The aim of this paper is to introduce the study which is in progress as a part of PhD dissertation. The aim of the study is to develop a theoretical understanding for the overrepresented placement of students with Turkish background in Austrian special education schools. 

The high likelihood of ending up in low promising schools for students with migration background is under discussion for a long time; and another concern is, as Harry (2014) suggests, the low achievement of immigrant students can be considered as the necessity of special educational needs which may lead to overrepresented placement in special education schools. Such overrepresented placement can be tracked in many European countries (Luciak, 2004); and numbers show that the overrepresentation of students with migration background in Austrian special education schools are relatively higher than countries such as Spain, France, Belgium or Denmark. In Austrian context, this issue is stated by statistical studies in (Punzenberger & Unterwurzacher, 2009; Vogtenhuber et al., 2012; Yildiz, 2012), which leave us with the picture that students with Turkish background have the highest risk of being diagnosed with special educational needs. And this study is inspired by the necessity of moving from quantitative tradition to extend the current understanding with a qualitative perspective.

With this paper, the benefits of qualitative perspective where we can make use of critical interviews with people who have experiences with the studied research problem; and the necessity of giving active roles to participants, especially teachers and parents will be discussed.

To understand how students with Turkish background, parents with Turkish background and teachers make meanings of their experiences during the placement process in special education schools; and to find further details through qualitative perspective, the study adopts two research questions;

• How do parents and students with Turkish background and teachers understand and explain the placement in special education schools?

• How do parents and students with Turkish background and teachers make the meaning of their experiences that they had during the placement process in special education schools?

To develop a better understanding for the issue, this study will give voice to parents and teachers, the two groups of main stakeholders, as well as to students. In Austria, the pathway of being placed in special education schools includes many stakeholders (Feyerer, 2009) however, teachers mostly have the main roles in shifting students from regular schools to special education schools and parents are also present during different steps in this process to give their consent.

With this paper presentation, my purpose is to show how such a study can extend the current general understanding by interpreting how and why participants share their ideas and meanings and by theorizing this interpretation by asking how and to what extent their meanings are embedded in larger and hidden situations and positions (Charmaz, 2014). I build my study by relying on real-life experiences and on the participants’ meanings by asking and looking for what more we can learn about this process and what stories and explanations of parents, teachers and students can tell us about the placement of students with Turkish background in Austrian special education schools.

Charmaz, K. (2014). Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide through Qualitative Analysis. (2nd ed.). London: SAGE. Feyerer, E. (2009). Qualität in der Sonderpädagogik: Rahmenbedingungen für eine verbesserte Erziehung, Bildung und Unterrichtung von Schüler/inne/n mit sonderpädagogischem Förderbedarf. In W. Specht. (Ed.). Kunst und Kultur Nationaler bildungsbericht Österreich 2009: Band 2. Fokussierte Analysen bildungspolitischer Schwerpunkthemen. Wien: Bundesministerium für Unterricht. Retrieved from http://www.bmukk.gv.at/medienpool/17992/nbb_band2.pdf Harry, B. (2014). The disproportionate placement of ethnic minorities in special education. In Florian, L. (Ed.) The Sage Handbook of Special Education. London: SAGE. Luciak, M. (2004). The educational situation of migrants and ethnic minorities in 15 EU member states in comparative perspective. University of Vienna, Austria. Retrieved from http://www.inst.at/trans/15Nr/08_1/luciak15.htm Punzenberger, B. & Unterwurzacher, A. (2009). Migration –Interkulturalität – Mehrsprachigkeit. Erste Befunde für das österreichische Bildungswesen. In W. Specht. (Ed.). Kunst und Kultur Nationaler bildungsbericht Österreich 2009: Band 2. Fokussierte Analysen bildungspolitischer Schwerpunkthemen. Wien: Bundesministerium für Unterricht. Retrieved from http://www.bmukk.gv.at/medienpool/17992/nbb_band2.pdf Vogtenhuber, S., Lassnigg, L., Bruneforth, M., Punzenberger, B., Auer, C., Gumpoldsberger, H., &Schmich, S. (2012). Inputs – Personelle und finanzielle Ressourcen. In, L. Bruneforth, & Lassnigg, L. (Eds.) Nationaler Bildungsbericht Österreich 2012 Band 1. BMUK. Retrieved from http://www.equi.at/dateien/NBB2012_Band_1_gesamt.pdf Yildiz, E. (2012). Umgang mit Migration Zwischen Diskriminierung und Anerkennung. In Ali-Pahlavi, Z. (Ed.) Gleichbehandlung : Anspruch und Wirklichkeit am Beispiel ethnischer Diskriminierung ; Tagungsband. Arbeiterkammer für Wien. Retrieved from http://media.arbeiterkammer.at/wien/PDF/studien/Tagungsband_Gleichbehandlung_2012.pdf