Directorate of Ontario

Organisation of the school year

Curriculum and teaching

At the level of special education in some Länder, a process of reflection relating to the modification of syllabuses has begun. Some Länder have passed a recommendation for ‘balance of disadvantage’ (Nachteilsausgleich). Pupils with SEN, taught by general curriculum (e.g. those with sensory impairments), who do not have intellectual impairments but do have difficulties because of their disability, have a right to Nachteilsausgleich. In practice this could be, for example, reduced exercises in a special subject or in a test, more time for working, technical aids and so on.

Apart from Förderschulen for pupils with learning difficulties and intellectual disabilities, all special schools work based on 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 in Förderschulen also last a year longer than those in general schools. Schools for pupils with learning difficulties and intellectual disabilities work according to their own guidelines that, as with all other curricula, are issued by the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs of the relevant Land.

Förderschulen are often all-day schools or boarding schools. Comprehensive assistance for the pupil with disabilities 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 individually. In addition, the class sizes in Förderschulen 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.

In their plenary session of May 1994 the 16 Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany developed the recommendations on special needs education, replacing earlier guidelines from March 1972. This basic paper documents special needs education development in all German Länder. The Ministers agreed with the current trend to focus on supporting the individual pupil rather than on their deficits or on the type of school or institution.

The recommendations aimed to maintain and develop the present variety and level of special education facilities, and to encourage efforts to educate students with and without disabilities 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, and ensure that students with SEN – as far as possible – are afforded the same possibilities and opportunities all over Germany, regardless of the place and nature of special support given.

Great importance should be given to a variety of measures to prevent disabilities and to encourage mainstreaming and co-operation within the different systems. Traditional special schools should develop themselves into resource centres for SEN and inclusion in mainstream schools.

Up until 1999, the KMK enacted recommendations for the ‘emphasis of individual education support’ (Förderschwerpunkte) regarding:

Learning

Speech

Cognitive development

Physical development

Hearing

Autism

Each of these Förderschwerpunkte provides information about the education starting point and condition at this level of SEN, the phenomenon of the individual special needs and its diagnosis, the provision of special needs education and possible placements. The user gets an indication regarding co-operation and collaboration, as well as regarding staff qualifications. With regard to the Förderschwerpunkte, all Länder are in the process of revising their curricula.

Progression of pupils

Promotion to the next school grade

At the end of the school year, the Förderschule examines whether the learner’s needs can still be catered for there and in which grade they should be placed or, alternatively, whether the learner should move to another special school or to a general school. The decision on which grade a learner 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

Insofar as the type of disability or illness allows, Förderschulen award qualifications equivalent to those 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 in general schools.

For pupils who were not taught using the curricula of general schools, such as those with intellectual disabilities, 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

In taking the decision on a child’s school career, the school concerned and the school supervisory authority co-operate with various agencies within and outside the school system, including school psychological services, the public health office, the youth welfare office and education counselling agencies (for example, in the case of behavioural problems and domestic disputes).

Particular importance is attached to integrating young people with disabilities into the workforce. Compulsory schooling does not end with a general education; rather, it includes vocational or pre-vocational training, sometimes in vocational Sonderschulen. Pupils are prepared for making a decision on their choice of career at schools providing general education (in such subjects as work-studies and through visits to companies and work placements). Schools co-operate in this area with the career guidance departments of public employment agencies.

The aim is for people with disabilities to be trained undergo an apprenticeship in a recognised occupation requiring formal training under the dual system, as far as their learning abilities allow. The school part of vocational training takes place in general vocational schools (Berufsschulen) or in establishments for people with disabilities. The first stage of training is usually completed on a full-time basis as a basic vocational training year (Berufsgrundbildungsjahr). It can be preceded by a year of pre-vocational training (Berufsvorbereitungsjahr). Practical training takes place in companies, in inter-company training centres or in vocational training workshops for people with disabilities.

Alongside training within the dual system, training opportunities are also available in full-time vocational schools. Pupils with appropriate school-leaving qualifications are also offered the opportunity to continue their education (in the Fachoberschule or Fachschule). These institutions providing vocational training for people with disabilities usually have a large catchment area and offer student accommodation.

