In Austria, there is a long-lasting gap and tension between state’s policy of recognition and the integration in the political and social life based on the cultural or religious background. As it can be expected, education and educational institutions are important arenas where this tension exists and lead to some concrete results. The wide spreading fear and worries about immigrants and refugees in Austria is to find commonly in daily life including the media language, internet, public transport, social services, political arena, or election campaigns (Civil Courage and Anti-Racism Work, 2015). Especially, the refugee influxes from Muslim countries such as Syria and Afghanistan to Austria, the rise of the far-right party in recent years and the news reporting the crimes done by immigrants or refugees with a special focus on their background are only some of the reasons why integration and education of the newcomers as well as equity for them should matter. In this research, the overrepresentation of ethnic minorities and immigrants in special education schools in Austria is studied. As a country hosting various cultural backgrounds, the overrepresentation of pupils with migration background in special education referrals is experienced in Austria as well (Luciak & Biewer, 2011; Punzenberger & Unterwurzacher, 2009; Yildiz, 2012) and as Altrichter and Feyerer (2011) suggest, special education referrals are ambiguous and lack conformity and unity across nation. Among all pupils with migration background, pupils with Turkish and Ex-Yugoslavian background have a higher risk to be referred to special education in Austria (Luciak & Biewer, 2011; Punzenberger & Unterwurzacher, 2009). These both groups are considered as having low socio/economic status and education level. However, for the Austrian context, Bacher (2004) concluded that low achieving pupils’ failure in Austria cannot be attributed only to the education level of family or to socio-economic status. Unterwurzacher (2007) supports this idea by claiming socio-economic factors are not enough to explain the underachievement of pupils with Turkish background. This study tries to eliminate such linear explanations and contradictory research findings by observing the interaction of various contributions such as socio-demographic, socio-economic and educational factors; the special education referral process itself; attitude to diversity, migration and equity; the effect and attitude of teachers; regulations and laws with cautiousness to the effect of cultural and social variedness thanks to qualitative research with parents, teachers, school directors and special education experts.

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