Abstract

The paper presents the results of a survey of 755 parents of learning disabled children with certified special needs who either attended classes within regular education or special schools. All parents were involved in the decision on the school placement of their children. The experiences of 547 parents of learning disabled students in inclusive classes were contrasted with those of 207 parents of children in special schools. Besides a rather high satisfaction with previous school experiences of their children a number of differences between the two groups of parents could be observed. Parents of students in special schools viewed their children as rather little challenged by their educational requirements whereas those in inclusive education found their children to be overtaxed. The social development of the students in inclusive education was judged as more positive and, generally, a higher rate of parents of learning disabled students in inclusive classes were satisfied with their choice of the educational setting. Although the requirements for parental support concerning studying were higher in inclusive classes this cannot solely explain the differences of experiences with school. In a second step, satisfied parents were compared to dissatisfied parents. It could be found that the group of dissatisfied parents had to make their choice on the educational setting of their children under less favourable conditions and many could not accept that their child had been classified as having special needs. This applied to parents of students in inclusive education as well as to parents of children in special schools. Additionally, parents of students with German as a second language reported to be discontented more frequently. No significant discrepancies could be found between different grades or federal states with different quotas of inclusive education.