Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Teacher education towards educational inclusion from the perspective of master’s and doctoral research

A formação docente na perspectiva da inclusão escolar sob a ótica de pesquisas de mestrado e doutorado em educação

ABSTRACT

Inclusive education requires teacher education initiatives that enable pedagogical practices committed to students’ singularities. This article aims to systematize contributions to teacher education towards educational inclusion provided by research conducted at the master’s and doctoral levels in Education. We selected studies published from 2016 to 2019 in the Catalogue of Theses and Dissertations maintained by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), and we used the following descriptors: “inclusão escolar” (educational inclusion), “formação docente” (teacher education), “Ensino Fundamental” (elementary and middle school). With regard to our theoretical foundations, our study builds on the work of authors such as Campos (2009Campos, A. M. (2009). Educação inclusiva: subsídios para discussão sobre a educação especial no Brasil. Pesquiseduca, 1 (2), 135-142. https://periodicos.unisantos.br/pesquiseduca/article/view/28
https://periodicos.unisantos.br/pesquise...
), Marques et al. (2020Marques, C. M., Bicca, L., Kaim, L. I., Silva, M. A., Oliveira, T., & Miranda, Z. R. F. (2020). Interações e brincadeiras como metodologia de inclusão na Educação Infantil. Revista Extensão em Foco, 8 (2), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.33362/ext.v8i2.2533.
https://doi.org/10.33362/ext.v8i2.2533...
), Nóvoa (1999Nóvoa, A. (1999). Os professores na virada do milênio: do excesso dos discursos à pobreza das práticas. Educação e Pesquisa, 25 (1), 11-20. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1517-97021999000100002.
https://doi.org/10.1590/S1517-9702199900...
, 2017Nóvoa, A. (2017). Firmar a posição como professor, afirmar a profissão docente. Cadernos de Pesquisa, 47 (166), 1106-1133. https://doi.org/10.1590/198053144843.
https://doi.org/10.1590/198053144843...
, 2019Nóvoa, A. (2019). Os professores e a sua Formação num Tempo de Metamorfose da Escola. Educação & Realidade, 44 (3), 1-15, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-623684910.
https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-623684910...
) and Zwierewicz et al. (2020Zwierewicz, M., Zanol, A. G., & Horn, M. (2020). Desafios e possibilidades da formação docente. Revista Devir Educação, 2 (4), 232-250. https://doi.org/10.30905/ded.v4i2.319.
https://doi.org/10.30905/ded.v4i2.319...
). Methodologically, it is based on bibliographic review with a qualitative approach. Results show that teacher education is one of the pillars to build educational inclusion; creativity and collaborative work are critical; teachers’ work environment should allow them to re-signify reality as they re-signify themselves, mobilized by reflections on their own pedagogical practices and by recognition for initiatives committed to educational inclusion principles.

