Primary school classrooms in Austrian – as across European and worldwide are characterized by a diverse student body (European Education and Culture Executive Agency (European Commission), 2023; Oberwimmer et al., 2021). As part of various diversity aspects to be taken into consideration in a classroom (Ainscow et al., 2010), studies show that pupils differ regarding their reading skills (Seifert et al., 2022). At the end of primary school 20% the of pupils in Austria leave the fourth grade as low-achieving readers (Schmich et al., 2023). Yet, reading competence is crucial, because it is the basis for acquiring knowledge and hence participation in society (Maitz et al., 2018).

On one hand, teachers have to deal with increasing diversity (Humphrey et al., 2006) and on the other hand, they have to teach fundamental reading skills, which are demanded by the national curriculum (Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung, 2023). Offering inclusive lessons, based on differentiation is one possible way of meeting this challenge. In differentiated approaches individual skills are recognized as basis for differentiation to foster students according to their needs and hence, expand their individual reading skills (Konrad, 2014). Within an inclusive classroom, differentiated material that allows students to work on the same topic, but on different reading levels is needed (Seifert et al., 2015).

In some cases, textbooks offer such differentiation (Wedenig, 2017). Otherwise, teachers need to use additional differentiated material or even differentiate materials themselves.  Embedding differentiation in digital tools can significantly reduce the workload for teachers and also increase student motivation, as student-centered lessons as possible (Redecker & Punie, 2017). Besides, other well accepted elements for enhancing reading skills (e.g., vocabulary work (Schabmann et al., 2012), cooperative learning methods (Remache et al., 2019), reading strategies (Philipp, 2015), reading while listening (RWL) to audio files (Walter, 2018)) can also easily be implemented in digital tools. However, it is still unclear whether, to what extent and by what means (e.g. textbooks, digital tools) differentiation is currently being implanted in Austria classes and what gaps are being present.

The paper aims to close the gap and explores which elements are used and perceived as particularly beneficial in an inclusive setting to promote pupils reading skills and to facilitate knowledge acquisition. It also identifies success factors for reading didactics that focus more on the needs of individual pupils.

By employing a mixed methods approach (questionnaire, interviews and book analyses), this study aims to investigate (a) the extent to which Austria teachers utilize differentiated materials, (b) the factors causing teachers’ reliance on differentiated materials, (c) the methodologies employed by teachers in utilizing differentiated materials, (d) the presence of differentiation measures in the most common Austrian primary school textbooks, (e) the current utilization and purposes of digital tools and technologies in supporting reading didactics and (f) the elements that could facilitate differentiation for teachers, such as the use of digital tools.

To learn more about teachers’ practice and needs in terms of differentiation in inclusive classrooms, we employed a mixed-methods approach. Currently, we use an online questionnaire to find out more about teacher practices and strategies (vocabulary work, reading strategies, audio support, cooperative learning elements, differentiation in terms of reading skills, digitalization) used in differentiated approaches in inclusive lessons with a focus on reading and knowledge acquisition through reading (N = approx. 200 teachers). The questionnaire contains the following nine foci: (1) you and your classroom (e.g. teaching experience, number of students with educational needs); (2) differentiation and individualization in your classroom (e.g. “How often do you differentiate/individualize in your regular lessons?” (7 frequency options ranging from every lesson to never); (3) fostering reading (e.g. “I teach the children the following reading strategies.”); (4) differentiation through textbooks (e.g., “What else would you like to see in textbooks in terms of differentiation?”); (5) cooperative learning elements for differentiation (e.g., “Do you implement cooperative learning elements in your lessons?”); (6) digital tools for differentiation (e.g., “ Do you know/use the following functions of digital tools? For example: Read aloud function for difficult words/texts”); (7) chances and risks of digital media (e.g., “Digital media support the development of language skills “); (8) technical requirements of your school (e.g., “Digital media support the development of language skills.”); (9), training on the topic of digital tools in reading promotion (e.g., Which training courses on the topics of reading promotion or digital tools have you already attended?”) Then, we will analyze the findings and – based on these – conduct about ten expert interviews to dig deeper and specify the practices and needs of teachers (i.e., needs for specific trainings) in this regard. Additionally, the three most frequently used Grade 3 content lesson textbooks will be analyzed by using a previously formulated criteria grid to determine whether textbooks allow differentiation in terms of reading performance and are useful in the planning and implementation of inclusive lessons.

The aim of the study is to gain insight into current differentiation methods within inclusive classrooms and to identify which materials and strategies are used by teachers in Austrian primary schools. The results will reveal teachers' requirements for differentiated material and show whether they differentiate regarding the elements known to support reading skills (vocabulary work, reading strategies, audio support, cooperative learning elements, differentiation in terms of reading skills, digitalization). The analysis of the content lesson textbooks allows an assessment of whether these frequently used teaching materials enable differentiation at all and if so, to what extent. These results provide information for the creation and development of inclusive differentiated materials, but once again emphasize the need for differentiated teaching materials for inclusive lessons, with which pupils can acquire knowledge according to their respective reading skills. From the results of the questionnaire study and the interviews, it will also be possible to deduce what content is relevant for teachers in further training programs in order to better prepare them for teaching with consideration of individual reading skills in the future

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