- published: 30 May 2014
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A Volksschule or Volkschule was an 18th century system of state-supported primary schools established in the Habsburg Austrian Empire (in 1840) and Prussia (in 1717). Attendance was supposedly compulsory, but a 1781 census reveals that only one fourth of school-age children attended. At the time, this was one of the few examples of state-supported schooling. Sending one's children to school was binding by law only from 1840 in Austria.
Today, Volksschule is the Austrian equivalent to the German word Grundschule and the Swiss German word Primarschule, i.e. primary school.
Today, Volksschule in Germany is equivalent to Grundschule and Hauptschule.
Spielvogel, Jackson J., 1999-2000, Western Civilization: Comprehensive Volume (4th Edition), ISBN 0-534-56835-1