inclusive and equitable
quality edu-cation and promoting
lifelong learning oppor-tunities for
all”
(United Nations, 2019)
1…….

7. Approaches to SDG implementation in Austria‘s ED System
Policies: Implementation enacted in L-GBG , UNCRPD, NAP, Austrian basic declaration for ESD (MOE, 2020)
Instruction: Most curricula are alligned (intercultural learning, social learning, mother tongue education, interdisciplinary
approach of environmental education)
Learning enviroments: No monitoring systems  School governance systems partly depend on school autonomy.
Educational authorities govern through incetives and networks (Pfaffenwimmer, 2018)(IZB, ISOP, FIDS, UNESCO, ARGE,
voXmi, ECOLOG, Environment Certificate)
 the state of implementation is still unknown
2…….
………

8. 2.Research

9. 1) How committed are schools in Graz to ensure sustainable, inclusive
and equitable education?
2) Do urban disparities become apparent?
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
3…….
………

10. Qualitative Content Analysis of all Websites of regular schools in Graz (n=100, 46 primary + 54 secondary
schools) using MaxQDA between June-September2020
->M: 73 pages per schools
-> Using SDGs, School development fields, multicultural ED for an abductive category
system (Intercoder reliability =85,04)
Qualitative Content Analysis of valid annual reports of ECOLOG network schools in Graz (n=28)
Quantitative Analysis using SPSS
-> Descriptive Analysis per schools
-> For context analysis: Grouping schools into 5
Zones drawing on data from the Quality of
Living in Graz Survey
Methodology

11. Overview on category system and indicators
arranged by the scales
Table 1: INSTRUMENTS
4…….
………

12. 3.Results

13. Table 2: Distribution of schools in Graz according the extent of publicly visible
implementation of the SGDs by dimension
41.8
24.5
8.2
28.6
52.0
48.0
9.2
11.2
24.5
20.4
12.2
19.4
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
INCLUSION
DIVERSITY
SUSTAINABILITY
no provisions or activities some provisions and activities concept apparent comprehensive concept Linked activities and indicators Comprehensive concept

14. Table 3: Regression analysis on the number of SDG-related activities by school type, organization and the proportion of
families speaking German as a first language in the community:
Overall and by SDG dimension SDGs Inclusion Diversity Sustainability
b (SE) b (SE) b (SE) b (SE)
constant 8,6 (12,2) -5,6 (4,0) 5,9 (4,9) 8,8 (7,0)
proportion German speaking families in
the community1
2,5 (13,4) 7,5 (4,4) -3,5 (5,3) -2,0 (7,7)
primary school² -2,7 (2,4) 0,7 (0,8) -0,7 (0,9) -2,8 (1,3)
lower secondary school² 3,3 (2,6) 1,6 (0,9) 1,3 (1,0) 0,4 (1,5)
all-day school³ 3,6 (2,2) 1,1 (0,7) 1,5 (0,9) 0,9 (1,2)
R²=.064 R²=.099 R²=.060 R²=.067
b= Number of activities
1 = average proportion within district; 2 = vs. academic and other secondary school, 3= half-day schools, 4= vs. no affiliation
* Statistically significant (p < .05).

15. Table 4: Regression analysis on the number of SDG-related activities by school type, organization, the proportion of
families speaking German as a first language in the community and affiliation with the eco-school network:
Overall and by SDG dimension SDGs Inclusion Diversity Sustainability
b (SE) b (SE) b (SE) b (SE)
constant 6,7 (12,1) -6,1 (4,0) 6,2 (4,9) 7,1 (6,7)
proportion German speaking families in
the community1
3,0 (13,3) 7,6* (4,4) -(3,5) 5,4 -(1,6) 7,4
primary school² -1,7 (2,4) 1,0 (0,8) -0,9 (1,0) -1,9 (1,3)
lower secondary school² 3,9 (2,6) 1,7* (0,9) 1,2 (1,1) 1,0 (1,4)
all-day school³ 3,3 (2,1) 1,1 (0,7) 1,6* (0,9) 0,6 (1,2)
affiliation with eco-school network4 4,1* (2,2) 1,0 (0,7) -0,6 (0,9) 3,5* (1,2)
R²=.099 R²=.116 R²=.066 R²=.067
b= Number of activities
1 = average proportion within district; 2 = vs. academic and other secondary school, 3= half-day schools, 4= vs. no affiliation
* Statistically significant (p < .05).

16. SDGs 1 (all)
SDG1 1 (Poverty)
SDG3
2 (Health)
SDG5 1 (Gender)
SDG7 1(Energy)
SDG8
1 (Economy)
SDG11
4 (Cities)
SDG12
17(Consumption)
SDG13
9 (Climate Action)
SDG14
1 (Life in Water)
SDG15
6 (Life on Land)
SDG16
1 (Peace& Justice)
Table 5: Mengendiagramm SDGs in Ökologschulen

17.  Most schools in Austria offer some actvities & provision
 Most schools reperesentations are unsystematic and not coordinated
 Urban disparities became apparent
 Schools that have all-day education have better conditions for the implemention of the SDGs
 Problematic: leads to structural inequality and does not meet the aim of quality education for all
DISCUSSION
7…….
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18.  Networks are supportive for the schools, but not all schools have the conditions to ensure equal participation
and implementation of the SDGs at their schools
 Schools which are part of the ECOLOG Network show significantly more activities and strucutural provisions
 About 60% of the ECOLOG Network Schools work on SDG 12
 We need ressoures to support schools in their implementation and monitoring processes to make efforts visible
and acknowldeged
DISCUSSION
7…….
………

19.  Data-Content on websites
 Access to change website
 Depth: Daily classes, Personnel and organization are not that visible in self-representations
 Most of these actvities didn´t took place since the pandemic
 Ecolog schools annual reports vary in depth of range of project description
Unless we begin to engage with the vulnerable to develop local solutions, the goal of ending poverty for those furthest behind, with respect to
sustainable development, will remain unrealized. (Huber & O´Meara, 2021)
LIMITATIONS
8…….
………

20. ####Altichter (2010)
Huber, T. & O´Meara, James G. (2021). Education around the globe. Creating Opportunities for and Transforming Lives. Texas, USA: IAP
MOE, teaching principles (Austrian federal ministry of education, science and research. (2020) Teaching principles.)
https://www.bmbwf.gv.at/Themen/schule/schulpraxis/prinz.html
Pfaffenwimmer, G. (2018). Grundsatzerlass Umweltbildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung.
https://www.bmbwf.gv.at/Themen/schule/schulrecht/rs/1997-2017/2014_20.html
United Nations. (2019). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2019. United Nations, New York. Retrieved December 29, 2020 from
https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2019.pdf
White, H. (2020). Agents of Change: Early Years Educator Vol. 21, No12. Education for Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.12968/eyed.2020.21.12.35
REFERENCES
MSc. Melina Tinnacher –Urban Disparities in inclusive and sustainable School Cultures in Graz, Austria