In-DIG-developments

The transdisciplinary project In-DIG-developments aims to better understand the impact and changes the measures taken in times of the COVID-pandemic at 41 schools in Styria by analyzing how Austrian primary and secondary schools in different contexts use the related experiences and discussions regarding inclusion and digitalization for a change in instructional design as well as for school development processes within and after the crisis.

Accordingly, the central research questions deal, on the one hand, with preconditions and thus also with questions about burdens and coping strategies of the persons involved, their practices, strategies for action, and approaches to solutions, and, related to these, with the challenges, limits, and barriers they experienced. In this context, contextual conditions and in particular characteristics of the diversity of the student body will be given special consideration through sampling and background interviews.

In this context, on the basis of a representative standardized survey of students, parents, teachers, and school administrators and with the help of complementary qualitative formats (focus groups and interviews with students, parents, teachers, and school administrators), scientific findings about barriers and models for inclusive, digitally supported teaching and learning environments will be obtained and made available to the scientific community and the broader school public as examples of good practice.

The study is realized with financial support from the Province of Styria and own funds from the University of Graz and will run for a good year and a half (Oct. 2020 - Feb. 2022). The study is realized under the joint supervision of Univ.-Prof.in Dr.in Heike Wendt and Univ.-Prof.in Dr.in Barbara Gasteiger-Klicpera together with the Institute for Ethics and Social Studies and the KPH Graz.

• Study directors:
  • Univ.-Prof.ⁱⁿ Dr.ⁱⁿ phil. Barbara Gasteiger-Klicpera (FZIB)
  • Univ.-Prof.ⁱⁿ Dr.ⁱⁿ phil. Heike Wendt (Institut für Bildungsforschung und PädagogInnenbildung, Empirische Bildungsforschung)
• Members of the research team:
  • Caroline Breyer, PhD MSc Bakk.^a phil. (FZIB)
  • Franziska Reitegger, BA MSc. (Institut für Bildungsforschung und PädagogInnenbildung, Inklusive Bildung und Heilpädagogische Psychologie)
  • Melina Tinnacher, MSc. (Institut für Bildungsforschung und PädagogInnenbildung, Empirische Bildungsforschung)
  • Mag. phil. Dr. Thomas Gremsl (Institut für Ethik und Gesellschaftslehre)
  • Prof.ⁱⁿ Mag.^a Dr.ⁱⁿ Martina Kalcher, Bakk.^a phil. MSc. (KPH Graz)