THAT IS, PROVISION FOR STUDENTS WITH PARTICULAR NEEDS SUCH AS THOSE WITH DISABILITIES, LEARNING DIFFICULTIES, HIGH ABILITY, BEHAVIOURAL DIFFICULTIES, OR THOSE FROM PARTICULAR ETHNIC GROUPS OR TRAVELLER COMMUNITIES
Sonderschulen
In many forms of Sonderschulen, the curricula are largely comparable with those of normal, mainstream educational institutions.8 Normal, mainstream curricula are however often supplemented. In the case of schools for the physically handicapped (or mainstream schools educating some children with physical handicaps), for example, the standard curriculum/school programme is usually supplemented by physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy, on an individual or group basis. For all students with special educational needs, the aim is for 'maximum individualisation' by adapting the mainstream curriculum to invidividual student need.9
Apart from special schools for students with learning difficulties and schools for mentally handicapped children, Sonderschulen generally work on the basis of curricula which match those of mainstream schools in terms of educational goals, lesson content and performance requirements. However, the methods that Sonderschulen use must take into account the special learning requirements and impairments relating to individual types of disability. The volume of lessons stipulated in timetables for mainstream schools is often supplemented by additional, special lessons, and some courses at Sonderschulen last a year longer than similar courses in mainstream schools. Schools for students with learning difficulties and schools for mentally handicapped students tend to work according to their own special curriculum. However, like the curriculum in mainstream schools, these special curricula are also issued by the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Land concerned. 3, 5
When assessing individual special educational needs, schools make a decision as to whether a particular student can be taught according to the general curriculum, or whether the curriculum needs to be taught in an adapted form. Forms of curricular adaptation can involve reducing the number of tasks students are required to undertake, providing more time for practical work, providing more technical aids etc. Curricula for schools explicitly grant a lot of freedom to teachers and encourage them towards taking account of individual special needs of students rather than formal teaching objectives.3
Full details of the curriculum at the various levels of education in mainstream schools in Germany can be found in sections 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.2.1, 5.2.2, 5.3.1, 5.3.2, 5.4.1 and 5.4.2 of the mainstream Germany Archive.
Hospital schools/schools for sick children
In hospital schools, the teacher bases his tuition on the curriculum for the type of school the student was attending prior to admission to hospital (and to which he/she will be returning). The material taught by hospital teachers is broadly spread. As a rule, it is restricted to mathematics, German and foreign languages, with the aim of maintaining the student at the required standard (or helping him/her to achieve this standard) in these main subjects, which will permit him/her to rejoin his/her former class.9
Home tuition for sick children
In those Länder providing home tuition for seriously ill children with long-term illnesses, this tuition is geared basically to the curriculum of the school the sick child would have been attending if he/she were not ill. 9
Where possible, the curricula in Sonderschulen are largely comparable with those of normal, mainstream educational institutions.9 See section 5.5.1 above.
Full details of compulsory subjects in the mainstream school curriculum at the various levels of education in Germany are provided in sections 5.1.2, 5.2.2, 5.3.2 and 5.4.2 of the mainstream Germany Archive.
The choice of learning materials in schools for the physically handicapped, or in mainstream schools catering for students with some physical disability, takes into account the different and frequently limited development of physically handicapped students.9
Technical and disability-related aids and devices are used where necessary.5
Information and communications technology (ICT)
The European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education produces a database providing overviews of the use of ICT in the field of special needs education. A country overview for Germany is available at http://www.european-agency.org/ict_sen_db/index.html.