QUALITY INDICATORS FOR SNE

In general
The results out of the PISA-study were not satisfying for Germany. Consequences have to be drawn from it currently. The Ministers of the Länder agreed in particular measures:
- To fix standards for main subjects in all Länder
- To optimise the transition from Kindergarten to school
- To intensify speech-development-programmes, especially for migrant pupils
- To improve the reading ability and reading competence of German pupils.

Further general developments linked to quality improvement:
- In all Länder the autonomy of school has been increased in strength
- All schools in all Länder have developed individual school programmes – now the process of evaluation takes place
- All schools in Germany have access to information- and Communication technologies
- All German Länder have implemented the IEP obligatory, as a contribution  to ensure the quality of SNE. No extra standards will be defined, but the individual education plan is  based on the individual abilities and skills of the SEN pupil.
 
Curriculum and teaching
Due to the existing Sovereignty of Culture of each Land, every Land has their own legislation and their own Curriculum. The material, which is important to the educational process, is laid down in syllabuses or framework plans which may be subject-related, area-related or interdisciplinary. Syllabi for all types of school are the responsibility of the Ministries of Education and Cultural Affairs in the Länder. They are published as regulations of the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs.

They take the form of instructions from a higher authority and, as such, are binding teachers. At the same time, syllabuses are formulated in such a general way as to leave teachers the freedom of teaching methods in practice. The syllabuses not only deal with content, but also the course objectives and teaching methods. Nevertheless all the teachers of a specific subject or for special educational support at one school hold conferences to reach a degree of consensus on methods, special aids and assessment criteria.

At the level of special education in some Länder, a process of reflection relating to the modification of syllabi has begun. Some Länder have passed a recommendation for "Balance of Disadvantage", Nachteilsausgleich. Pupils with special educational needs, taught by general curriculum (e.g. those with sensory impairments), who don't have intellectual impairment, but difficulties because of their handicap, have a right to Nachteilsausgleich. In practice this could be for example. a reduction of exercises in a special subject or in a test, more time for working, technical aids and so on.

Apart from Sonderschulen for children with learning difficulties and the mentally handicapped, all special schools work on the basis of curricula which in terms of educational goals, lesson content and performance requirements match those of general schools (Grundschule and the educational courses offered by the Hauptschule, Realschule and Gymnasium). However, the methods used must take into account the special learning requirements and impairments relating to individual types of disability. The volume of lessons stipulated in the timetables of general schools is supplemented by special education lessons. Some educational courses at Sonderschulen also last a year longer than those at general schools. Schools for children with learning difficulties and for the mentally handicapped work according to their own guidelines which, like all other curricula, are issued by the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs of the relevant Land.

Sonderschulen are often all-day schools or boarding schools. Comprehensive assistance for the disabled pupil is part of the teaching concept and instruction and education complement each other. Instruction is designed to meet individual needs and some lessons are held in small groups or on an individual basis. In addition, the class sizes at Sonderschulen are particularly small. Depending on the type of disability, therapeutic measures such as physiotherapy, behavioural therapy, speech therapy, and so on, are integrated into lessons. Technical and disability related aids and devices are used where necessary.

The 16 Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany developed at their plenary session in May 1994 the recommendations on special Needs education, replacing earlier guidelines of March 1972. This basic paper documents (reveals) the SEN development  of all German Bundesländer. The Ministers  were in agreement with the current trend to focus on the support of the individual child rather than on its deficits, on the type of school or institution.

The recommendations aim at maintaining and developing the present variety and level of special education facilities, and at encouraging efforts to educate disabled and non disabled students together. The Ministers recommended that any changes should guarantee the necessary amount and quality of special support, allow for flexibility in a system combining different degrees of special support, ensure students with SEN - as far as possible - the same possibilities and opportunities all over Germany regardless the place and nature of special support given.

Great importance should be attached a variety of provision as measures preventing disabilities, mainstreaming, and co-operation within the different systems. The traditional special school should develop themselves into support centres for prevention and integration in mainstream schools.

In the following years until 1999the KMK enacted recommendations for the "emphasis of individual education support" Förderschwerpunkte on the level of:  learning, speech, emotional and social development, mental development, physical development, hearing, vision, autism, chronic sickness.

Each of these Förderschwerpunkte provides  information about the education starting point and condition on this level of SEN, the phenomenon of the individual special needs and its diagnosis, the provision of SNE and possible placements. The user gets an indication to co-operation and collaboration as well as to the qualification of the staff. With regard to the Förderschwerpunkte, all Länder are in the process of revising their Curriculum. In Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein the implementation of the IEPs (individual education plan) is regulated in the Curriculum.

Promotion to the next school grade
At the end of the school year the Sonderschule examines whether the needs of the pupil can still be catered for there and in which grade he or she should be placed or, alternatively, whether the pupil should move to another special school or to a general school. The decision on which grade a pupil should be placed in is a matter for the school but it is the education authority that decides on a school transfer, following consultation with the parents and consideration of commissioned reports.

Leaving certificates
In so far as the type of disability or illness allows, Sonderschulen award qualifications equivalent to the qualifications obtained from general schools (Hauptschulabschluss, Mittlerer Schulabschluss, Allgemeine Hochschulreife), provided that instruction was based on the curricula of the respective school type and the educational course was completed successfully. The subjects may be taught over more years than at general schools. For pupils who were not taught using the curricula of general schools, such as the mentally handicapped, the teachers' council deems that an educational course has been successfully completed when the pupil has passed through all the stipulated school levels successfully.

Transition from school to work
Particular importance is attached to the integration of disabled young people into the workforce. Compulsory schooling does not end with a general education; rather, it includes vocational training or pre-vocational training. Pupils are prepared for making a decision on their choice of career at schools providing general education (in such subjects as Arbeitslehre and through visits to companies and work placements). Schools cooperate in this area with the careers guidance departments of public employment offices.

The aim is for the disabled to be trained in a recognised occupation requiring formal training (anerkannter Ausbildungsberuf) under the dual system (duales System), in so far as their learning abilities allow. The school part of vocational training takes place at general Berufsschulen or at establishments for the disabled. The first stage of training is usually completed on a full-time basis as a Berufsgrundbildungsjahr, i.e. basic vocational training year. It can be preceded by a Berufsvorbereitungsjahr, a year of pre-vocational training. Practical training takes place in companies, at inter-company training centres or in vocational training workshops for the disabled.