Merkmale der Klassenzusammensetzung und der Unterrichtsgestaltung und die soziale Integration von Schüler*innen mit und ohne sonderpädagogischen Förderbedarf im gemeinsamen Unterricht

Current studies indicate for mainstream schools that students with special educational needs are less socially integrated than those without special educational needs. Among other things, this finding is theoretically attributed to students’ social comparison processes and contact opportunities, as well as to the influence of the teachers through their personal interaction with the students. Teaching and learning situations in classrooms can be viewed as social situations and therefore should also be meaningful for social integration. The composition of a class and specific teaching practices should affect the development of social contacts and thus the social integration of students. With data from the IQB Trends in Student Achievement 2016 (N = 9417) this article examines whether various characteristics of classroom composition and teaching practices are related to the social integration of students, and to what extent this differs for students with (n = 899) and without (n = 8488) special educational needs in the areas learning, language and emotional-social development. Using multi-level structural equation models, it is found that both, classroom management and constructive support, are positively related to the social integration of fourth graders. For the constructive support, differences are found between students with and without special educational needs. This study provides indications of the extent to which teachers can support not only learning processes but also social interactions with their teaching practices.