Since the global movements in 2015, one of the present challenges for schools in Germany is dealing with the increasing number of refugee students and encouraging them to become successful learners, as well as preparing flexible transitions into and within the school system. Ever since the ratification of the CRPD in Germany in 2009, many schools are on the move creating more inclusive school environments and remodeling learning surroundings to provide every student with their right to participate in education to the fullest extent. This changed view on learning, together with the legal right of an inclusive educational system, established the support of students with disabilities. However, it is also valuable to sensitize the regard of students with refugee experience further. Furthermore, schools are in a prime position to support the social settlement of refugee-background students and facilitate their citizenship, cultural belonging and to prevent social exclusion (Block, Cross, Riggs & Gibbs 2014). Many schools "don't wait for the government to act" (Shirley 2016, p. 8) and enable innovation strategies on partly difficult and crisis-driven conditions. This seems to be necessary because of the lack of curricula standards and competency goals for refugee students (Daschner 2017). This study aims to contribute towards a review of refugee education programs, which are as of recently being implemented in selected German schools, as well as to pursue the following overarching questions: (1) Which kinds of inclusive models of education are established for refugee students, (2) are they promoted with a holistic focus and offer flexible transitions, (3) or are they organized as separated programs? The main interest is to outline existing models of 'best-practice' in different schools and to evaluate in how far they meet the educational needs of refugee students. In addition to that, the key factors for successful inclusive settings, in general, should be identified, as well as their limitations. Therefore, one intended effect of this study is to appreciate and re-establish the individual school as the focal point within the educational system (Häcker 2016). Moreover, outlining that school autonomy is a guarantor for change and using schools as research platforms for roads to success (Beutel, Höhmann, Schratz & Pant 2016). International research implicates that programs concerning refugee students are successful if they manage to provide special support for refugee students' needs without positioning them as "others" (Taylor & Sidhu 2012). Therefore, the school-based options should enable access to the main curriculum and establish a sense of belonging to the classroom and school community (Olagookun & White 2017). As a result, the concrete learning arrangements and the organization of school life are to be measured by the demands of language diversity, their capacity to enable participation and their level of sensitivity for intercultural communication, understanding, and well-being. Accordingly, one further research question concerns the level of participation: (4) Are the refugee-students included and consulted as experts of their individual needs and can they participate in creating learning environments? The study is embedded in the interdisciplinary project "DoProfiL", which is attached to the "Qualitätsoffensive Lehrerbildung" and promoted by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with the main goal "to increase the quality and attractiveness of teacher training" (BMBF 2017, p. 2). Consequently, the intermediate results of the study are fed back to the teacher training at university, while at the same time the gained expertise about inclusive school settings and support for newcomers is continuously passed on to future teachers through lectures and seminars. This permanent exchange seeks to contribute to the closure of the known gap in teacher preparation (Stewart 2017).

Fifteen different schools are chosen for the sample as they represent all types of schools in the German school system, address a wide range of different newcomers, e.g. by age or origin, and participate in a one-and-a-half-year network strategy, initiated by the German School Academy. The primary purpose is to share ideas and resources which are helpful for a whole school approach for refugee students and to modify existing school concepts according to the findings. This study's unique approach focuses on long-term collaboration with teachers, where they share their expertise and practical knowledge, which will be combined with scientific supervision. This combination signifies a qualitative change in this field of research, since most studies only conceptualize theoretical outcomes, but neglect the data that professionals collect in everyday school life (Shirley 2016; Kahlert 2015). On these grounds, the study focuses on examining inclusive settings of different schools and aims to catalogue them according to the avail they show for intercultural understanding and multicultural perspectives, their level of participation, and didactic innovation. Consequently, this is a qualitative survey making use of two different approaches: a document and concept analysis of instructional and learning settings for refugee students and additional group and solo interviews with principals and teachers. The learning arrangements will be classified according to the categories of the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines (Meyer, Rose & Gordon 2014), the Index for Inclusion (Booth & Ainscow 2011) and the criteria of the German School Prize (Beutel et al. 2016). The interviews will be evaluated with the documentary method for the main purpose of gathering data from various school players. This dataset will be used to explicitly define factors for successful change, innovation, and effective school-based and collegial strategies. Results of recent studies call attention to the importance of dedicated teachers and members of school management when it comes to schools as encouraging environments for refugee students (Fruja Amthor & Roxas 2016).

