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Spousal Life Conference : Annexe 3

Panel on Social Implications for Foreign Service Spouses

Maria-Teresa Lichem Embassy of Austria

I have been asked to speak to you about our Foreign Service Spousal Association in Austria, called CDA, Club der Angehoerigen, created in 1986, where I served as the head of the group on Family and School problems. It all started because the General Secretary of the Foreign Ministry invited the spouses of acting Ambassadors to discuss their problems at a special meeting within the frame of the yearly Ambassadors' Conference in Vienna. These spouses were taken unprepared and asked us, the wives of former Ambassadors living in Vienna at the time, to organize an agenda for the following year. An initial questionnaire to identify the areas of concern showed that the key problems for spouses and their families were the re-integration of the children in Austrian schools in the first place, and then the situation of the professional spouse, our pensions, and the so-called "social" problems of widows or divorced colleagues.

A study group was established for every topic. Our "Family and School" group was formed with about 15 mothers at first who openly discussed the experiences of diplomatic and trade officials' children when returning home to Austria. We soon became aware that the problem was not a private concern but a common issue for all of us. We sent a questionnaire that was answered by 122 families, involving 306 schoolchildren From these, 43% attended Austrian schools (37% the French Lycée, and 20% English and other systems).

In short, we found out that the key problem in the re-integration to the Austrian school system was the exams of equivalency that were required to be admitted as a 'regular' student in High School. 81% of the returning children had to take between 13 to 23 exams on the subjects of the year - or years - before, depending to what class level they were returning to. The result showed that 75% of the diplomatic and foreign trade children attending the Austrian system lost a year in their schooling. 76% of the parents believed these equivalency exams were an unnecessary burden.

So we decided to look for solutions, and these would require a change of the law. The lawyers in our group formulated a text that could be acceptable and we began negotiations with the Ministry of Education. It took 4 long years of work to get that law passed, facing the lawyers of the Ministry of Education who were inflexible and adamant in their prerogatives. The most efficient help came from Parliament, from the two Parliamentarians who understood our problem and had the know how to present the Ministry of Education with an acceptable formula. The law was passed in 1992. Other aims we achieved were:

  1. The recognition of the IB (International Baccalaureate) as a valid diploma to enter an Austrian University;
  2. The creation of a Correspondence School (Briefkurs) where our children could take the subjects of German, Austrian History and Geography, and eventually Latin, which proved to be the most critical for the re-integration in school.

From this experience, what I think it could help other Foreign Service Spouses groups are some strategies we developed in our dealings with the public sector:

  1. To be aware that our problems are not only the problems of our private families and children, but common to most of us who are in a mobile profession;
  2. We need to sensibilize the public sector by making them aware of the problems and ask for their cooperation since the heads of our families are sent abroad to serve the country;
  3. It is useful to study what other countries have done to solve similar problems,
  4. One should always go to the top, i.e to the Ministers in charge of finding solutions;
  5. Have a portfolio of concrete examples and numbers that would make them aware of the seriousness of the situation.

And to finish, I just want to mention that the topics with which our Association is dealing more intensively at present are:

  1. The spouses pensions: In 1997 our Ministry has gained the oral support of the Ministry of Finance to recognize the necessity of contributing to the pension of the professional spouses while they are serving abroad. Nothing concrete has yet come out on this matter;
  2. At present the priority of CDA is to improve the conditions of the professional spouse. A "Job-purse" was created and three workshops have been organized in the past months on the subject of "Portable Careers."

A Canadian colleague who is attending this Conference, Mary MacKinnon, has just returned from their assignment in Austria and was actively cooperating with our association as an expertise in International Mobility. She will be in the panel on "Family Impact" this afternoon, if you have further questions on this subject. Thank you very much.

Maria Teresa Lichem
Embassy of Austria, Ottawa

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