SING – Inclusive School Development Process

One of the key areas addressed in Germany's current official education policy is inclusive education – i.e. joint teaching and learning processes for people with different learning and achievement abilities. It represents the basis for personal development, social inclusion and access to career opportunities for people with and without disabilities. Germany adopted the “Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” in 2009, thereby committing itself to the guiding principle of promoting inclusive education. Our research project on “organizational development for inclusive schools” is a sub-project of the collaborative project “Inclusive School Development Process” (SING), which addresses the development of educational concepts and organizational structures for inclusive schools and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), within the scope of the funding guidelines for the qualification of professional teachers in inclusive education. The project group is investigating the process management requirements regarding the organization of inclusive schools and is developing a pilot inclusive school organization model. 

It aims to develop a balanced scorecard in order to build up an inclusive school organization model, as well as a skill- and results-oriented process management system at the pilot schools. Our work is based on the hypothesis that schools that embrace inclusion are faced with the huge challenge of implementing successful change processes. To overcome this challenge, the existing processes must be adapted and new process management solutions or instruments must be developed.

We are making a contribution to closing the following research gaps:

1. Analysis of the results-oriented formal management elements and mechanisms at government-run schools.
2. Considerations on the potential contribution of a balanced scorecard to the management of inclusive schools based on sound theories.
3. Implementation and ongoing evaluation of a process management system in the pilot schools.
4. Implementation and ongoing evaluation of a process management system in the pilot schools.