The research project FoLis is a joint project of the Technical University of Dortmund and the Humboldt University of Berlin funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the framework of the funding measure "Qualification of Educational Specialists for Inclusive Education". The project is managed by Prof. Dr. Jan Kuhl (Professor of Instructional Development Research with a focus on Inclusion, TU Dortmund) and Prof. Dr. Vera Moser (Professor of Education in Learning Disabilities and General Rehabilitation Education, HU Berlin).

The implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the aspired joint learning of pupils with and without impairments increasingly requires the deployment of special needs teachers at mainstream schools (cf. Heinrich, Urban & Werning 2013; Hillenbrand, Melzer & Hagen 2013). In order to meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs, it is the task of special needs teachers to bring their specific knowledge of difficult learning and development conditions, specific impairments, diagnostics and counselling into joint teaching.

However, the actual deployment and tasks of special needs teachers in mainstream schools and in the classroom have not yet been empirically clarified, so that there are still no findings on how special needs teachers can develop their professionalism in mainstream schools and how the desired transfer of knowledge can take place in cooperation with mainstream teachers.

The aim of the project is therefore to work out adequate structural conditions for the deployment of special needs teachers in inclusive schools. Within the framework of a mixed-methods design, both guided interviews and standardised questionnaires are used. In total, surveys will be conducted at about 200 primary schools in the federal states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. 

The overarching questions of the project are:

•     What mandates do special needs teachers have in inclusive schools and how are these related to their professional identity and job satisfaction?
•     What administrative and structural framework conditions in schools lead to special needs teachers being appropriately involved in the organisation of school and teaching?
•     In particular, the following research questions are to be answered:
•     Are there clearly definable mandates for special needs teachers in inclusive schools?
•     Can types of special education professionalism be identified in inclusive schools?
•     What is the job satisfaction of special needs teachers in inclusive schools?
•     What is the relationship between mandate, professional identity and job satisfaction of special needs teachers in inclusive schools?

Listen to the ZfIB podcast from the series "Inclusion Issues". (german)