Intensive training programme for Fellows
The two-year Leadership Development Programme prepares Fellows to work in challenging schools and kindergartens. The application process is demanding: only around 10% of the 1000 applicants are accepted. After an 11-week preparation phase, they teach full-time for two years and receive accompanying coaching. In the process, they further develop their leadership and reflection skills. Fellows are currently working at 123 schools and 29 kindergartens in Vienna, Upper Austria and Lower Austria. The programme is aimed at career changers without teacher training who want to improve educational opportunities for disadvantaged children. 481 Fellows have already embarked on this programme.
Teach for Austria week: Sparkasse Oberösterreich supports education project
Education is an essential basis for ensuring equal opportunities for children and compensating for social disadvantages. The non-profit organisation Teach for Austria is dedicated to creating better future prospects for educationally disadvantaged children and young people.
As part of the Teach for Austria week, which took place in socially disadvantaged secondary and polytechnic schools at the beginning of February 2025, Gerald Gutmayer, CEO of Anteilsverwaltung Sparkasse OÖ, visited secondary school 11 in Linz. During a lesson, he shared his life's journey, which has been characterised by numerous strokes of fate, with the pupils. He wanted to use his experiences to encourage the young people to believe in their own strengths and emphasise the importance of a good education for their future lives.
"A good education is the basis for a successful life. However, not everyone is lucky enough to be born into an educated home, but everyone should have the same opportunities for a good future.
Of course, a lesson can't change children's lives, but it can inspire and motivate them. We want to show young people appreciation and convey that great goals can be achieved with courage, perseverance and belief in oneself," said Gerald Gutmayer, Chairman of the Management Board of Anteilsverwaltung Sparkasse Oberösterreich.
At the end of the lesson, he gave the students the following advice: "Believe in yourself, because then people will find people who believe in you too."