Keywords:
teacher education; inclusive education; elementary and middle school

RESUMO

A educação inclusiva tem entre suas condições iniciativas de formação docente que oportunizem práticas pedagógicas comprometidas com as singularidades dos estudantes. Considerando tal comprometimento, este artigo tem como objetivo sistematizar contribuições para a formação docente na perspectiva da inclusão escolar, analisadas em pesquisas de mestrado e doutorado em Educação, publicadas entre 2016 e 2019 no Catálogo de Teses e Dissertações da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). Elas foram selecionadas por meio dos descritores “inclusão escolar”, “formação docente”, “Ensino Fundamental”. Teoricamente, a pesquisa estrutura-se com o apoio de autores como Campos (2009Campos, A. M. (2009). Educação inclusiva: subsídios para discussão sobre a educação especial no Brasil. Pesquiseduca, 1 (2), 135-142. https://periodicos.unisantos.br/pesquiseduca/article/view/28
https://periodicos.unisantos.br/pesquise...
), Marques et al. (2020Marques, C. M., Bicca, L., Kaim, L. I., Silva, M. A., Oliveira, T., & Miranda, Z. R. F. (2020). Interações e brincadeiras como metodologia de inclusão na Educação Infantil. Revista Extensão em Foco, 8 (2), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.33362/ext.v8i2.2533.
https://doi.org/10.33362/ext.v8i2.2533...
), Nóvoa (1999Nóvoa, A. (1999). Os professores na virada do milênio: do excesso dos discursos à pobreza das práticas. Educação e Pesquisa, 25 (1), 11-20. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1517-97021999000100002.
https://doi.org/10.1590/S1517-9702199900...
, 2017Nóvoa, A. (2017). Firmar a posição como professor, afirmar a profissão docente. Cadernos de Pesquisa, 47 (166), 1106-1133. https://doi.org/10.1590/198053144843.
https://doi.org/10.1590/198053144843...
, 2019Nóvoa, A. (2019). Os professores e a sua Formação num Tempo de Metamorfose da Escola. Educação & Realidade, 44 (3), 1-15, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-623684910.
https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-623684910...
) e Zwierewicz et al. (2020Zwierewicz, M., Zanol, A. G., & Horn, M. (2020). Desafios e possibilidades da formação docente. Revista Devir Educação, 2 (4), 232-250. https://doi.org/10.30905/ded.v4i2.319.
https://doi.org/10.30905/ded.v4i2.319...
). Metodologicamente, priorizaram-se a pesquisa bibliográfica e a abordagem qualitativa. Entre os resultados, evidenciaram-se a formação docente como um dos pilares para a construção da inclusão escolar, a relevância da criatividade e do trabalho colaborativo e a importância de os docentes atuarem em ambientes que lhes possibilitem ressignificar a realidade enquanto se ressignificam, mobilizando-se a partir de reflexões sobre as próprias práticas pedagógicas e da valorização de iniciativas comprometidas com princípios da inclusão escolar.

Palavras-chave:
formação docente; educação inclusiva; Ensino Fundamental

Introduction

This article focuses on the link between inclusive education practices and contextualized teacher education. To that end, two principles are considered: education is only inclusive if it is founded on students’ real demands; and teacher education towards educational inclusion must be contextualized with practices that are committed to this process so that teachers’ plans can be tailored to meet these needs.

Historically, as a signatory of international inclusion movements, Brazil has made significant progress, particularly since the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil (Brasil, 1988Brasil. (1988). Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil. Senado Federal. https://www2.senado.leg.br/bdsf/bitstream/handle/id/508200/CF88_EC85.pdf.
https://www2.senado.leg.br/bdsf/bitstrea...
). However, the country has also had setbacks, which are marked by a logic that contrasts with its previous progress. This makes fragile the achievements seen over nearly three decades.

In this context, teacher education, in turn, has been posing a challenge pervaded by demands both in teacher licensure programs and in continuing education initiatives. Thus, we should stress that teacher education propositions centered on lectures and meetings that fail to connect with real needs end up losing their purpose, due to their detachment from teachers’ and students’ experiences in real work conditions.

This type of teacher education - outdated but still persisting in the country - has contributed to an increasing “feeling of dissatisfaction arising from the great distance between our theoretical ambitions and the concrete reality of schools and teachers”. For it is “as if there was an unbridgeable ditch between universities and schools, as if our academic output had contributed little to transforming teachers’ socio-professional condition” (Nóvoa, 2017Nóvoa, A. (2017). Firmar a posição como professor, afirmar a profissão docente. Cadernos de Pesquisa, 47 (166), 1106-1133. https://doi.org/10.1590/198053144843.
https://doi.org/10.1590/198053144843...
, pp. 1108-1109).

