Austrian and Indian School Culture

The aim of the chapter is to outline two different school cultures and compare them on the criteria, which are relevant for the implementation of school development processes. In our analyses, we differ between school intern and school extern criteria. School intern criteria can moreover be divided into school house intern and school house extern criteria. Schoolhouse intern criteria, for example, are the administration of a school, or the understanding of the teacher role from a historical perspective as well as the role of principals. Schoolhouse extern criteria are the structure of the school system, the philosophy of the hierarchy of educational ministry, administration and supervision of the schools. 

Social circumstances and influences play another important role, which can be characterized as school culture-relevant extern criteria. Those are, for instance, the form of government, population, urban versus rural character, climate, religion, philosophy, the aim of education in general including its pedagogical values as well as the implementation of compulsory education. Based on these criteria a general comparison between the Austrian and the Indian school culture is elaborated. The comparison results in a critical perspective on each school culture (what can we learn from each other?). The chapter concludes with an estimation in what way school developmental processes can be influenced by these different cultures.