Those looking to teach English in Austria are actually faced with one of the more competitive European TEFL destinations. With a population of just nine million and only a handful of major cities, not to mention very strong bilingual state language teaching, there’s not the booming demand for graduates that there is in, say, Spain or Italy. But there is demand.
What’s more, the onetime home of Mozart and Freud is a downright enthralling place to be based. You’ll have the Alps on the doorstep (think hiking in the summer months and skiing in the winter months) and gorgeous lakes like Zel am See and Mondsee to boot. The cities – Vienna especially – positively brim with culture and history and grand architecture left over from the age of the Habsburgs. Oh, and you’ll be living in the beating heart of Europe, with all of Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary, and Italy within easy reach.
This guide runs through the ins and outs of what it means to teach English in Austria. It’s got info on everything from the TEFL jobs market to the salaries you can expect. Oh, and there are some top tips on the best places to go looking for jobs in this land of snow-capped peaks and Baroque art.
What's in this guide?
The TEFL jobs market in Austria
Austria is one of the leading economies in Europe and a major industrial powerhouse on the continent. It’s among the 14 richest countries in the world when measured by GDP and has a highly advanced services-based economy that relies on globalized supply and demand chains.
The upside? A lot of people working in Austria need to speak English and speak it well. In fact, a whopping 74% of the country is estimated to speak English in some shape or form.The downside? The quality of language teaching in state schools here is fantastic, so there’s not an overload of demand for native speakers.
But there is demand, especially if you’re willing to diversify. Those with a history of teaching business English, for example, are usually sought after in towns like Graz or in the capital of Vienna. They’re both filled with multinationals and start-outs that prize conversational English abilities. Other teachers do very well with private tutoring and at summer camps.
- Population: 8 million
- Language(s): German
- Currency: Euro (EUR, €)
- Capital city: Vienna
- Estimated salary:
Types of TEFL jobs in Austria
The array of TEFL jobs in Austria is a little different to the array in the rest of Europe and across Asia. That’s because most of the state schooling is done by Austrian-born bilingual teachers. For the TEFL grads, that leaves a few options. They include:
- Business English teaching – Business English is arguably the main segment of the TEFL sector in Austria today. There are loads of companies looking to bring in teachers to help their staff develop better language skills. Having past experience teaching business English helps here lots, but it’s not necessary. Be aware that these sorts of jobs will almost always be freelance based and hardly ever a permanent contract. You’ll have to find a base of clients to fill up a whole weekly schedule as a full-time biz-Eng tutor.
- Private language schools – Austrian private language schools offer paid courses for learners of English of all ages. You could be teaching school-going students after hours or professional adults one a one-to-one basis. Again, there are rarely permanent contracts on offer at these sorts of institutions. It’s largely all freelance based.
- Summer camps – Summer camps for younger learners are particularly popular in the Austrian Alps. Programs usually last between one and six weeks and are fully residential, either on campgrounds or with a host family. Some TEFL camps, like the ones run by the English Camp Company, are unpaid but can be great for the TEFL resume and for testing if teaching abroad is for you.
TEFL teacher salary in Austria
Salaries in Austria vary A LOT. Some teachers can score wages that are well above the European average. Others will be below that. What you earn will largely depend on what hours you work. If you score enough clients to fill a full week then there’s a chance that your choice to teach English in Austria will prove a very lucrative one. However, finding and maintaining clients can be hard, and that means most teachers come away with a decent but modest living.
As a ballpark figure, we’d say anything between €800-2,000 ($980-$2,450) is good. Remember, though, as a freelancer (as the vast majority of teachers in Austria are) your rate will usually be calculated on a per hour basis. Expect to settle on something between €20-30 for that.
Visas for teaching in Austria
Visas are another sticking point for would-be TEFL grads coming to Austria. The country has notoriously hard visa processes for US and Canadian citizens. That’s probably the reason why so many native speakers choose to enter on the 90-day Schengen tourist visa and teach “under the table”. However, that’s never a good idea. Not only is it technically illegal, but it will make it very hard to find work, and you’ll be limited to 90 days in any six-month period.
The best way around this issue is to work for a specialist program that can offer a foot in the door to the Austrian labor market. They include the likes of the Fulbright program, which has been placing US graduates in Austrian secondary schools (high schools) for decades, all in partnership with the Austrian government.
Of course, it’s a wholly different story if you happen to hold EU citizenship (mainly Irish and dual-national teachers). Anyone with that is free to work, live, and settle anywhere in Austria whenever they like. You’ll simply have to register your residence at the local government office within three months of arriving.
Finally, it’s important to note that most people who teach English in Austria do so as freelancers. That means you and you alone are responsible for setting up your business, paying social security and taxes. For that, you’ll need a qualified professional with experience dealing with international and Austrian business and tax law.
Requirements to teach English in Austria
Because Austria is one of the more competitive TEFL markets in Europe, you’re probably going to need a pretty special CV to get working here. That said, you won’t have to be the most qualified EFL tutor to ever touchdown on the cobblestone streets of Vienna. But there are a few things that the local schools will prioritize. They could include:
- A TEFL qualification – This is a must. There’s no two ways about it, you simply have to have at least a 120-hour TEFL qualification, preferably from an industry accredited provider that’s known around the globe.
