QUALITY INDICATORS FOR SNE

Kindergarten
Comparative studies carried out in the western industrialised countries over many years have shown coinciding beneficial factors for the positive development of children. For example, criteria developed in the USA (Harms & Clifford 1997) correspond to the views of process qualities of the EU and the WHO (Tieze, Schuster & Rossbach).

Experts from the pre-school field have regarded the following core elements to be fundamental for the children’s development process:
- care tailored to age and developmental stage under supervision of adults, safe toys, equipment and furniture;
- education beneficial for health which offers children the opportunity to be physically active and rest, provides hygiene education and also complies with their alimentary needs;
- appropriate encouragement of children, giving them the opportunity to play and learn in diverse fields, such as language, arts, music, role playing, fine motor and gross motor skills, pre-school mathematics and the combined subject of science, local geography and history;
- positive interactions with adults whom the children trust and from whom they can learn in manifold ways;
- fostering the individual emotional development, which permits children to learn independently and autonomously, safely and competently; and
- promotion of the relationship to other children, which permits the children to interact with other peers in a supportive environment and under the supervision of adults.

Children with special needs are specially promoted as soon as their educators have appraised the degree of their needs (physiotherapy, speech therapy etc.) and modified the equipment, the educational programme and the daily schedule.

Source:
Harms, Clifford: "Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale". Luchterhand. Neuwied 1997
Tieze, Schuster, Rossbach: "Kindergarten - Einschätz- Skala – KES"

Compulsory Schools
The evaluation of pilot projects in primary school and schools of lower secondary education in Austria, the results of the latest national research project “Quality in Special Needs Education” and international research results describe the following beneficial framework conditions for inclusive care of children and adolescents with special educational needs:
- well-balanced class composition (no "catch basins" for difficult children, not more than 25 to 30 percent of children with SEN) and an appropriate maximum number of pupils in a class;
- timely preparation of teachers, formation of teams
- mutual education planning by the team
- the special school teacher has the same rights, which allows permanent double staffing
- open forms of learning; alternative forms of evaluation
- support by parents, school heads and school supervisory boards
- support through supervision and topical counselling on site
- adequate provisions for professional and further training

It was already stated in 1994 at the Conference of Salamanca that the appropriate preparation and training of all persons working in the field of education was the key factor for the establishment of schools without segregation (see "Inclusion International” and the Declaration of Salamanca). Inclusive education thus confronts all teachers with new social, emotional and topical challenges, which have been summarised according to Feyerer & Fragner 2000 as follows:
- internal differentiation of a most heterogeneous group of pupils via individualised learning provisions
- open, project-oriented and pupil-centred forms of education
- usage and design of new learning materials
- project-oriented educational diagnosis and application of Individual Education Plans
- alternative forms of evaluation, which keep track of the individual learning progress and the individual learning conditions without grading
- close co-operation within the team
- adapting oneself to the actions of the team partner
- mutual discussions prior to and after the lessons
- reflexion and adaptation of one’s own values, attitudes and patterns of action
- increased parent involvement
- interdisciplinary co-operation with speech therapists, assistance teachers, therapists etc;
- autonomous and continual further training with exchange of experiences and literature review

Sources:
Inclusion international (Hrsg.): "Auf dem Weg zur Schule ohne Ausgrenzung". Ein Überblick zum Thema Erziehung ohne Ausgrenzung in sechs Ausgaben von „getting there“ im Lichte der Salamanca Declaration und des Aktionsrahmens der UNESCO , Nr. 3, 4-6, 1998
Feyerer Ewald, Moser Irene: "EU Impulse zur Qualitätsverbesserung der inklusiven Pädagogik", in: Kirstin Eckstein, Josef Thonhauser (Hrsg): Einblicke in Prozesse der Forschung und Entwicklung im Bildungsbereich, S.95 –110. Innsbruck 2002)
Feyerer Ewald, Fragner Josef: "Lehrer-Bildung als entscheidender Faktor für das Gelingen der schulischen Integration", in : Behinderte in Familie, Schule und Gesellschaft, 17.Jg. Heft 1, S 25-50, Linz 2000) 
Niedermair Claudia: "Zur Pragmatik der Vision einer Schule für alle. Integrative Unterrichtsgestaltung im Spiegel von Theorie und Alltagspraxis am Beispiel der ersten Hauptschulintegrationsklassen in Vorarlberg". Innsbruck. März 2002. Download in Deutsch unter: http://bidok.uibk.ac.at/library/niedermair-schule1-3.html
Specht Werner, Groß- Pirchegger Lisa, Seel Andrea, Stanzel- Tischler Elisabeth, Wohlhart David: "Qualität in der Sonderpädagogik. Ein Forschungs- und Entwicklungsprojekt", bmbwk Wien und Graz 2006. Download in deutscher und englischer Sprache unter: http://qsp.or.at/index_a.html
 
Transition from School to the Labour Market
Further information on appropriate measures on the transition from school to the labour market and the inclusion of adolescents with disabilities in the primary labour market can be found in the publications of the Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture, the related brochures of the European Agency at “Recommendations”, and on the website of the Federal Ministry for Social Affairs and Consumer Protection:

www.cisonline.at/nahtstelle-schuleberuf.html

www.european-agency.org/publications/agency_publications/ereports/downloads/transition_ger.doc#_Toc28160784

www.bmsk.gv.at