From special to inclusive education policies in Austria – developments and implications for schools and teacher education

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the developments of inclusive education policies and their impact on teacher education in Austria today. As we argue, most policies concerning inclusive education are still reduced to a focus on disability. Such an approach can be explained, but not legitimised, by the historical development of the education of students with disabilities, which engendered specific tendencies in the evolution of policies of inclusive education and teacher education for inclusion. This policy evolution can be divided into three phases, which we analyse in detail in this paper: (1) the building of the special school system (the 1960s to mid 1980s), (2) establishing 'integrative education' structures and practices (mid 1980smid 2000s), and (3) efforts to make the Austrian education system more inclusive (2007 until today). The recent phase included a reform of teacher education for inclusive education, which, on the one hand, supports specific aspects of inclusive education, but, on the other hand, is still influenced by individual model discourses, rooted in the 1960s, such as binary groupings of students (dis/abled). ARTICLE HISTORY

Good Practice in Inclusive Education: Participatory Reinterpretation of Already Existing Elaborate Classroom Practices Under a UDL Perspective

“…Recent efforts in education policy aim to further establish inclusive structures, while at the same time maintaining special educational expertise. Teacher education in Austria has seen stark changes (Buchner & Proyer, 2020), with training in developing inclusive teaching materials being one of the cornerstones of the curriculum.…”

Same Progress for All? Inclusive Education, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities and Students With Intellectual Disability in European Countries

“…These assumptions are well inscribed in extra curricula for students with intellectual disabilities in some countries, which at large do not relate to the curricula for regular students and encourage teachers to separate students according to their curricula in mainstream schools—which affects most strongly students with intellectual disabilities. Furthermore, this ideology is supported by a certain design of teacher education programs, which do not focus on equipping preservice teachers with the skills for mass tailored support according to the individual needs of learners, but more on teaching in relation to categories of impairments (Buchner & Proyer, 2020). In addition, within a meritocratic school system, underpinned with neoliberal ideals of self‐optimization and the interlinked ability expectations, it is not surprising that children and young persons with intellectual disability are constructed as a group of persons who are “hard to be included.”…”

“…In some countries, people with intellectual disability were excluded even from these settings, as they were regarded as unable to learn. For example, in Austria, children with intellectual disability were frequently labeled as “unable to attend school” and, thus, access to formal education was denied (Buchner & Proyer, 2020). Since the 1960s, special education systems opened up for this population, and special schools for students with intellectual disability were founded.…”

Inclusion at a Crossroads: Dismantling Ireland’s System of Special Education

“…This research shows that 18 of the 23 countries in the study were operating some form of special class provision for students with additional needs. In one Austrian study [17] the authors describe how more than a third of all students who have been diagnosed with a disability are educated in segregated settings known as 'integration classes' [17] (p. 91). Similarly, in Finland, where special schools are in the decline, 23 per cent of students are in 'part-time special education' (1:1 or small groups) with another 7.3 per cent in 'special support' or special education classes in mainstream schools [18].…”

“…Despite the continued use of segregated settings, there is little evidence that students in these classes benefit from such placements. Research in this area is complex due to the level of variation that exists across different national contexts in the language and terminology used to describe resource rooms (Greece) or special units, integration classes (Australia), least restrictive environment (LRE) and functional grouping (United States), special education classrooms (Finland) and learning support units (England) [17][18][19][20][21]. In some countries, placement in special classes is full-time but temporary or used as an early intervention.…”