CLASDISA – Classifications of Disabilities in the Field of Education
(Duration: 01.02.2010 – 31.01.2015)
Function: Principal Investigator
Financed by Austrian Science Fund – FWF Project number: P 22178
The research project aims to provide an international and cross-cultural
comparative study in the field of special needs and inclusive education.
It investigates which environmental factors facilitate or restrict activity
and participation of school-aged children with disabilities in the field of
education in different societal and cultural contexts. The project refers
to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)
of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the adapted Child and Youth version
(ICF-CY). This classification regards disability as a product of impairments of
physical and mental structures and functions, activity limitations and
participation restrictions in combination with environmental and personal
factors.
Based on the classification scheme of the ICF/ICF-CY the research
project investigates barriers and facilitators in the field of education in
Austria, Thailand, and Ethiopia in cooperation with staff members of local
universities. These three countries differ to a great extent in regard to
societal and cultural contexts. With reference to the Human Development Index
(HDI), the societal development can be regarded as high in Austria, medium in
Thailand, and low in Ethiopia. The empirical data for this study will be
collected through field research. The study will follow a uniform design and
will be undertaken simultaneously in the three countries. Using a mixed-methods
approach including a grounded-theory-based qualitative part, the project takes
an ecological perspective on children and the micro systems, which they are
involved in, such as their families and school classes. Interviews with
professionals and parents as well as adapted techniques for capturing the
perspectives of the children with disabilities will help to reconstruct societal
and cultural aspects of disability. Additionally, the project will include
quantitative surveys with the same target groups to identify societal and
cultural factors regarded as barriers and facilitators in the educational process.
Thus, while the study intends to use the ICF classification as a tool for
educational research, it will critically examine its applicability in different
cultures and societies. The research project involves innovative aspects such as:
(1) fundamental research on the relations between society, culture, disability and education,
(2) application of the ICF and ICF-CY in the field of education including its critical examination,
(3) development of research methods through international scientific cooperation in the field of special needs education.