Representações sociais dos educadores de infância e a inclusão de alunos com necessidades educativas especiais

Abstract

RESUMO: neste estudo determinam-se as representações sociais dos educadores de infância no Concelho de Évora no Sul de Portugal, face à inclusão de crianças com necessidades educativas especiais nas escolas regulares. A metodologia utilizada baseou-se numa estratégia de sondagem assente na realização de um questionário que compreendeu a caracterização dos elementos de estudo, a estruturação das atitudes e o tipo de representações sociais dos educadores de infância nas escolas regulares, o enquadramento legal e a viabilidade do processo inclusivo e os recursos físicos humanos. Para interpretar os dados do questionário foi realizada uma análise estatística univariada e uma análise de conteúdos. A promoção da igualdade de oportunidades, a inter-ajuda e o paradigma da escola inclusiva, estão na origem de uma atitude favorável ao processo de inclusão de crianças com necessidades educativas especiais, que é condicionada pelos meios técnicos e humanos e condições físicas nas escolas. A representação social é em geral favorável ao processo de inclusão, apesar haver ainda discriminação das crianças com necessidades educativas, devido à falta de informação, de educação e de regras sociais, à classe social e nível econômico, a dificuldades de aceitação da diferença e das limitações físicas e à falta de higiene. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Educação Especial. Representação Social. Inclusão. Professor de Educação Infantil.ABSTRACT: This study determines the social representations of kindergarten teachers in the city of Évora, southern Portugal, on the inclusion of children with special educational needs in regular schools. The methodology was based on a survey research strategy in which a questionnaire was used to comprise the characterization of the study elements, the structuring the attitudes and the types of representations of kindergarten teachers in regular schools, the legal framework and feasibility of the inclusive process and the available human and physical resources. The data were treated using univariate statistical analysis and content analysis. The promotion of equal opportunities, mutual help and the paradigm of inclusive education have led to favorable attitudes for the inclusion of children with special educational needs, which is conditioned by technical and human resources and physical conditions in schools. In general a positive social representation of the inclusion process is adopted, but there is still substantial discrimination, which is associated with lack of information, education and social rules, social class and economic level, difficulty of acceptance of difference and physical limitations and lack of hygiene.

Representações Sociais e Concepções Epistemológicas de Aprendizagem de Professores da Educação Especial

“…This coexistence and alternation of conceptions about learning can also be verified in a study by Fragoso and Casal (2012). In Portugal, the authors investigated the social representations of childhood educators regarding the inclusion of children with disabilities in regular schools and concluded that, in general, teachers are in favor of the inclusion process, with ideals of promoting equal opportunities and mutual help.…”

“…The social representations and conceptions of learning by the teachers of the school of Basic Education, the Special modality researched, oppose the institution's objective, which is to promote independence, socialization and social and educational inclusion of children. As in the studies of Barbosa (2014), Fragoso and Casal (2012) and Musis and Carvalho (2010), the social representations of the teachers investigated are full of meanings about the disability, conceived as limiting, negative, determinant; about absence, about the different (compared to a normal pattern), the one that nullifies the other and is conducted by medical explanations.…”

“…Finally, Musis and Carvalho's study (2010), as well as Fragoso and Casal's (2012), aimed to investigate the social representations of teachers regarding the inclusion of students with disabilities in regular education, and found that the perception of the teacher regarding a student with a disability is anchored in a hegemonic representation of normality. Thus, the teacher's practice is influenced by the desire that the students correspond to a physical configuration and to an intellectual behavior pre-established by society as average standard.…”

“…Thus, the teacher's practice is influenced by the desire that the students correspond to a physical configuration and to an intellectual behavior pre-established by society as average standard. Barbosa (2014), Fragoso and Casal (2012) and Musis and Carvalho's (2010) researches present ideas or thoughts about the disability that refer to the conceptions of learning by the teachers. Through the speeches of the teachers from the School of Special Education, this paper sought a deeper analysis and aimed to highlight the social representations on learning and to identify the epistemological conceptions in which they are anchored.…”

Profissão Docente: uma revisão de literatura

“…Atestam que inclusão signifi ca valorizar as particularidades de cada aluno, bem como atender a todos sem nenhum tipo de discriminação. Salientam que os problemas relacionados a este temática não dizem respeito à defi ciência em si, mas antes à incapacidade da sociedade em encontrar respostas a essas difi culdades (FRAGOSO;CASAL, 2012).…”