Assessment

This study examined the special educational needs (SEN) allocation practices across Austrian federal states by (a) surveying the current allocation practices, (b) exploring the reasons for disparities among the states, and (c) conducting a process analysis from all stakeholders' perspectives. The research comprised four sub-studies: data analysis on 26,102 compulsory school pupils with SEN to analyze socio-demographic, disability forms, and educational pathways differences; a survey (N = 289) among teachers, parents, and school officials on the SEN assessment processes; an analysis of assessments and decisions (N = 454; 13,705 pages) to identify quality characteristics in SEN allocation; and expert interviews (N = 31) to provide a comprehensive view of the allocation process.

Outlines how open science practices can help special and inclusive education researchers to make the research process more transparent and communication with the research community more open and immediate. Offers a commentary on how this is nothing else than a revival of broadly accepted scientific values.

In this study we found that attitudes towards inclusive education are significantly influenced by social context (i.e. the perceived attitude of the organization conducting the survey). Social desirability, a neglected issue in this research area, challenges the validity of numerous studies, as a positive bias emerges when participants are surveyed by a university. The study suggests steps to reduce validity problems caused by social desirability in researching attitudes towards inclusion.