Teacher Training: Little Specialization in Inclusion

In practice, however, only a small portion opts for this, as shown by graduate numbers. Critics have long been calling for a standalone teacher training program in special education due to the personnel shortage in this area, which is also planned in the government program.

Specifically, according to the latest response to a parliamentary inquiry by the Greens from NEOS Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr, recently (academic year 2022/23), in the primary school sector, 17 percent of the nearly 1,400 graduates of the bachelor's program chose the focus on inclusion. Among the approximately 660 master's graduates, it was just under six percent. In teacher training for the secondary level (mainly middle school, AHS, vocational middle and higher schools/BMHS), the proportions were even lower: Among the almost 1,950 bachelor's graduates, just under five percent had a specialization in inclusion, and among the 910 master's graduates, it was just two.

The teachers' union has regularly pushed for the reintroduction of a separate special education teacher training over the past ten years, as the new study architecture exacerbates the personnel shortage in special schools. Wiederkehr's predecessor Martin Polaschek (ÖVP), as the then-chairman of the Teaching Forum in the University Conference (uniko) and one of the co-authors of the 2015 reform, also supported this last year. The abolition, in his view, has not proven successful, said Polaschek.

In the government program of ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS, the education chapter not only plans the introduction of a mandatory module in inclusive education for all teaching students. They have also committed to the "introduction of a standalone teacher training program for inclusion and special education."

In the Quality Assurance Council (QSR), which is also responsible for accompanying the ongoing reform of teacher training, this idea is not well received. In the new primary school curriculum, which will apply from autumn, no steps have been taken towards a separate special education teacher training. "I believe that the inclusive and integrative models are very good," emphasized QSR leader Andreas Schnider recently in an APA interview. After all, schools are moving away from separate special schools to inclusive settings where children with and without disabilities are taught together.

In terms of quality, primary and secondary level training with a focus or specialization is superior to previous training, and the number of teacher events on inclusion has even increased. "In the past, it was divided into separate cohorts, and it gave the impression that it was a completely separate training. But it wasn't." To meet the need for specialized personnel for children with special educational needs (SEN), there are now more and more people with related training, such as educational sciences and many years of practice in the inclusion field, who are coming to schools through the new lateral entry offer.

According to Statistics Austria, around 29,700 children and adolescents were recently (2023/24) certified with SEN due to a physical or mental disability, which is 4.8 percent of all children in compulsory schools (primary, middle, special, and polytechnic schools). Boys and students who do not speak German in everyday life are more strongly represented, according to the response to the inquiry.

As the current statistics show, there are still significant differences between the federal states. While in Tyrol recently 2.5 percent of compulsory school students had SEN, the proportion in other federal states was more than twice as high. The type of schooling also depends heavily on the federal state: While in Styria 84 percent of SEN students were taught integratively - that is, together with children without disabilities - in Vienna it was not even helped.

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here .