If an apprenticeship is not possible, young people with disabilities receive preparatory training geared to their individual capabilities and skills, either for an occupation that will enable them to lead an independent life or for employment in a workshop for people with disabilities with the aim of facilitating future permanent integration into a work environment.

Early years

Early year’s education includes all institutions run by the non-public and public youth welfare services that cater for children from the time they reach the age of three until they start school. The kindergarten is the traditional form of institutionalised early year’s education for 3–6 year olds in Germany. Some Länder have care facilities for children between the ages of four months and six years.

Besides kindergarten, other forms of institution and care facilities exist in this sector.

Some Länder have established pre-school classes (Vorklassen) for five-year-old children who have not yet reached compulsory school age, but whose parents want them to receive assistance with their preparation for primary school. Attendance is voluntary.

In the case of special needs education, the following types of early year’s education are provided:

Special kindergarten (Sonderkindergarten) or support kindergarten (Förderkinderkarten), which care for and support children with disabilities only; and

Integration kindergarten (Integrations-Kindergarten), which accept children with and without disabilities.

Special education

The development and organization of special education in the Länder was harmonised by several decisions adopted by the KMK, particularly by the ‘Recommendations on the Organisation of Special Education’ (Empfehlung zur Ordnung des Sonderschulwesens, Decision of March 1972) and recommendations for all types of special schools (Sonderschulen). The current situation is documented in the ‘Recommendation on Special Education in the Schools of the Federal Republic of Germany’ (Empfehlungen zur sonderpädagogischen Förderung in den Schulen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Decision of 6 May 1994).

Definitions of special needs

Since the school year 1999/2000, all Länder have agreed to accept a joint definition of special needs education. Due to the different situations and laws in the Länder, this joint definition has to be broad. Special needs education means specific support for pupils with disabilities. The area of responsibility of special needs education in the Federal Republic of Germany with respect to all organizational aspects exclusively refers to special needs within the context of disability.

Pupils experiencing problems as a result of certain disabilities and/or in need of additional educational support because of problematic situations, as well as pupils with temporary learning difficulties (e.g. slow learners, reading and writing difficulties), are supported by a combination of measures of differentiation within the structure of the general system of support.

Remedial or individual educational programs based on the general structure offer and give support for problem situations during the learning process. The Federal Republic of Germany has a comprehensive framework of special measures for providing additional advice and support for all kinds of situations that might arise in daily school life.

Special education is classified with regard to pupils’ special educational requirements into the following categories:

Blind

Visual impairment

Deaf

Hearing impairment

Intellectual disability

Physical disability

Learning difficulties

Behavioural problems

Speech impairment

Illness/medical needs.

It is necessary to mention that there has been a noticeable trend: in practice, there are many problems in dealing with these categories, as many pupils with disabilities cannot be clearly classified. An increasing number of pupils must be considered to have multiple disabilities. Thus, the Federal Republic of Germany came to an agreement to use the term ‘pupil with needs for special education or SEN relating to development’ (Schüler mit sonderpädagogischem Förderbedarf). The definition is explained in the KMK’s recommendation from 1994:

Special needs education relating to development is to provide for children and adults with disabilities or who have limited possibilities for education, development and learning. Therapy and social aids from additional external school services could be necessarily included.

With this definition, each school’s ability to promote pupils’ development by meeting the necessary special education tasks and requirements is an important element. This is the key for all didactic and methodical measures, as well as the framework of conditions for each individual pupil inside the school.

Forms of special education

Mainstream education

Children and young people with special educational needs can attend mainstream schools, if the required special educational assistance, practical support and the right physical environment are guaranteed. Special education teachers are deployed in Sonderschulen and in mainstream schools that meet special educational needs, e.g. by providing mobile assistance and advice and co-operative instruction with another teacher in inclusive classes. Apart from the external environment, this also requires qualified special education teachers, individualised forms of planning, carrying out and monitoring the teaching process and co-ordinated co-operation between the teaching and specialist staff involved. Special educational support is provided during class lessons and, if necessary, alongside lessons.

Teaching in inclusive settings with heterogeneous learning groups

Within the increasing process of inclusion, the conditions for learning have changed. Schools and teachers increasingly agree upon concepts of more open forms of teaching and learning. The curricula for schools explicitly grant many freedoms to teachers and encourage them to focus on learners’ different individual development and special needs, rather than on formal teaching objectives.

