RESUMONeste artigo, fundamentado em dois estudos de caso em jardim de infância, refletiu--se sobre como e com quais ferramentas de apoio se pode avaliar e promover qualidade e intervenção educativa adequada nos contextos. Selecionou-se um grupo de crianças (entre 3 e 6 anos) e desenvolveram-se estratégias com a finalidade de escutar e compreender o modo como elas participam. Ainda, em diversos tempos da rotina de cada contexto, identificaram-se interações e atitudes do educador, analisando-se o respetivo impacto no nível da participação das crianças. Os resultados revelaram que, quando as crianças desenvolvem um sentimento de pertença ao contexto e lhes são oferecidas oportunidades de participação, mais facilmente se envolvem, revelam bem-estar emocional e motivação para aprender, explorar e participar nos processos de tomada de decisão. A escuta ativa, o questionamento e o encorajamento do diálogo assumem-se, por parte do adulto, competências essenciais para a qualidade da intervenção educativa.PALAVRAS-CHAVE educação infantil; participação; educação de qualidade.

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Research studies on Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) in Portugal are diffuse regarding both program components and the geographical area under scrutiny. Since the 1990s, a growing body of knowledge and evidence in ECI is being gathered, based on postgraduate teaching, inservice training, and research. This article draws on the systems theory perspective outlined in the Developmental Systems Approach to Early Intervention (Guralnick, 2001, 2005a, 2011) in order to: (a) depict paradigmatic shifts and scientific evidence, as well as social and political factors, setting the ground for the development of ECI policies and services in Portugal; (b) describe the current Portuguese legislation that recently established a statewide ECI system, and deductively analyze its content regarding the structural components of Guralnick´s Model; (c) examine the current status of ECI services according to the core principles and components of the Developmental Systems Model. Inspired in Guralnick´s suggestion (2000) the discussion addresses existent problems at different levels of the system, proposing an agenda for change in ECI in Portugal, underlining the need for the co-construction of a new culture based on scientific evidence and on in-depth dialogues between researchers, practitioners, and communities.

The present study aimed to examine the attitudes of teachers and school professionals towards the inclusion of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Jordanian schools. Specifically, the study investigates whether the variables of knowledge and training in ASD, educational role, experience in ASD, academic qualification, gender, age, and school level are associated with educators’ attitudes towards the inclusion of students with ASD. The descriptive survey method was conducted to examine educators’ attitudes and their correlations with the study variables. An electronic survey was completed by 430 participants who were educators at public and private schools in Jordan (including general and special education teachers), school principals, and counselors. The results of the study evidence that Jordanian educators hold neutral attitudes towards the inclusion of students with ASD in Jordanian schools. Further, the study shows that these attitudes are correlated with training and knowledge in ASD. In contrast, educational role, experience, academic qualification, age, gender, or school level are not associated with educators’ attitudes. The implications and limitations of the study are discussed.