Studies already showed, that students with and without special education needs have different academic and social self-concepts (e.g. Bless & Mohr, 2007), regulate their learning process differently (Grolinck, 2009), attribute their  successes and failures in a different way (see Wilbert, 2011).  The review from Ring and Reetz (2000) showed that LD students have a general tendency to attribute success to external factors and failure to ability, whereas the opposite prevails in students without LD. Overall, the literature suggests that learners with special education needs have increased failure orientation (Matthes, 2006), have a lower academic self-concept (Haeberlin, et al., 1999) and, subsequently, they show less effort (see also Venetz et al., 2010). Students with and without LD also have different goal orientations (Venetz, Tarnutzer, Zurbriggen & Sempert, 2010). As a result of recent school development in Austria annexation becomes more and more important. Therefore it is the study’s intention to survey the goal orientation of students with and without SEN.

Goal Orientation was analyzed quiet often in the past few years and we know very well about it, but we know nearly nothing about goal orientation and special education needs.This study focuses on the goal orientation of students with and without special education needs (SEN) in inclusive schools.

The present study analyzes the goal orientation (mastery-goal orientation, performance-approach orientation, performance- avoidance orientation and work avoidance orientation) from students with and without LD. In a first step, correlation pattern between goal orientations, cognitive abilities as well as school achievement and calibration will be shown separately for students with and without LD. Are the correlations between these variables nearly the same in both subgroups or are there differences?

Wilbert, J. (2011). Die Einsetzbarkeit der Skalen zur Erfassung der Lern- und Leistungsmotivation (SELLMO) bei Schülern des Förderschwerpunkts Lernen. Zeitschrift für Heilpädagogik, 11-17. Venetz, M., Tarnutzer, R., Zurbriggen, C. & Sempert, W. (2010). Die Qualität des Erlebens von Lernenden in integrativen und separativen Schulformen: Eine Untersuchung mit der Experience Sampling Method (ESM). : Interkantonale Hochschule für Heilpädagogik. Steinmayr, R. & Spinath, B. (2007). Predicting School Achievement from Motivation and Personality. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie, Spinath, B., Stiensmeier-Pelster, J., Schöne, C. & Dickhäuser, O. (2002). SELLMO. Skalen zur Erfassung der Lern- und Leistungsmotivation. Manual. Göttingen: Hogrefe.