Consequences and changes evident in methods are, for example:

Operation-oriented learning

Learning in groups of different levels

Teaching with differentiated objectives

Avoiding marks in connection with recognition of individual process in learning

Curricula as a direction and educational freedom

General compulsory requirements in accordance with individual requirements

Weekly schedules

Training time for consistent practice

Organising individual/group activities

Learning by doing, learning with all the senses.

In relation to curricula:

Adaptation of teaching/learning to the students’ interests

School as an area of living

Environment as a place of learning

Requirements of spelling books, calligraphy and text layout as motivation and aid to reading

Importance of curricula in relation to students’ questions and ideas.

Concerning institutions:

Strengthening the principle of a classroom teacher – designation of teachers based on the number of pupils

Global demands cannot be fulfilled by teachers

Creation of an organizational framework which encourages the teacher to make small steps towards change: ‘top-up reform’

Regional further education for teachers as a means of exchanging experiences and promoting joint planning

Introductory level, transition from play to learning

Testing of remedial classes.

This list of subjects will serve as a guideline for the on-going topical discussions, as it focuses on the main subjects concerned with the process of movement towards inclusion.

The Ministers agreed that children and adolescents with SEN could be admitted to mainstream schools, provided the latter were able to offer the necessary educational support, equipment and facilities. If this was not the case and satisfactory conditions could not be offered, pupils with disabilities would have to be taught in special (general or vocational) schools. In any case, there is a need for very close co-operation between schools and parents, among teachers, and between schools and other agencies concerned, e.g. public health agencies, medical services, youth welfare services.

In 2009, the Jakob Muth Preis award for inclusive schools was established. Many schools participate in the competition, and demonstrate the range of innovation, curricula and school developments relating to inclusive education in Germany.

Special educational support in the form of co-operative measures

Co-operation between Sonderschulen and mainstream schools exists independently of the more recent attempts at inclusive teaching. When a pupil is transferred from one type of school to another, the teachers and head teachers of the schools concerned work together. It is always possible for pupils to return to mainstream schools. The education authority decides whether to transfer a pupil following a request from the Sonderschule or from the parents or legal guardians. Pupils in special schools for children with learning difficulties can be admitted to a Grundschule or Hauptschule if there is a chance that they will be able to cope with lessons and achieve success. Schools for children with speech defects and children with behavioural problems are conceived as transitional schools and their aim is to alleviate the speech and behavioural problems to such an extent that the pupils can return to a mainstream school. A focus on the institution has given way to a focus upon the needs of the individual.

Recently, diverse forms of institutional and educational co-operation between mainstream schools and special schools have developed. Some of these are part of school pilot projects or action programs run by the Länder. They range from joint extra-curricular activities and inclusive classes, to holding classes on the same premises. This can greatly benefit both lessons and the general life of the school.

Formerly, the prevailing concept when making choices for a pupil’s school career (i.e. the decision in favour of a general school or a special school) was the need for education in a special school. This has since been superseded by the concept of Sonderpädagogischer Förderbedarf (SEN), meaning education, instruction, therapy and care requirements, depending on an individual’s physical disabilities and social disadvantages as far as the institutional setting allows. This development has been influenced by a new understanding of disabilities and educational needs, improved diagnostic techniques, more effective early detection and prevention, as well as better overall conditions in general schools (e.g. improved pupil–teacher ratios), more open approaches to instruction and education and, finally, a greater appreciation of the benefits to pupils of attending a school close to their home.

Though it is not possible to dispense with Sonderschulen altogether, they should not be the only place of learning available to pupils with disabilities. The following forms of special education exist today alongside each other:

Special educational support through preventive measures

Preventive measures and interdisciplinary co-operation in early intervention are becoming increasingly important. Pupils facing the threat of disability receive preventive assistance to help counteract the emergence of disability. Preventive measures include co-operative advice to teachers, parents and other professionals. Particular importance is attached to interdisciplinary co-operation in the early stages of assistance.

Special educational support in joint education/lessons

The possibility of education with special support in mainstream schools, as mentioned before in co-operation with, or with the assistance and practical support of, a specialist teacher or other professionals or, in some cases, a social worker. Special support is provided inside the classroom, during class lessons and, if necessary, outside classroom teaching, part-time or full-time depending on the individual, organizational, personal or institutional situation. This form guarantees the learner’s right to a local school environment.

