In the special educational focus area of intellectual development, an increase in pupils with an extremely heterogeneous skills profile can be observed throughout Germany. In addition to classically diagnosed forms of cognitive impairment, there is an increasing number of complex support needs, for example in connection with challenging behaviour, psychological stress or being on the autism spectrum. These developments present schools, teachers and multi-professional teams with new pedagogical, didactic and organisational challenges. The CASE research project is investigating these developments with a particular focus on Baden-Württemberg.
The CASE research project examines the developments introduced in the introduction with a particular focus on Baden-Württemberg and deals with the question of how the student body in the focus area of intellectual development is currently changing and what consequences this has for schools and teaching. In particular, the focus is on changes in the support needs of pupils, the resulting demands on teachers and possible approaches for adaptive teaching and school development.
As part of CASE I, a state-wide quantitative survey was conducted in which a total of 49 special education and counselling centres with a focus on intellectual development in Baden-Württemberg took part.
The aim of the survey is to gain systematic insights into the composition of the pupil population and changes in support needs. The following aspects in particular were recorded:
- Heterogeneity of cognitive and adaptive competences
- Occurrence of complex support needs (e.g. challenging behaviour, psychological stress, autism spectrum)
- Changes in the student body from the schools' perspective
- resulting requirements
The quantitative data basis makes it possible to describe developments in the special educational focus of intellectual development systematically and comprehensively for Baden-Württemberg.
CASE II supplements the quantitative findings with qualitative group discussions with various school stakeholders. Among others, the following are included:
- Teachers
- School and level heads
- School counsellors
The aim is to gain in-depth insights into school practice and to reflect on the developments identified in CASE I from a practical perspective. The focus is on
- concrete experiences in dealing with changing support needs
- perceived challenges in everyday school life
- strategies and solutions already developed
- Perspectives on adaptive teaching and school development
The group discussions make it possible to visualise collective patterns of interpretation, shared problems and innovative practical approaches and to relate them to current academic discourse.