The State of Inclusion in Berlin Schools: A Long Way to Go

The world as a guest in Berlin: For a week, athletes with mental disabilities and multiple disabilities competed in a sporting competition at the Special Olympics. “An event that I will never forget,” said Interior and Sports Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) of the World Festival. According to the embassy, ​​the city sent a clear signal that people with disabilities are welcome here. However, this does not apply to all areas, as is becoming clear again and again.

There is still a lot to do, especially in schools. Gesine Wulf describes the status of inclusion in Berlin schools as »devastating«. She is the mother of a neurodiverse son and is involved in the Alliance for School Inclusion. “It wasn’t an easy year,” she says. Above all, she feels drained from the struggle with the authorities. Months ago, she applied for an assistantship for her son, who is in the second grade of a regular school. But before a decision is made, she has to submit evidence from various institutions – although the diagnosis and needs of her son have long been known to the youth welfare office. “I have ten papers in front of me right now,” she says on the phone.

Such an assistance would mean a great deal of relief and ensure school attendance: A school assistant could accompany your son’s school day, accompany him to a shared room in the event of stress reactions or support him with the tasks, says Wulf. There is a so-called school helper at the school – but he has to look after three other children in eight working hours a week. That doesn’t meet the need. “We are actually entitled to assistance for the right to education,” says Wulf.

The discrepancy between the statutory requirement and reality is also large in other areas. Since the Federal Republic of Germany ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, children and young people with disabilities have a right to be taught in regular schools – even if they have mental disabilities and behavioral disorders. In reality, this offer is not used by everyone: 72 percent of children with disabilities attended a regular school in 2020, the rest a special school where they learn with other disabled children.

The proportion of children with inclusion needs in elementary schools is particularly high. At the secondary schools, the proportion of disabled children then falls again significantly. There are only a few students with special needs, especially at high schools. Of the 20 schools in Berlin that offer a special funding focus, only two are high schools.

Wulf can understand that some parents consider the special needs school to be the better place for their child to learn: Supposedly better equipment, specially trained teachers, smaller classes and an environment without bullying. The reality often looks different. “70 percent of children at special schools never graduate,” she says. Disabled children who attend regular schools have a significantly higher chance of graduating. When the need for learning support is determined, the parents are often told that a school-leaving certificate may not be possible. “Then it’s pretty clear that you’ll end up in a workshop for the disabled,” says Wulf. “That has nothing to do with support in the literal sense.” Actually, it should be about enabling disabled children to participate in education. “Every child can learn,” she says.

Why does regular school attendance fail? Often due to the local conditions, says Wulf. Many schools do not have enough staff to cater to the needs of disabled children. Especially in older schools, and sometimes also in new buildings, the inclusion of physically disabled children fails due to the spatial conditions, such as the lack of ramps and elevators for wheelchair users or the lack of guidance systems for visually impaired children. Schools that offer a suitable support focus can also make it necessary to travel a long way. Some parents who cannot find a school place in Berlin are even sent to schools in Brandenburg. For the coming school year, too, Wulf fears that students could be left without suitable school places. “This is currently a huge topic at the counseling centers.”

The problem could get worse: the number of children with special needs is constantly increasing. On the one hand, this is due to the overall increase in the number of children starting school, and diagnostics have also changed. At the same time, the number of employees for care is falling: the shortage of skilled workers in the education sector is also reflected in inclusion. “When there are shortages, resources for inclusion are often saved,” says Marianne Burkert-Eulitz, education policy spokeswoman for the Greens parliamentary group in the House of Representatives, to “nd”. Special educators, who are actually there for remedial lessons with disabled children, are often used to give regular substitute lessons when there is a shortage of staff. “Of course something will be missing on the other side,” says Burkert-Eulitz.

“It is unacceptable that there is a lack of special educational support,” says Marcel Hopp, education policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group in the House of Representatives, to “nd”. »The burden has to be shared across several shoulders.« He is thinking of multi-professional teams that are intended to facilitate inclusion in schools. The black-red coalition has already announced that it will make it easier to hire health workers in schools.

As long as the relief does not arrive, the schools will take sometimes drastic measures. In recent months, parents in counseling centers have increasingly reported that their child is being suspended from school, says Gesine Wulf. In this case, conspicuous children who could disturb the class will be excluded from class on a daily basis. “It happens all the time.” The parents would then have to look after the children all day. For many, this means that at least one parent can no longer go to work. “It’s a poverty trap, and the parents are left alone with it,” says Wulf.

Marianne Burkert-Eulitz agrees that »that is the wrong method«. She can understand that teachers feel overwhelmed by disruptive children, but expulsion from the classroom undermines compulsory schooling. She hopes that the various institutions will work better together in serious cases. “Right now, the authorities and schools are often still working against each other,” says Burkert-Eulitz. She suggests that all institutions working with a child, from schools and government agencies to medical providers, meet regularly to develop a plan for the child in question. “If solutions can be found for the most difficult cases, then that can also be a blueprint for other children who need inclusion,” she says.

“Where teachers and school administrations are overwhelmed, you have to see how you can support them,” says Marcel Hopp. He believes that teachers across the board need to be better trained in the area of ​​inclusion. “You can’t reduce it to the special education teachers, everyone is responsible for the success of inclusion,” he says. Inclusion should therefore play a decisive role in a new state institute that is to be set up in the coming years.

For Gesine Wulf, it’s also about the mentality: “It’s a question of attitude.” Many teachers would shy away from disabled children because they didn’t feel sufficiently qualified. “But we weren’t qualified when we had the children,” says Wulf about himself and other parents of disabled children. She would like schools to approach parents more and cooperate with them. “We’re experts ourselves when it comes to our children.”

Little is known about how the Senate administration under the new boss Katharina Günther-Wünsch (CDU) intends to deal with the topic in the future. So far, the Senator for Education, who has been in office for three months, has not made any prominent statements on this topic. “We have the impression that inclusion is not necessarily the focus,” says Gesine Wulf. It is agreed in the coalition agreement that the coalition wants to »support and qualitatively expand inclusion«. “There will be no change of course,” says SPD politician Marcel Hopp. And: “The UN requirements apply regardless of the political balance of power.”