Special educational support in special schools

Children and young people whose special educational needs cannot be met within a mainstream school receive instruction either in Förderschulen, in Berufsschulen with special emphasis on different types of special educational support, or in comparable institutions. Under the Hamburg Agreement between the Länder of October 1971 on harmonisation in the school system, the basic school structure that applies to all Länder is such that a clear distinction is made between mainstream schools and special schools (usually known as Förderschulen, but also called Sonderschulen, Förderzentren or Schulen für Behinderte in some Länder).

Types of special schools

According to the Recommendations on the Organisation of Special Education (Empfehlung zur Ordnung des Sonderschulwesens, Resolution by the KMK dated 16 March 1972), there are ten different types of special schools:

Schools for the blind

Schools for the deaf

Schools for the visually impaired

Schools for the hearing impaired

Schools for those with intellectual disabilities

Schools for those with physical disabilities

Schools for ill learners

Schools for children with learning difficulties

Schools for children with speech defects

Schools for children with behavioural problems.

There are also institutions that cannot be assigned to individual disability categories. Some special schools work as all-day schools (Ganztagsschule) and others as boarding schools.

Förderschulen must be able to provide the required technical equipment and special teaching aids. They may turn to external organizations to obtain assistance, such as therapy, care and social support. Förderschulen vary according to the type of special education on which they focus and the educational courses they offer. They provide support to pupils in any developments that may lead to their possible transfer to a mainstream school and to training.

Special educational support within special education resource centres (Förderzentren)

In the Federal Republic of Germany, there is an increasing development of special pedagogical support centres. Several Länder use special pedagogical expertise by developing special schools into resource centres and giving them an increased area of exercise and responsibility.

The aim of special education centres (sonderpädagogische Förderzentren), either as regional or supra-regional institutions, is to meet individual special needs or a range of different needs (e.g. physical and motor development, hearing and sight, and so on) and to guarantee special education in integrative, in-patient and co-operative forms. This form of education is based as near to the home as possible and provided by specialists. Within the scope of special education centres’ responsibility for preventive measures, support is provided even before the determination of special educational needs has taken place, sometimes as early as kindergarten.

A Förderzentrum’s main task is to further develop professionalism and institutional organization, specifically, how to reconsider conceptions of the traditional special school in order to develop working co-operation between special and mainstream schools.

The term Förderzentrum has different meanings depending upon the Land it is in. This is due to the cultural sovereignty of the German Länder. There are differences in conceptions and aims of Förderzentrum. Referring to this, the KMK – in their recommendation about Conditions and Locality of Special Educational Support – made proposals concerning preventive measures, joint education in mainstream schools, special schools and inter-school co-operation.

In general, Förderzentren develop from the traditional special schools. Some of them are responsible for a specific district or a town (e.g. schools for learning, behaviour, speech and intellectual impairment). Others are responsible for the whole of the Land (e.g. schools for deaf and hearing impaired, for blind and vision impaired, for students with physical disabilities or students with behavioural difficulties) or even for other Länder.

Most of the Länder agree that, in the long term, inclusion can only succeed if the Förderzentren process expands into more integrative co-operation. This could be the key for overcoming traditional relations between the special schools and mainstream schools.

Special education in the vocational training sector and during the transition to a work environment

Young people with SEN should be given the opportunity to receive vocational training in a recognised occupation requiring formal training (Anerkannter Ausbildungsberuf). Where this does not appear feasible, they should be permitted to take up an occupation that is specially designed for people with disabilities, with the aim of facilitating future permanent inclusion into a work environment. If this is not practicable either, the young person must be prepared for an occupation that has been adapted to their individual capabilities and skills and will enable them to lead an independent life or be prepared for employment in a workshop for people with disabilities.

