The challenge of inclusive education in a Brazilian School: teachers’ concerns regarding inclusion

Abstract

This intervention research analyzes the impact of implementation of the Brazilian inclusive education policy on the teachers of a public school. The intervention was based on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, using the methodology of Change Laboratory. Such methodology is based on the idea of expansive learning, which proposes the collective creation of new solutions to deal with the contradictions faced in an activity system (in this case, the school). Inclusive education has been a challenge to this school and its teachers: most of them were dealing with it for the first time. Ten group sessions were carried out from March to December 2014 and data were collected during such sessions. Three categories emerged from the data in an attempt to explain the teachers’ concerns about inclusion: 1) inclusion as learning, 2) inclusion as fallacy and 3) manifestation of contradictions related to inclusion. Students’ effective learning was the least frequent category. Manifestation of contradictions was the main category, indicating that the proposed inclusive education must advance to improve students’ performance. Such advances could take place through facing the contradictions appointed by the subjects themselves. Under the light of the theoretical framework, it was possible to perceive that the contradictions reveal the tensions involved in the inclusion process and, at the same time, the potential for change they carry in themselves.

Contradictions as Drivers for Improving Inclusion in Teaching Pupils with Special Educational Needs

“…One activity-theoretical study (Yamagata-Lynch & Haudenschild, 2009) identifies inner contradictions and their sources in teachers' professional development, and reveals a large gap between the teachers' own professional-development motivation and goals and the activities designed and facilitated by their school districts and universities. As a result of this misalignment, the teachers are confronted by various challenges and obstacles in their attempts to improve their classroom practices A study (Cenci et al, 2016), concerning the challenges associated with inclusive education in Brazilian schools, reveals a lack of inclusion, and points out how the collective identification of tensions and the larger underlying societal contradictions enhance the development of teachers' thinking about inclusive teaching practices. Pearson's (2009) study focuses on the different conceptualizations among teacher trainees of terms such as "disability" and "special education", and on the need for professional development in the context of English educational systems.…”

“…A topic that is seldom addressed is the significance of contradictions in teachers' professional development (Yamagata-Lynch & Haudenschild, 2009) and in the enhancement of inclusive education (Cenci et al, 2016). Seeking to narrow this research gap, we analysed manifestations of contradictions in teaching practices with SEN pupils in mainstream schools in Finland aiming at achieving and developing inclusion.…”

Discourse of Inclusion in the Complexity Era: In the BRICS Space

“…The high level of poverty in Brazil is another challenge of inclusive policies that aim to stimulate the activities of the 16 million people living in extreme poverty (Productive Inclusion in Brazil, 2014). At the same time, the policy of inclusive education has been actively implemented in this country since 2003, which has both positive and negative consequences (Cenci et al, 2016). All of them to some extent reflect the emergence of inclusion in the society.…”

Cell biology for visually impaired people: a study on inclusion methodologies

“…If, in the past, it was considered important, nowadays this is no longer the case. As it can be noticed, inclusion creates a scenario with plenty of challenges for teachers, without giving them any consistent support to face them (Cenci et al, 2016).…”