Considering this complex context and the need to bridge the ditch mentioned by Nóvoa (2017Nóvoa, A. (2017). Firmar a posição como professor, afirmar a profissão docente. Cadernos de Pesquisa, 47 (166), 1106-1133. https://doi.org/10.1590/198053144843.
https://doi.org/10.1590/198053144843...
), this study aimed to systematize contributions to teacher education towards educational inclusion. These contributions were compiled by means of master’s and doctoral research in Education published from 2016 to 2019 and accessed in the Catalogue of Theses and Dissertations of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES). We used the following descriptors: “inclusão escolar” (educational inclusion), “formação docente” (teacher education), “ensino fundamental (elementary and middle school). Therefore, this is a bibliographic review centered on a qualitative approach.

This study is part of a broader research that aimed to systematize a teacher education program focused on inclusion, which was based on demands shown by teachers at a private elementary and middle school in União da Vitória, in the state of Paraná. The results presented here were fundamental for organizing a teacher education proposition that was designed, developed and evaluated by Dal Bó (2021Dal’ Bó, R. G. (2021). Formação docente tecida colaborativamente para cocriação de práticas pedagógicas inclusivas [dissertação de mestrado não publicada]. Universidade Alto Vale do Rio do Peixe.) during her Professional Master’s studies in Basic Education (PPGEB) at the Alto Vale Rio do Peixe University (UNIARP), in Caçador, in the state of Santa Catarina.

1. Between Laws and Concepts: Educational Inclusion Horizons

The inclusion process is a political act that implies “rejecting prejudice, discrimination, social, cultural or personal barriers, and respecting people’s needs” (Campos, 2009Campos, A. M. (2009). Educação inclusiva: subsídios para discussão sobre a educação especial no Brasil. Pesquiseduca, 1 (2), 135-142. https://periodicos.unisantos.br/pesquiseduca/article/view/28
https://periodicos.unisantos.br/pesquise...
, p. 136). Therefore, inclusive education proposes for everyone to be in school, since schooling is a constitutional right in Brazil, which entails access to knowledge, culture and personal and social development (Monteiro & Neres, 2017Monteiro, J. C., & Neres, C. C. (2017). A inclusão na educação infantil: análise do documento saberes e práticas da inclusão. Revista Brasileira de Educação, Cultura e Linguagem, 1 (1), 1-15. https://periodicosonline.uems.br/index.php/educacaoculturalinguagem/article/view/2158.
https://periodicosonline.uems.br/index.p...
)

For these reasons, we need to know the process of inclusion of persons with disabilities in school and to systematically debate about it, particularly with regard to learning and skills development, as well as knowledge appropriation by teachers. This process is complex, i.e., it does not take place mechanically or in an egalitarian way for every student. Thus, with regard to skills development, it is worth stressing that it is directly related to each student’s physical, intellectual and sensorial conditions, but also to external stimuli. Finally, teachers’ knowledge can be the key factor to make inclusive pedagogical practices a reality.

Also in the historical context, it is worth noting that inclusive education has been consolidating over time, and documents created by international bodies to organize policy at the regional level are extremely important for this consolidation. The first worldwide milestone took place with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (ONU, 1948Onu. (1948). Declaração Universal dos Direitos Humanos. ONU Brasil. https://brasil.un.org/pt-br/91601-declaracao-universal-dos-direitos-humanos.
https://brasil.un.org/pt-br/91601-declar...
). That document was critical for boosting public policy and actions for the defense of every person, regardless of race, creed or physical condition, since everybody has the same rights to quality education, health, housing, to leisure and to life in society.