So far, the research about school-based models for refugees, including appropriate support mechanisms for refugee-background students, is insufficient. The goal of this study is to identify long-lasting implications and to create a designated and demanded frame of reference for inclusive settings in schools (Boban & Hinz 2017). It is urgent to initiate a re-evaluation of those students' welfare needs in future scientific and pedagogic discussions. Additionally, further debates on school concepts which are based on more than mere language development are required, since this is only one element of needed assistance (Achour 2018). Hence, the study aims to initiate a critical discourse about questions of how to give refugee students a special treatment while simultaneously manifesting otherness between ‘regular' and refugee learners. Concerning this matter, one intention is to show, if and how schools manage to see and treat refugee students as a heterogeneous group with common existing requirements throughout all students. Furthermore, an attempt is made to conceptualize a teacher preparation, which discusses the diversity of teachers and learners as a global condition of normality and as an undeniable fact. It is the endeavor of this study to create a vision of teacher preparation with a view to enabling future teachers to impart a humanistic and altruistic perspective towards all students regardless of their status of (illegal) immigration.

Achour, S. (2018): Zusammenleben in gesellschaftlicher Diversität. Im Spannungsfeld von Inklusion und gruppenbezogener Menschenfeindlichkeit. In: Kenner, S. & Lange, D. (Hg.): Citizenship education. Konzepte, Anregungen und Ideen zur Demokratiebildung. Frankfurt/M., 159-171. Beutel, S.-I.; Höhmann, K.; Schratz, M. & Pant, H. A. (Hg.) (2016): Handbuch gute Schule. Sechs Qualitätsbereiche für eine zukunftsweisende Praxis. Seelze. BMBF (2017): New approaches to teacher training. Incentives from the programme ‘Qualitätsoffensive Lehrerbildung’. Block, K.; Cross, S. Riggs, E. & Gibbs, L. (2014): Supporting schools to create an inclusive environment for refugee students, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 18:(12), 13337-13555. Boban, I. & Hinz, A. (2017): Gemeinsame Potenziale unterschiedlicher Zugänge für inklusive Bildungsprozesse. In: Boban, I. & Hinz, A. (Hg.): Inklusive Bildungsprozesse gestalten. Nachdenken über Horizonte, Spannungsfelder und Schritte. Seelze, 168-190. Booth, T. & Ainscow, M. (2011): Index for inclusion. Developing learning and participation in schools. Bristol. Daschner, P. (2017): Flüchtlinge in der Schule. Daten, Rahmenbedingungen und Perspektiven. Ein Überblick. In: Holtappels, H. G., Bos, W., McElvany, N. & Jungermann, A.-K. (Hg.): Ankommen in der Schule: Chancen und Herausforderungen bei der Integration von Kindern und Jugendlichen mit Fluchterfahrung. Münster, 11-26. Fruja Amthor., R. & Roxas, K. (2016): Multicultural Education and Newcomer Youth: Re-Imaging a More Inclusive Vision for Immigrant and Refugee Students. EDUCATIONAL STUDIES, 52:(2), 155-176. Häcker, T. (2016): Vielfalt in der Schule: Herausforderung und Nebenfolge. Die Perspektive der Wissenschaft. In: Beutel, S.-I., Höhmann, K., Pant, H. A. & Schratz, M. (Hg.): Handbuch Gute Schule. Sechs Qualitätsbereiche für eine zukunftsweisende Praxis. Seelze, 40-51. Kahlert, J. (2015): Inklusionsdidaktische Netze in der politischen Bildung. Konzeptioneller Hintergrund und Anwendungsmöglichkeiten. In: Dönges, C.; Hilpert, W. & Zurstrassen, B. (Hg.): Didaktik der inklusiven politischen Bildung. Bonn, 182-195. Meyer, A., Rose, D. H. & Gordon, D. (2014). Universal Design for Learning. Theory and Practice. Wakefield. Olagookun, O. & White, J. (2017) Including Students from Refugee Backgrounds in Australian Schools. In: Plows, V. & B. Whiteburn (eds): Inclusive Education. Innovations and Controversies: Interrogating Educational Change. Rotterdam, 95-105. Shirley, D. (2016): The Imperative for Educational Change. In: Beutel, S.-I., Höhmann, K., Pant, H. A. & Schratz, M. (Hg.): Handbuch Gute Schule. Sechs Qualitätsbereiche für eine zukunftsweisende Praxis. Seelze, 8-13. Stewart, J. (2017): A Culture of Care and Compassion for Refugee Students. Education Canada, 14-17. http://mass.mb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Spring-2017-Educating-for-ACTion-Our-Human-Rights-Journey.pdf Taylor, S. & Ravinder Kaur Sidhu (2012): Supporting refugee students in schools: what constitutes inclusive education? International Journal of Inclusive Education, 16:(1), 39-56.