Infrequent special educational support in special classes

Infrequent special educational classes are established in specific subject areas of special education and likewise for the educational support of students exhibiting temporary difficulties. These learning groups are taught, supported and cared for by special educationalists. Some of these classes are organizationally tied to primary or secondary schools. Such classes could be, for example: classes for emotionally disturbed students, called ‘observation classes’, (Kleinklassen, Beobachtungsklassen); ‘classes for diagnosis and promotion’ (Diagnose-Förderklassen); ‘classes for pupils with reading and writing disabilities’ (Lese-Rechtschreibklassen); ‘combined classes’ for pupils with speech disabilities and pupils from primary school (Kombi-Klassen); and ‘long-term classes’: a small group of students with delays in their development may repeat one year over the course of one-and-a-half or two years (Langzeitklassen).

These infrequent classes had more importance during the transitional period in the further development of special education. Today, in some Länder, there is a critical discussion concerning those forms of special education.

Co-operation with other services/networking

The most important form of co-operative arrangement within the German education system is that between the 16 different Länder. This is an important and necessary situation due to the sovereignty of each of the Länder.

The KMK is the instrument for co-operation between the Land governments in education. The KMK is based on an agreement between the Länder and deals with cultural policy matters of supra-regional importance, with the aim of forming a common viewpoint and a common will, as well as representing common interests. KMK resolutions have the status of recommendations. It is the political commitment of the competent Ministers to transform recommendations into law, until they are enacted as binding legislation by the parliaments in the 16 Länder.

Most of the Länder have established educational networks around their school systems, in a community, or Land-wide. The aim is to ensure the best benefits for pupils with SEN. There is close co-operation with social services, therapists, institutions for children’s development, associations and so on.

In recent years, on the level of social and emotional problems, close co-operation between education and the youth and welfare services has been established. The main emphasis is on unifying resources to guarantee better benefits from the existing resources.

Alternative structures in special education

Privately maintained educational establishments

The private sector plays quite an appreciable role in special education, accounting for 15 percent of the total number of pupils (KMK statistic, 2006.). Churches, welfare organizations and other non-public bodies run Förderschulen, often in conjunction with residential homes. These schools are also subject to state supervision. In their teaching methods, rehabilitation measures, childcare, and supervision they sometimes pursue their own way of promoting special educational support.

Special measures for children and young people from migrant backgrounds

The sections on primary and secondary education outline the specific support measures for children and young people from migrant backgrounds. These learners generally attend the Grundschule or the general schools at secondary level. With regard to measures for improving linguistic competence in the pre-school sector, the range of methodical instruments for diagnosing and improving linguistic competence is currently being further developed from an academic perspective. Important instruments in this regard include assessment of the stage of linguistic competence before school entrance and, if necessary, subsequent language promotion courses. These and other measures are designed to particularly support migrant children and children with deficits in language development, as well as to compensate for social disadvantages.

Quality indicators

The aim of special educational support is to enable children and young people who either have a disability or face the threat of disablement to exercise their right to a form of schooling and education that is tailored to their personal capabilities. Children and young people receive support in the form of individual assistance measures so that they can achieve the highest possible level of integration in school and at work, participate in society and lead an independent life as far as possible.

The results of the PISA study for Germany were not satisfactory and consequences currently have to be drawn from it. The Ministers of the Länder agreed on particular measures:

To fix standards for main subjects in all Länder;

To optimise the transition from kindergarten to school;

To intensify speech development programs, especially for migrant pupils; and

To improve the reading ability and reading competence of German pupils.

Further general developments linked to quality improvement include:

School autonomy has been strengthened in all Länder.

All schools in all Länder have developed individual school programs – now the evaluation process is taking place.

All schools in Germany have access to information and communication technologies.

All German Länder have implemented the individual education plan as obligatory, as a contribution to ensure the quality of special needs education. No extra standards will be defined, but the individual education plan is based on the individual abilities and skills of the pupil with SEN.

Grants for Students with Disabilities

Benefits and Allowances

Parents can claim a continued child benefit allowance (Kindergeld) for disabled children over the age of 27 if they are unable to care for themselves and the disability occurred before the age of 27. Should the disabled person receive income that exceeds EUR7,680 (in 2007), they will no longer be entitled to this allowance.

Parents may also be entitled to care insurance (Pflegeversicherung) payments, if they can prove that caring for their disabled child is considerably more time-consuming than for a non-disabled child of the same age. Further formation can be obtained from the parents' health insurance organization (Krankenkasse).

The assistance for appropriate school education is provided by the social assistance fund and financial means are provided up to university education.³¹⁴

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