Research Projects

Our team is currently contributing to a report setting out measures to supporting teachers across career stages to support well-being, prevent burnout and enhance retention.

The alienation and distancing of students from school usually progresses gradually. Carefully planned preventive action, which should also be part of positive school and teaching development, enables timely professional intervention in this otherwise often hidden process. Through intensive research in international educational science fields, preventive and intervention measures against school dropout were identified and critically evaluated with regard to their usefulness in Viennese schools. Over 100 high-quality individual studies from abroad were selected and analyzed in order to develop recommendations for action aimed at school administrators, teachers, and parents or legal guardians.

The outcome of the original project was a catalogue of measures (2012) that is applicable to all types of school and is divided into 59 recommendations for action, each with detailed instructions. In the follow-up project, the catalogue of measures was revised and expanded. The catalog of measures in the second updated and expanded edition of 2024 contains 69 recommendations for action with detailed steps that can be tried out individually or in combination. Based on the specific field of practice, various ways of improving the situation are selected. In this way, unlike fixed programs, greater flexibility, individualization, and autonomy in action can be achieved.

• Handlungsempfehlungen für Lehrende, Schulleitung und Eltern bzw. Erziehungsberechtigte zur erfolgreichen Prävention von Schulabsentismus und Schulabbruch (2. Auflage) (pdf, 4.22 MB)
• Handlungsempfehlungen für Lehrende, Schulleitung und Eltern zur erfolgreichen Prävention von Schulabsentismus und Schulabbruch (1. Auflage) (pdf, 895 KB)

This project examines the resilience of non-traditional students. The study is aimed at various degree programs with a focus on technology. A new resilience concept is being developed which, based on Bourdieu's theory, focuses on the interaction between students and the university fields. Participants in working groups (students, tutors, teachers) are examined.

These main research areas are dealt with: Interaction between the habitus of non-traditional students and the field, educational risks and dropping out, resilience and student working groups.

A longitudinal study with a mixed methods approach is carried out.

In the practice shock project, national and international research on the reasons, causes and consequences of the so-called practice shock is processed.

Information about this phenomenon, which shows the discrepancy between training and practice, is of great importance for training institutions and those responsible for school development. Well-tested prevention measures from different countries that are suitable for Austrian schools are presented. The main focus is on building resilience through mentoring and professional learning communities.  

• Praxisschock? Berufseinstieg von Lehrer:innen (pdf, 1.05 MB)

A high-quality university education is a decisive prerequisite for economic growth, labor market development, avoiding the shortage of skilled workers, economic and social innovations and political stability. High drop-out rates are associated with high costs from both an individual and an economic perspective. The diversity of the student population has increased significantly – not least due to the growing number of students who come from families with no university experience, are employed or do not come to the university within two years of obtaining their higher education entrance qualification. It is precisely these so-called non-traditional students who have a significantly higher risk of dropping out. Universities are testing various measures to counter dropouts and extended study times.

The present report offers options and suggestions for such problem solving and organizational innovations.

• Endbericht zu Stop Dropout (pdf, 4.07 MB)

The project focusses on the newly implemented learning hub ("Lernbüro") at a school for higher technical education. Research aspects are: individualised and self directed learning, school commitment, school absenteeism and early school leaving, self-efficacy and educational/professional aspirations. 

The project focusses on a modular course system ("modulare Oberstufe") at a viennese school. Research aspects are: individualised learning, school commitment, school absenteeism and early school leaving, self-efficacy and educational/professional aspirations of the pupils. 

• Endbericht Evaluierung MOST (pdf, 1.78 MB)

In Europe Early School Leaving (ESL) affects more than 5.6 million young people between 18 and 24 years of age. This figure implies not only an immense waste of young people's potentials but also serious social and economic consequences: Early School Leavers are at a heightened risk of poor participation in the labour market and of social exclusion over their entire life course.

While the available research data on Early School Leaving explain some of its isolated aspects, the RESL.eu project will analyse the phenomenon from a holistic perspective. By framing the complex and often subtle interplay of factors that influence ESL on macro/meso/micro levels, and by deconstructing the configurations of the various factors in their specific contexts, RESL.eu aims at uncovering specific combinations of variables and the various contexts that influence the processes related to ESL.

In order to be able to compare the data gathered in the project's 9 partner countries (Belgium, United Kingdom, Sweden, Portugal,Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Hungary and Austria), RESL.eu will develop and refine the theoretical framework for studying ESL, formulating a workable yet finely nuanced definition of ESL. Through a mixed-method design, a total of 28140 surveys and 1176 interviews/FGD will be conducted.

This allows RESL.eu to formulate conceptual models useful for the development and implementation of general policies and specific measures to combat ESL. Thus the project is not only relevant for the improvement of research tools but also wants to assist policy makers, school staff and civil society at large.

CORDiS (Research Results of EU Projects)

• Education Policies Concerning Early School Leaving In Austria (pdf, 373 KB)

This basic research project with its focus on dropout prevention and intervention aims at the professionalisation of teachers. The project assumptions primarily refer to the context of habitus-field constellations and teachers’ attitudes towards dropout. Based on constructivist grounded theory, the qualitative study collects its data by conducting both narrative interviews and half-structured interviews and group discussions. On the basis of the data analysis results, habitus-related types of teachers are established. 