In Brazil, inclusive education was announced in the 1988 Constitution, but it became effective when “Brazil incorporated international agreements” (Kassar et al., 2007Kassar, M. C. G., Arruda, E. E., & Santos-Benatti, M. (2007). Políticas de inclusão: o verso e o reverso de discursos e práticas. In D. M. Jesus (Org.). Inclusão, práticas pedagógicas e trajetórias de pesquisa (pp. 21-31). Mediação., p. 23), such as the Jomtien Declaration on Education for All (UNESCO, 1990Unesco. (1990). Declaração mundial sobre educação para todos: satisfação das necessidades básicas de aprendizagem. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000086291_por.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf...
), the Salamanca Statement on Principles, Policies and Practice in Special Needs Education (UNESCO, 1994Unesco. (1994). Declaração de Salamanca e linha de ação sobre necessidades educativas especiais. CORDE. http://portal.mec.gov.br/seesp/arquivos/pdf/salamanca.pdf.
http://portal.mec.gov.br/seesp/arquivos/...
), the Guatemala Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (OEA, 1999Oea. (1999). Convenção Interamericana para a eliminação de todas as formas de discriminação contra as pessoas portadoras de deficiência. http://www.oas.org/juridico/portuguese/treaties/a-65.htm
http://www.oas.org/juridico/portuguese/t...
) and the New York Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Brasil, 2007Brasil. (2007). Convenção sobre os Direitos das Pessoas com Deficiência: Protocolo Facultativo à Convenção sobre os Direitos das Pessoas com Deficiência. Presidência da República, Secretaria Especial dos Direitos Humanos, Coordenadoria Nacional para Integração da Pessoa Portadora de Deficiência. http://portal.mec.gov.br/index.php?option=com_docman&view=download&alias=424-cartilha-c&category_slug=documentos-pdf&Itemid=30192.
http://portal.mec.gov.br/index.php?optio...
).

The Brazilian Constitution guarantees education as a universal right and a duty of the State and the family, towards every person’s full development. Moreover, it sets principles of equal access to and permanence in school by stating that specialist education services for persons with disabilities are to take place preferably at regular schools (Brasil, 1988Brasil. (1988). Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil. Senado Federal. https://www2.senado.leg.br/bdsf/bitstream/handle/id/508200/CF88_EC85.pdf.
https://www2.senado.leg.br/bdsf/bitstrea...
). However, in the practice of national education policy, the word “preferably” was interpreted as the possibility to replace regular schooling by education in specialist institutions, separated from other students.

Specifically with regard to materializing inclusive education as recommended by the World Conference on Education for All, which was held in Jomtien (UNESCO, 1990Unesco. (1990). Declaração mundial sobre educação para todos: satisfação das necessidades básicas de aprendizagem. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000086291_por.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf...
), the initiative marked the importance of education as a space for reducing social inequalities, particularly in peripheral countries. In the case of Brazil, the country undertook to eradicate illiteracy, make primary education universal and allocate funds to inclusive education systems. Another movement towards materializing these goals, since the 1990s, was the Guatemala Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (OEA, 1999Oea. (1999). Convenção Interamericana para a eliminação de todas as formas de discriminação contra as pessoas portadoras de deficiência. http://www.oas.org/juridico/portuguese/treaties/a-65.htm
http://www.oas.org/juridico/portuguese/t...
), which was enacted in Brazil by the Decree No. 3,956/2001.

In the same direction, the Brazilian Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA), enacted by the Law No. 8,069/1990, guarantees egalitarian access to and permanence in school for children and adolescents, in accordance with the Constitution. In this respect, Leite and Martins (2012Leite, L. P., & Martins, S. E. S. O. (2012). Fundamentos e estratégias pedagógicas inclusivas: respostas às diferenças na escola. Cultura Acadêmica, Oficina Universitária.) say that neither the Federal Constitution nor the Child and Adolescent Statute admit excluding students with different characteristics from school.

As for documents that provide directions for education, and in line with international inclusion-oriented documents, the Brazilian Education Guidelines and Framework Law No. 9,394 (LDBEN), enacted in 1996, defines special education as a type of education to be “provided preferably in the regular education system for students with special needs” (Brasil, 1996Brasil. (1996). Lei nº 9394/96, de 20 de dezembro de 1996. Estabelece as Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional. MEC. http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/l9394.htm
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/lei...
). It also says that education systems should create curricula, techniques, educational resources and organize in order to meet those needs, and have teachers with specialist, secondary or higher education level training (Brasil, 1996Brasil. (1996). Lei nº 9394/96, de 20 de dezembro de 1996. Estabelece as Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional. MEC. http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/l9394.htm
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/lei...
). Based on this document, the concern for inclusive education was progressively incorporated into other normative documents.

