In Styria 77.3% of all students with special
needs are educated in integrated classrooms.
Currently, it is not known much either about the
school performance nor the active class
participation of these students. This study
examined 230 fifth grade students – 43 with
and 187 students without special educational
needs (SEN). Moreover, it is important to
acknowledge that the available data for this
study represents the first wave of larger
longitudinal study. The school performance of
the students with SEN ranged one standard
deviation below the level of the students
without SEN. All students felt emotionally well
integrated in the school settings, but the
differences in the degree of social integration
were evident. In fact, the students with SEN
mentioned that they got along well with their
classmates less frequently than the students
without SEN.