Caritas Lerncafe - Free learning support

In Austria, school-aged children are enjoying their last days in school before a long-awaited and well-deserved summer break. During the 2021/22 school year, ending at the end of June/begin of July, more than 2100 children have been supported in their learning efforts in 62 Lerncafés (learning cafés) all over Austria. In total, around 960 dedicated volunteers supported them in doing homework, preparing for tests and exams, encouraging their creativity and fostering their personal and social development.

In this update report we want to share with you some uplifting case stories collected over the school year to highlight the positive impact the Caritas Lerncafés have on concrete individuals.

All students’ names have been changed to protect their privacy.

Julya leaps over her shadow
Julya, a girl from a Viennese Lerncafé, is a very shy child who tends to keep to herself in larger groups and prefers to do her homework in a very quiet setting. Anyone who learns with her first needs time to gain her trust. But once this is done, Julya literally blossoms. She then proudly tells about a good grade or shows off one of her beautiful self-painted pictures. One particular success story was her participation in the journalism workshop, where you could see how much she enjoyed it. In the beginning, it took a lot for her to speak up in front of the whole group and actively participate in the workshop. But she managed to leap over her shadow and when her independently conducted interview was finally finished, she was glowing with pride. After the workshop, she shared several times how "cool" it was to have met a real journalist.

Samer’s dedication to get a positive degree
Samer, a 12-year-old boy, is going to a Lerncafé in Lower Austria and attends the 2nd grade of secondary school. Initially, he had big problems with German from the beginning. Especially writing and formulating essays was visibly difficult for him. German is hardly spoken in his home and environment, so it was difficult for him to formulate grammatically correct sentences after long holidays or lockdowns. As a result, he received a "Nicht genügend" (test failed) on his first German school test in autumn. Samer was very disappointed about this, but tried to improve his negative grade. With a lot of effort and practice hours in the Lerncafé, various practice materials and also the dedicated help of a volunteer, the student succeeded in preparing well for the next German school test, so he got a "Befriedigend plus" (satisfactory plus). His ambition paid off. He was able to improve his negative grade and get a positive final grade.

Sunil's transformation
Sunil joined the Lerncafé in April 2021 already. In the beginning, he hardly spoke German, was shy, introverted, insecure and lacked independence. Back then as a first-grader in 2021, distance learning was particularly difficult for him, as the Lerncafé (due to the high incidence in the district) worked for a very long time in online mode. Once physically back at the Lerncafé at the start of the school year 2021/22, his brother helped him get started, though you could see Sunil’s struggles at every syllable reading at the Lerncafé. The exhaustion was clearly visible in his face after each session. But Sunil kept on trying, practicing, learning and developing – with huge success. By the end of the year, he is now almost transformed. He reads well and fluently, has good pronunciation and most important: really enjoys reading. He is now able to speak confidently in German and is no longer tempted to answer in his first language. He is much more confident and also made some friends in the Lerncafé.

Lerncafés in numbers

• Over 2,100 children and young people are cared for in the Lerncafés
• 62 Lerncafé locations throughout Austria
• Around 960 volunteers are currently involved
• Almost 810 children and young people are on the waiting list for a place in a Lerncafé  (the need is much higher, the waiting list is limited)
• 94% of the children and young people at the Lerncafé have a migration background
• 96% of the participants complete the respective school level positively
• 51% girls and 49% boys currently attend the learning cafés

Links:

• Homepage of Austrian-wide Lerncafes (GER)

The Austrian-wide 62 Lerncafés (learning café) are a free learning and after-school support service for children and young people in Austria. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Caritas continued to support Lerncafé children in their learning through individualized online learning support via email, cell phone and video telephony.

Nevertheless, the years 2020 and 2021 and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated lockdowns have posed major challenges not least for many children and their access to education: It has become apparent that children from poverty-stricken families are particularly affected by school closures. They have lost touch with classes on the one hand and with their social environment and friends on the other. The lerncafés helped them learn and stay connected.

Lerncafés during lockdown and parallel operation

During the lockdowns and school closures, Lerncafé staff helped the children learn individually via regular contact and previously targeted surveys of the need for technical options via agreed learning times using e-mail, cell phones and video telephony. The social care component and contact with parents, which was also a focus of staff during the lockdown, further empowered the Lerncafé children. Due to Covid mandated hygiene, safety, and spacing regulations, the Lerncafés offered parallel operations during the time between lockdowns. I.e., supervision on-site as well as online. Overall, the demand for additional places in the Lerncafés was already very high before the Covid 19 pandemic and is currently steadily increasing.

What does the Lerncafé support mean for children

Maya (name changed to protect client’s privacy), a student from Lerncafé St. Pölten, fled Syria with her family a few years ago. During their way to Austria they also lived in Egypt for a few months as the girl remembers. Initially supposed to attend school in Egypt, she had to leave pretty soon because of very bad experiences with violent teachers and also difficulties with understanding the dialect. All these experiences combined with fear and trauma from their flight were clearly recognizable at the enrollment in the Lerncafé St. Pölten. Maya was very introverted and barely spoke to the Lerncafé team.

The Lerncafé coordinator responsible for the location in St. Pölten finally managed to help the family to gain trust through conversations with an interpreter and a lot of empathy. Subsequently, together with the Lerncafé team, a conversation was also held with the girl’s school teachers in St. Pölten, who was informed about the family situation and the experiences the girl had been through during their difficult escape from Syria.

Additionally, Maya’s family was also offered help through various Caritas services in the region. Now, after two years of diligent participation from the girl at the Lerncafé, she speaks German very well, is well integrated in the Lerncafé and in school and made close friends within the Lerncafé as well as in her class. Maya is still attending the Lerncafé and is planning to visit as long as she is in school. Besides Maya also her family is very grateful about that since they have found a very dedicated contact person at the Lerncafé who supports them with problems encountered during their integration process in Austria.

Lerncafés in numbers

• 62 Lerncafé locations throughout Austria
• Lerncafés currently support 2,000 children – still more than 1,000 children Austrian-wide are waiting for an open place at a Lerncafé
• 96% of the children were able to complete the school year positively due to the support of the Lerncafé
• 94% of the students have a migration background
• The gender ratio is 50% girls and 50% boys
• There have been about 18,000 parent contacts (Austria-wide) in 2021

Links:

• Homepage of Austrian-wide Lerncafes (GER)