Students’ well-being is a key indicator of good practice in schools since it is closely related to both mental health (Quenzel, 2015) and school success (Hascher & Hagenauer, 2011). Numerous studies show that the transition to secondary school is, in general, accompanied by an increase in the experience or anticipation of (repeated) failure, which in turn may impair student’s well-being (Kanner et al., 1981). Moreover, taking the well-proven BFLP-effect (March et al., 2015) into account it is reasonable to assume that many students with special educational needs (SEN) visiting inclusive schools are exposed to mostly upward social comparisons and, in turn, to more evaluative stress compared to their classmates. This may adversely affect their school-related well-being. Although some findings for primary students with SEN contradict this assumption (e.g. Lütje-Klose et al., 2018), research on differences in the school-related well-being of secondary level students with and without SEN and its predictors is scare (e.g. Schwab et al., 2015). The present study addresses these research gaps by using data from the research project “BiFoKi – Bielefeld Training on Cooperation in inclusive Schools”. A total of 2.159 students (MAgeT1 = 10.37, SD = .59; 47,9 % female, 157 with SEN at first measurement) from 28 inclusive secondary schools in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany, participated in a survey at the beginning and end of 5th grade. Subjective well-being was measured by using well proven scales (Rauer & Schuck, 2004, Ravens-Sieberer & Bullinger, 2000 and Krause et al., 2004) and show a good reliability. Our findings indicate that the school-related well-being of students decreases during 5th grade. They reveal that students without SEN start with significant higher values than students with SEN at the beginning of the school year. Yet the well-being of students without SEN shows a stronger decline so that the difference between the two groups is no longer significant at the end of 5th grade. Further analyses imply that the perceived individualization of teaching, the perceived acceptance from the teacher and self-worth have different predictive values for the school-related well-being of students with and without SEN. Possible explanations and implications of these findings will be discussed.

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