land- und forstwirtschaftliches Schulwesen

Schools of Agriculture and Forestry, emerged relatively late in Austria even though agriculture was the most important branch of income until the beginning of the 20^th century. From the 1860s onwards agricultural associations (prototype: Kärntnerische Agrikultur Sozietät Carinthian agricultural society 1764) tried to fight economic and social backwardness; the Allgemeine Schulordnung (1774) governed the teaching of basic knowledge in the field of agriculture for elementary schools. It was not until the initiatives of agricultural societies (Landwirtschaftsgesellschaften, in Vienna in 1807, in Styria in 1819 etc.) that special schools for agriculture were established, especially from the middle of the 19^th century onwards. Elementary schools (schools of farming, forestry, wine growing, horticulture) existed in most provinces, secondary schools in Mödling and since 1934 in Wieselburg (Francisco-Josephinum for agriculture), Klosterneuburg (for fruit growing and wine growing, from 1925 until 1951 also for horticulture after the loss of the Höheren Gartenbauschule (secondary school of horticulture) in Eisgrub in South Moravia), Mariabrunn and Bruck an der Mur (for forestry); these schools were Lehr- und Versuchsanstalten as well. Towards the end of the 19^th century schools for farmers´ daughters were established for domestic sciences and dairy farming (housekeeping schools and schools for dairy farming). Travelling teachers, employed by the provinces, and "Volksbildungsvereine" (adult education associations) (Adult Education) offered further training in the field of agriculture in the winter months ("winter schools", curricula from 1877 onwards). These schools led to the development of Berufsschulen and schools of further education for agriculture and forestry.

Even though private individuals, associations and companies were the first to found and finance schools of agriculture and forestry, the Ministry of Farming, which was in charge of the schools from 1868 onwards and which published a newspaper for agriculture and forestry for teachers from 1887 onwards, managed to bring about a similar development for all the schools by subsidising them and by its power of veto in the board of trustees. Eventually the schools had to be financed by the state and the provinces. In the First Republic, Chambers of Agriculture took care of schools of agriculture and forestry and the curriculum was adjusted to regional needs; a school and research institute for dairy farming was opened in Wolfpassing (Lower Austria) in 1930. From 1945 onwards schools of agriculture and forestry expanded heavily due to the difficult food situation and were reorganised in 1966 and 1975 (when the Ministry of Education took over responsibility for teaching) into their current structure, höhere Lehranstalten are subject to federal regulations, Berufsschulen and Fachschulen to provincial regulations:

1) Höhere Lehranstalten (5 years, including an upper secondary school leaving certificate which qualifies for university admission, right to the title of "Ingenieur" = engineer) for agriculture (Wieselburg, St. Florian); for alpine agriculture (Elixhausen, Irdning); for horticulture (commercial horticulture, landscape gardening and landscape architecture; 13^th district of Vienna); for wine and fruit growing (Klosterneuburg); for agrotechnology (Wieselburg); for dairy farming and food technology (Wieselburg); for forestry (Gainfarn until summer of 2004; Bruck an der Mur); for agriculture and domestic sciences (Klagenfurt-Pitzelstätten, Sitzenberg-Reidling, Linz-Elmberg, Kematen in Tirol).

2) Fachschulen for agriculture and forestry with different fields of study and different focuses (usually 3 years and 1 year practical training): agriculture (including farm-scale vegetable production, forestry, domestic sciences, wine growing); agriculture and forestry (grassland farming, forestry, hill farming, special and alternative farming methods), wine growing and cellarage, fruit growing, horticulture, rural domestic sciences.

3) Berufsschulen for agriculture and forestry (from the age of 16 to 18, at least 600 teaching units).

Since 1999 courses for rural area management have been offered by the Fachhochschule in Wieselburg.

Uniform federal standards in training of teachers for schools of agriculture and forestry and for advisers in the field of agriculture and forestry were established in the 1950s in the Federal Seminar for Agriculture and Forestry in Vienna, which has both the functions of a Berufspädagogische Akademie and of a Berufspädagogisches Institut.