Identification of special educational needs - Germany

It can be presumed that children or young people have special educational needs if their opportunities for education, development and learning are limited to such an extent that they cannot be sufficiently promoted within the scope of instruction at mainstream schools without additionally receiving special educational assistance. In this regard, therapeutically and social aid provided by other external institutions may be required as well.

Special educational needs are to be determined in relation to the tasks, the requirements and the support measures the  respective school can provide. Furthermore, a determination of the special educational needs of the child must take into account the environment of the child, including the school as well as the pupil’s personal abilities, interests and expectations for the future.

The procedure of determining special educational needs comprises establishing the individual need for support as well as deciding on the course of education and the place of support. The responsibility for the procedure lies with the school supervisory authorities: Either the authorities themselves have the competence for special educational needs as well as sufficient experience in the field of educational support for handicapped persons, or they consult experts in the field of special educational support.

The procedure of determining special educational needs may be applied for by the parents or legal guardians of the pupil, by the pupil provided he is aged 18 or above, by the school or, if applicable, by other competent services, and is to take into account the competences of the persons who participate or are to participate in the measures of support and instruction in a suitable manner.

Developing forms of learning in the primary school are contributing towards a new understanding of what is conducive to learning and of assessing pupils' performance. The focus has shifted to encouraging each individual pupil to achieve all that he or she is capable of – guided by the learning requirements for the respective school grade.

In order to do this, it is necessary to monitor the individual development and performance of each pupil as well as their working and social behaviour, on a constant basis – and assess these factors comprehensively. This is valid for pupils with SEN as well.

Assessment is always based on syllabus requirements and the knowledge, abilities and skills acquired in a particular class or learning group. Assessment is carried out by the teacher in charge of lessons, who is educationally responsible for his or her decision. Each pupil's performance or development is set out in a twice-yearly report in the middle and at the end of the school year. The evaluation of a pupil's performance is a pedagogical process but is also an administrative act based on legal and administrative regulations. The IEP is written yearly or twice a year.

Standardised achievement tests to assess pupils' performance or learning development in certain subjects or grades are not given at Land level.

Continuous assessment of performance for pupils with SEN takes place in special schools in a similar form to that of general schools. In the case of intellectually disabled or very severely disabled pupils, assessment is confined to reports on personal development.

Assessment for special education is based on multi-disciplinary reports. Parents can make applications for assessment. If an institution makes an application, the parents have to be informed and consulted. Parents can object to a placement decision. Special education is divided into categories relating to the particular requirements of the pupils concerned and operates on the basis of special educational principles.

In Länder with corresponding laws, the education of pupils with SEN is more and more accepted as a common task for all types of schools. This means a changing attitude towards disabled students and their way of education. Furthermore, this means in particular a changing view of educational assessment and diagnosis. SEN is less institution-related, it centres upon individual, personal and ecological aspects of learning and the living environment.

To give the pupil appropriate support, it is not sufficient to be informed about the pupil's intellectual and behavioural deficits – knowledge about his or her abilities, stage of development and relation to his or her own educational and social environment is of great importance. Educational systems have to be competent in arranging special educational provision – in special schools as well as in mainstream schools. That is the reason why a profound discussion about the process of changing diagnosis criteria has taken and is still taking place in the different Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The ‘Recommendation for Special Education in the Schools of the Federal Republic of Germany’ Empfehlungen zur sonderpädagogischen Förderung in den Schulen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, passed by the KMK (1994) clarifies the necessity of overcoming traditional categories of people with handicaps, on behalf of more differentiated approaches of support and individual development. Therefore, qualifications and perspectives of basic developmental levels have to be involved in the ‘analysis of pupil and environment’ Kind-Umfeld-Analyse. Consequently eight key-elements for identification and diagnosis of pupils and students with SEN have been established: motor, perception, cognition, motivation, communication, interaction, emotion and creativity.

In terms of specific content the main emphasis of diagnosis and subsequent support is upon:

• learning capacity and behaviour, especially scholastic learning and the ability to cope with disability in the learning process;
• speech, speaking, the communicative act, handling speech problems;
• emotional and social development, experience and self-control, dealing with disturbances, inexperience and behaviour;
• intellectual development, handling intellectual retardation;
• physical and motor development, dealing with severe disabilities in movement and with physical handicap;
• hearing, auditory perception, the ability to handle a hearing impairment;
• vision, eyesight, visual perception, the ability to deal with a vision impairment;
• state of health and state of mind, the ability to cope with a long-term illness.

The diagnosis of SEN must be a precise definition of individual special needs as well as guiding the decision about the process of education and the place of support. To ensure appropriate support measures, it is necessary to get a qualitative and a quantitative profile of the pupil. Consequently, information from the following areas is important:

• development of learning and behavioural strategies;
• perception and the process of perception;
• social relationships;
• communication and interaction;
• individual and educational circumstances in life;
• the school environment and the possibilities for change;
• the vocational environment and the necessary supporting factors.

In general the criteria for identification of SEN are more or less similar for early years education and transition period. Caused by different and other levels of responsibilities, medical and psychological assessment may play a supplementary role.