- A college degree – A lot of people want to teach English in Austria. That means that schools can afford to be picky, so a college degree of either three or four years is usually a requirement.
- Teaching experience – Some schools will be willing to risk hiring a non-experienced teacher, but again the competition for jobs in Austria means that schools can often ask for candidates with stronger CVs. One way around this is to opt for a summer TEFL camp.
- Business English teaching experience – Not a must but valuable, experience teaching business English will put you in very good stead to score some of the most common positions here, especially in bigger cities and towns like Linz and Vienna.
Term times and working hours in Austria
The Austrian TEFL industry is powered by freelancers. That means your schedule is really up to you to build. There’s no school telling you what hours you have to work. It’s more likely that your weekly lesson plan will be determined by when clients want you, and it could change all the time. With a mix of business English teaching and private language teaching, most people end up with a timetable that has lessons in the daytime and at unsociable hours in the evenings and on weekends. A total of about 20-25 hours per week is usually enough to get by.
The Austrian school term shouldn’t affect your work too much. Only those who limit themselves to private language schools, have gone through programs like Fulbright, or wait for the summer camps will need to keep tabs on when the kids are in. The term usually begins in early September and ends sometime between June 20 and July 6. There are winter, spring, and summer holidays in the meantime, which vary depending on the particular state you’re living in.
Cost of living in Austria
The cost of living in Austria isn’t low, but it’s not uber-high, either. You can usually make ends meet as an English teacher with around 20-25 hours per week, provided you’re on an average wage. The good news is that rent tends to be quite affordable. It’s an estimated 54.1% cheaper in Vienna than in London, for example. Food and drinks are in line with the Central Europe average, at around €4 ($4.80) a beer and €8 ($9.70) for a fast-food combo deal. Local transport tickets in Vienna are about €2.40 ($2.90) per ride, while you’re looking at about €1.80 ($2.20) for a liter of gas. All of the above costs are sure to increase if you leave behind the local spots and cities for ski resorts and mountain resorts.
Where to teach English in Austria?
Austria offers something that a lot of TEFL destinations can’t: Proximity to the mountains. Even if you’re based in Vienna, you’ll never be more than an hour’s ride to the stunning Alps, which include the glacier ski resorts of Mayrhofen and the idyllic meadow valleys of the Salzbergerland. On top of that, you’ve got some of the most livable cities on Earth, oodles of art and culture, and a good base in the heart of Europe. It’s easy to see why so many want to teach English in Austria each year…
Vienna
The beating heart of Austria is the capital of Vienna. This grand and palace-filled city was once the epicenter of the Habsburg Empire. It’s now the home of the vast majority of folk who come to teach English in Austria, and it’s got a buzzy, student-led nightlife, along with some of the most acclaimed museums in Central Europe.
Salzburg
You’ll be blown away by the sheer drama and romance of Salzburg. Made famous by The Sound of Music, this charming medieval city is surrounded by a phalanx of alpine peaks. It’s Altstadt (Old Town) is something truly wonderful, with bijou strudel shops and beer halls that sell schnitzel. Skiing, hiking, and mountain lakes are all within a short bus ride, too.
Linz
The charming capital of Upper Austria straddles a bend in the Danube River not far from the Czech border. It’s a place that’s known for its sprawling Altstadt district. That comes alive when the university students are around, and there are electronic music fests and jazz fests to keep you going throughout the summer. It’s a great choice for teachers who like a balance between nightlife and nature, as the Upper Austrian Limestone Alps National Park is only a short drive to the south.
Graz
A UNESCO-attested Old Town combines with a stunning location on the craggy peaks of Styria in southern Austria to make Graz one of the prettiest cities in the country. You can tour the historic core to see strange glockenspiel clocks and the Baroque tomb of Emperor Ferdinand II, along with all sorts of cute craft shops and beer bars. Graz is another student city, so the nightlife can also get wild between September and June.
Innsbruck
Innsbruck is a chocolate-box of treats. The grand capital of the Tyrol, it pulls out all the stops you’d expect of a quintessentially alpine city. There are handsome Hapsburg palaces painted in frescos and topped with golden domes. You’ve got beer halls that fill with hikers and climbers in the summer months. The center is all cobblestone and half-timbered architecture. But the main reason to teach here is almost certainly for the closeness of the skiing – there are 12 resorts within a bus ride!
Teach English in Austria: Where to begin?
- Get TEFL qualified! – this should always be step one if you’re planning to teach English in Austria. A 120-hour certificate is the best option, but we also do a 140-hour Master course for those who want their CV to really stand out from the crowd.
- Go to Austria – It’s actually very unusual for Austrian schools or employers to hire without a face-to-face interview. The main hiring periods are in June, July, and August, when private language institutions gather new teachers for the coming year.
- Visas and business admin – Remember that you’re probably going to be working as a freelancer when you teach English in Austria. That will require some admin at home and abroad. So too will getting the right visas and residency allowances. It’s always best to consult a professional at this stage.