In Austria, children with disabilities are assigned with the label “special educational needs (SEN)” in order to provide appropriate educational support for them. The guidelines for the organization and implementation of SEN in Austria are summarized in Circular No. 7/2019 of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBF [Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung]) and are valid nationwide. Students should be assigned with SEN if they are unable to follow lessons without special educational support due to a disability. The application for the assignment of SEN is usually submitted by the parents/guardians. During the SEN assessment process the parents/guardians have several rights. Among others they have the right to select the school for their child which means they should be able to choose between a general and a special school (BMBWF, 2019). Although this right exists, the decision between different schools often is very difficult for parents/guardians. On the one hand, families usually prefer a general school for their child. But they often have to fight for it (Hausmanns & Wingerter, 2013; Lalvani & Hale, 2015; Pinetz, 2019).

Many families opt for a special school because they are better adapted and offer more flexibility and more possibilities for their child (Kalcher & Gasteiger-Klicpera, 2021; Kobelt Neuhaus, 2017). Some families have no other choice (Thoms, 2023). However, rather privileged parents/guardians with academic qualifications and a higher-class affiliation (Lalvani & Hale, 2015; Sasse, 2004) or parents/guardians who are more assertive (Klicpera, 2005) can be credited with getting through this "fight" (Lalvani & Hale, 2015). This results in significant disadvantages for families with social disadvantages and/or a migration background. In addition, existing language barriers makes it difficult to obtain the necessary information. However, this is essential to be able to assert the rights of parents/guardians and children (Pinetz, 2019).

In order to support all parents/guardians in their decision, adequate counseling is required (Kalcher & Gasteiger-Klicpera, 2021; Klicpera, 2005, 2007). However, Kalcher and Wohlhart (2021) found that the majority of respondents had no or only limited professional counseling. Furthermore, the decision for a particular school was often not based on a choice from several options (Gasteiger-Klicpera, Klicpera, Gebhardt & Schwab, 2013; Klicpera, 2005, 2007; Pinetz, 2019; Thoms, 2023). The advice was often focused on the existing resources (Hausmanns & Wingerter, 2013) or interests of the counseling persons (Klicpera, 2005). Although this problem is well known and the legal regulations prescribe the obligation to offer counselling for parents/guadians, this still is not sufficiently implemented. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the counselling processes and align it more closely to the needs of the parents/guardians.

The aim of this study was to examine the counselling and support of parents/guardians during the SEN assessment process from different perspectives, that of the parents/guardians, teachers, head teachers and diversity managers. The study aimed to identify challenges and critical aspects and to discover opportunities for improvement and consequences for further development of this process of accompanying the parents during this difficult decision process.

The following research question should be answered:

• How are parents/guardians informed and supported from the different involved groups during the SEN assesment process?

The steps in the process consist of (1) justification and application, i.e. informing the parents/guardians about the importance of the SEN, explaining why SEN is necessary and explaining what this means for the child's future career, (2) choosing the right school, deciding on curriculum allocation and support measures and (3) decision and communication about the outcome of the SEN assessment process.

This study was part of the project "Evaluation of the assessment process for SEN in Austria", which was carried out from 2022 to 2023 on behalf of the BMBWF (Gasteiger-Klicpera et al., 2023). The central aim of this study was to obtain a detailed overview of the current SEN assessment process. As part of this study, a quantitative survey and a qualitative interview study were conducted with all expert groups involved in the entire process. For the quantitative survey four target group-specific questionnaires were designed, with questions about child-specific data, the procedure and individual perceptions, the outcome and consequences, satisfaction with the procedure and confidence in the child's future, problems and suggestions for improvement, criteria for allocating resources and socio-demographic data of the participants. A total of 293 persons took part in the survey. This sample consisted of 52 parents/guardians (female 86.5 %, male 13.5 %), 67 teachers (female 88.1 %, male 10.4 %, diverse 1.5 %), 72 head teachers (female 76.4 %, male 23.6 %) and 102 diversity managers (female 83.3 %, male 11.8 %, diverse 4.9 %). This involved 293 SEN assessment processes between January 2022 and May 2023. The procedures evaluated refer to 293 children with SEN (female 37.5 %, male 62.5 %) with an average age of 9.97 years (SD = 2.30, R = 5-17, n = 265). The interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide with four blocks of questions: (1) procedure and documentation of the procedure, (2) significance and impact of the circular nr. 7/2019, (3) information and openness towards the diagnosis of "disability" and (4) suggestions for optimizing the procedure. The interview study was conducted with experts who were involved in the SEN assessment process, i. e. school quality managers, diversity managers, head teachers, teachers and parents/guardians. The interviews took place between September and December 2022 in all federal states of Austria. A total of 31 people took part in the interview study. The evaluation was based on descriptive statistics (SPSS) and content analysis (MaxQDA).

This study shows that counseling plays a crucial role in the SEN assessment process. All groups of experts emphasized the importance and significance of counselling and support for parents. However, the participants reported different perceptions regarding the continuity of the counseling process. While some parents/guardians considered the counseling opportunities to be too limited, the other participating experts pointed out that they had given the parents/guardians comprehensive advice. It also emerged that parents/guardians were satisfied with their decision for a specific school for their child. This could indicate that the responsible persons involved have mostly succeeded in establishing a trustful relationship with the parents/guardians. However, it may also indicate that parents/guardians feel dependent on the school, so that they avoid criticism out of concern for their child. In summary, it was shown that the teachers, head teachers and diversity managers endeavor to provide parents/guardians with sound advice and guidance, but it is not clear enough whose re-sponsibility it is to continuously support parents/guardians in this process. Sometimes it is the diversity management and sometimes it is the school that takes on parts of the communication. This confirms that the responsibility for this process has not been clarified. It should also be considered that one-off information for parents/guardians is not enough. It would be essential to provide regular, reciprocal information in the sense of a symmetrical exchange based on partnership (Schürer & Lintorf, 2023), which focuses on well-founded support of the child from both perspectives, the parents/guardians and the school.

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