The special education profession and the discourse of learning disability in Germany

Lisa Pfahl and Justin J. W. Powell

Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Skill Formation and Labor Markets from WZB Berlin Social Science Center

Abstract: Even today, school segregation continues to be understood as legitimate in Germany. Charting the discourse of learning disability provides insights into special education's development as a segregated, independent system of school types and the resulting legitimacy that contributes to the maintenance of school segregation throughout educational systems in Germany. We focus on learning disability discourse and knowledge, the special education profession, and the expansion of its main school type, the support school (Hilfsschule), from around 1900 to today. The special education profession exhibits not only junctures but also remarkable historical continuity. As delineated here, a key factor in the continued growth of special education is the authority of the profession with respect to learning disability and the discourse that continues to legitimate the classification of pupils as learning disabled and the resulting segregated schooling.

Date: 2010
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