2-6FactsandFigures

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Facts and Figures

Austrian Pupils Aged 6 - 15: Percentage of Pupils with a Disability

Number of Pupils in Mainstream Schools and in Special Schools

Schools, Classes and Pupils Affected by Integration

Public and Private Special Schools

Distribution of Pupils According to Type of Disability - Chart

Distribution of Pupils According to Type of Disability - Figures

Special Needs Schools in the Province of Vorarlberg

Inclusive Education (Integration of Disabled Children) in Vorarlberg

What seems interesting is first of all the number of children with special needs in Austria. In 1996/97 this was 25.374 children, i.e. 3,3% of all the children aged 6 to 15.

Pupils aged 6-15:	747798
Pupils with special needs	25374

Some of the children with special needs are educated in mainstream schools. The chart below shows the percentage of the special children educated in special schools as compared to the children in mainstream schools.

The following figures show how many schools, classes and pupils are actually affected by the integration of disabled children into mainstream education in Vorarlberg.

Vorarlberg 1997/98
Involvement with integrating special needs children

	schools	classes	children	SN curriculum	SD curriculum
Total of primary schools	172	949	18556
Primary schools with integrated children	77	116	262	239	43
Primary schools without integration	95	928	18294	239	43

A look at the following pie chart shows the amount of private interest in this special sector of education.

There are a number of different special schools in Austria taking care of a particular disability, the vast majority of the special schools, however, provide services for slow learners or pupils with more general and not so severe difficulties. The chart below gives you the most important information at a glance, the following table gives you more detailed figures indicating the range and the distribution of schools, classes, and pupils.

Distribution of Pupils According to Type of Disability

Types of Special Needs Schools in Austria

	Public Sector			Private Sector
Type of School	Schools	Classes	Pupils	Schools	Classes	Pupils
General SNS	404	1153	10076	5	16	122
Physical Disability	10	99	794	1	11	70
Speech impairment	5	37	333	0	0	0
Hard of hearing	5	37	253	1	2	8
Deaf	6	47	236	1	4	13
Vision impairment	2	20	137	1	4	32
Blind	4	15	75	1	3	10
Behavioural Problems	24	110	817	2	7	66
Very severely handicapped	262	570	2995	5	36	195
Multiple disabilities	21	43	281	0	0	0
Therapeutic Schools	9	89	797	1	11	78
Prevocational Year	11	16	176	1	1	7
Total	474	2236	16970	19	95	601
	The total numbers are not identical with the sum of the above items, as several "schools" might be in one school building. Therefore, the sum is much lower than a simple addition would suggest.
Östat 342

In the province of Vorarlberg there are 19 special needs schools.

15 special needs centres (including special needs schools)

1 private primary school for children with hearing problems

2 therapeutic schools

1 provincial school for physically disabled children

Where?	When?	Special needs schools	Classes	Children
Vorarlberg	1996/97	20	134	872
Austria (total)	1996/97	492	2341	17176

Österreichische Schulstatistik 96/97, Wien 1997, 27-28.

From 1993 onwards some disabled children chose to go to local primary schools and to be educated together with the other children from the same area.

Where?	When?	Primary schools (total)	Primary schools involved in inclusive education	Classes	Children
Vorarlberg	1996/97	169	81	118	283
Austria (total)	1996/97	-	-	-	7717

Günter Gorbach, Landesschulinspektor, 14.10.1996

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