Diversity and inclusion in the training of teachers in Styria

Abstract

The Austrian education system is undergoing a paradigm shift towards an increasingly inclusive education system: Children and young people with special educational needs mainly attend regular schools. Additionally there is no further teacher training program for Special Education teachers. Inclusive Education has been a curricular component of the training program of primary and secondary education teachers instead. Students of all disciplines and for all age groups now have to deal with aspects of diversity and inclusion strategies.

This paper reflects a specific course on diversity and inclusion. Concepts of Progressive Education are used in the course to develop (or foster) an inclusion-sensitive attitude of the students as well as competences for an inclusive school. For this purpose, a theoretical model of diversity is introduced to illustrate the complexity of the diversity characteristics of pupils on the one hand and the institutional conditions of schools on the other hand. The systematization by Gardenswartz and Rowe (2002) for the entrepreneurial sector has bees adaptetd for the educational context. With this model, it is clarified that students differ in numerous characteristics. Especially in order to raise the equality of opportunities, there is a need for being sensitive to the different living conditions of children and adolescents. But Inclusive Education also requires a focus on the organizational dimensions of schooling.