Notes on the current reform of the school leaving examination in Austria: new "competences" for literature and its teaching?

Abstract

The article briefly presents the main features of the new Austrian Secondary School Leaving Examination. Its basic elements, introduced as part of a broad reform of the school system, have been the subject of intense and heated debates, both in the ministry offices and in the arena of public opinion. The aim of this paper is to account for those debates, paying especially attention to the question of literature and its role in teaching practices.