of German are over-represented has overburdened the Hauptschule system and made it a less desirable alternative than it used to in the past. Therefore, special remedial and intercultural programs are being developed so that the compulsory school system in Austria can continue to fulfill its educational and social roles. The SPÖ has continued to press for further reforms of the school system. It argued for abolishing the two-track system for ten- to fourteen-year-olds and combining the Hauptschule and the first four years of the AHS into a new comprehensive middle school. , however, this alternative has been limited to some experimental schools. Other political parties, the Austrian People's Party in particular, remain firmly in favor of the current system, claiming that a comprehensive middle school could not accommodate for different levels of capability and talent. They fear a general "dumbing down" of secondary education as a result. Owing to the particular nature of Austria's educational laws (a two-thirds majority is required, see above) a multi-party consensus is needed to change the status quo. Matura The official term for Matura in Austria is Reifeprüfung. The document received after the successful completion of the written and oral exams is called Maturazeugnis. In the gymnasium (AHS = Allgemeinbildende Höhere Schule), which, as opposed to vocational schools, focuses on general education, the Matura consists of 3–4 written exams (referred to as Schriftliche Arbeit, 4–5 hours each) to be taken on consecutive mornings (usually in May) and 2-3 oral exams to be taken on the same half-day about a month later (usually in June). All examinations are held at the school which the candidate last attended. Candidates have to write a scholarly paper (called Vorwissenschaftliche Arbeit) to be submitted at the beginning of February. This paper also needs to be defended in an oral exam. Vocational schools with a focus on either business and economics or technical subjects, such as commercial academies (HAK = "Handelsakademie") and polytechnics (HTL = "Höhere Technische Lehranstalt") also finish with the Matura, but last five years as opposed to the four-year Oberstufe (upper stage) of the Gymnasium. In vocational schools, an Ausbildungsschwerpunkt is chosen by all students, which then constitutes the main focus of their schooling, and is a compulsory subject at the Matura examinations. The grading system is the one universally used in Austrian schools: 1 (sehr gut) is excellent; 2 (gut) is good; 3 (befriedigend) is satisfactory; 4