• Teacher Professionalism: The Double Field of Tradition and New Professionalism (pdf, 1.17 MB)

Socio-spacial and School Segregation Tendencies in a densely populated Area of Vienna: Lessons to be learned from the Example of Berlin (Part I)

Schools play an important role in shaping social selection and segregation processes and should be organized and professionalized in such a way that they help to realize the core values of a democratic society, such as freedom, equality, and integration. Based on a study by leading international educational scientists (Bryk et al.), qualitative interviews were conducted with school principals, teachers, school doctors, and school social workers at three middle schools/secondary schools in the metropolitan areas of Berlin (Neukölln) and Vienna (Rudolfsheim Fünfhaus).

The aim was to find out from the respondents how, despite strong segregation tendencies, negative developments such as school disengagement and dropout rates could be reduced and the academic performance of students improved at the respective school locations. The results of the interviews were examined in terms of internationally recognized “good practice criteria.”

The Challenges of ethnically segregated Schools located in densely populated urban Areas – the Vancouver Model. Searching for a Good-Practice Model for Vienna (Part II)

The study builds on initial findings from the project "Socio-spacial and School Segregation Tendencies in a densely populated Area of Vienna: Lessons to be learned from the Example of Berlin". The comparative case study highlights good practice solutions for dealing with the challenges of ethnically segregated school locations that are practicable and economically feasible for the city of Vienna.

The comparison of good practice models between two countries (Austria and Germany), which are ranked in the middle range according to the PISA ranking, and the PISA “top country” Canada has produced interesting research results. Data was collected using ethnographic survey methods (document analysis, semi-structured guided interviews) at the three school locations Vienna, Berlin and Vancouver. A feasibility study of a foreign good practice model was developed for the Vienna school location.

Schools as Culture-Bearing Institutions. Lessons to be learned (Part III)

In the 21st century, school development has gained national and international significance compared to previous decades. A city’s schools are key cultural institutions, just like the opera house, theatres, sports arenas, trade fairs, etc. They help determine a city’s appeal – and this applies not only to elite schools but also to so-called ‘problem schools’. Transparency has increased, meaning a city can no longer ‘hide’ its ‘problem schools’.
This research project aims to identify international best practice models that can be implemented in Viennese schools in a ‘cost-effective’ and context-flexible manner, without requiring major structural changes to the system, and which lead to sustainable success.

• Abteilung für Bildungswissenschaft, Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien September 2015 Schulen als Kulturträger. Lessons to be learned. Band III  (pdf, 524 KB)

A qualitative Study of Early School Leavers' Habitus

The theoretical part of this qualitative study summarizes the results of international research on the causes and effects of early school leaving. The empirical part presents the empirical results obtained from 25 qualitative interviews. The data was evaluated using Pierre Bourdieu's educational sociology theory. With regard to the coping strategies of young people after dropping out of school, a preliminary habitus typology emerged, which is further differentiated in the longitudinal study. The results underscore the importance of social capital (Bourdieu) for educational trajectories.

• Quo Vadis Bildung? Eine qualitative Studie zum Habitus von Early School Leavers (pdf, 775 KB)

Development into a Longitudinal Study of Early School Leavers' Habitus (Follow up Project)

The theoretical part of this qualitative study summarizes the results of international research on the causes and effects of early school leaving. The empirical part presents the empirical results obtained from 25 qualitative interviews. The data was evaluated using Pierre Bourdieu's educational sociology theory. With regard to the coping strategies of young people after dropping out of school, a preliminary habitus typology emerged, which is further differentiated in the longitudinal study. The results underscore the importance of social capital (Bourdieu) for educational trajectories. 

• Quo Vadis Bildung? Eine qualitative Längsschnittstudie zum Habitus von Early School Leavers (pdf, 1.91 MB)

The study describes both the importance of second-chance education within the Austrian education system and the various offers available to finish education at a later date. The empirical study focuses on two projects that allow finishing compulsory schooling at a later date. With guideline interviews students, teachers, school principals, education and job counsellors as well as policy makers within the education system are interviewed to identify the projects’ most successful elements and to analyse the latter with regard to transferring them into the regular educational and vocational training systems.

Pierre Bourdieu's theory and the international educational research based on it were used as a framework for analyzing the research results on prevention and intervention in school and training dropout, as well as the attitudes, behaviors, and practices of teachers and their professional development. In addition, a preliminary typology of teachers was created using theory generation and data analysis based on grounded theory and semi-structured, problem-centered interviews.

The results of the teacher interviews show that the professionalization of teachers with regard to prevention and intervention in school disengagement and dropout has been insufficient to date. A differentiated awareness of this deficiency could only be reconstructed from the statements in the interviews in very few teachers and only to a limited extent. Through the review of international specialist literature, qualitative research, and a selection of best practice examples, insights and suggestions for the development of differentiated models for improving the professionalization of teachers were conveyed.

• Professionalisierung von Lehrerinnen und Lehrern im Bereich der Prävention und Intervention von Schul- und Ausbildungsabbruch (pdf, 1.00 MB)