An example of such documents is Ordinance CNE/CEB No. 02/2001, which sets the National Guidelines for Special Education in Basic Education. In its article 17, it says that public and private regular vocational schools are to serve students with disabilities and create conditions for their inclusion (Brasil, 2001aBrasil. (2001a). Resolução CNE/CEB Nº 2, de 11 de setembro de 2001. Institui Diretrizes Nacionais para a Educação Especial na Educação Básica. CNE/CEB. http://portal.mec.gov.br/cne/arquivos/pdf/CEB0201.pdf.
http://portal.mec.gov.br/cne/arquivos/pd...
. n. p.).

Still in 2001, the National Education Plan (PNE) was launched by the Law No. 10,172, corroborating the need for efforts to provide the conditions mentioned by the 1996 LDBEN regarding the development of educational programs, goals and targets to advance inclusive education. The PNE also defines minimum infrastructure standards, says that didactic resources are to be provided and that joint actions are to be taken for policy on teachers’ work, initial teacher education and continuing education, and encourages studies and research related to students’ educational needs (Brasil, 2001bBrasil. (2001b). Lei nº 10.172, de 9 de janeiro de 2001. Aprova o Plano Nacional de Educação e dá outras providências. Presidência da República, Casa Civil, Subchefia de Assuntos Jurídicos. http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/leis_2001/l10172.htm.
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/lei...
).

With the enactment of the Policy of Special Education towards Educational Inclusion in 2008, admission of persons with disabilities, global developmental disorders and giftedness was no longer optional, but mandatory. This brought about legal developments for organizing special education services in the regular education system (Brasil, 2008Brasil. (2008). Política Nacional de Educação Especial na Perspectiva da Educação Inclusiva. MEC/SECADI. http://portal.mec.gov.br/index.php?option=com_docman&view=download&alias=16690-politica-nacional-de-educacao-especial-na-perspectiva-da-educacao-inclusiva-05122014&Itemid=30192.
http://portal.mec.gov.br/index.php?optio...
). Thus, the Specialist Educational Assistance (AEE), supplementary to regular education, was the key feature in the 2008 policy, to be provided in multi-function classrooms in the regular education system.

With this progress in the definitions of education policies for educational inclusion, the access of special education students in mandatory education age to regular education became frequent. Thus, their access to and permanence in school was now disputed by specialist institutions in the field, who pleaded for the return of this service. This dispute can be seen in the enactment of the new National Education Plan (PNE) of 2014, whose Goal 4 gave preference in universal access to basic education to the population aged four to seventeen with disabilities, global developmental disorders or giftedness.

In Goal 4 in the new PNE, special education students in mandatory education age will no longer be necessarily served in the regular education system, but also in special classrooms, schools and services. This return of specialist services emerges as a possible substitute for education in the regular system.

One year after the PNE’s enactment (Brasil, 2014Brasil. (2014). Lei N° 13.005/2014 - Aprova o Plano Nacional de Educação - PNE e dá outras providências. Presidência da República, Casa Civil, Subchefia de Assuntos Jurídicos. http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2011-2014/2014/lei/l13005.htm
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_at...
), the Brazilian house of representatives passed, in 2015, the Law No. 13,146, called the Brazilian Law on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (also known as the Statute on Persons with Disabilities), which compiles national regulations on such inclusion. Under the Statute, it is the government’s duty to “ensure and promote, in equal conditions, the exercise of the fundamental rights and liberties by persons with disabilities with a view to their social inclusion and citizenship” (Brasil, 2015Brasil. (2015). Lei nº 13.146, de 6 de julho 2015. Institui a Lei Brasileira de Inclusão da Pessoa com Deficiência (Estatuto da Pessoa com Deficiência). Presidência da República. Casa Civil. Subchefia para Assuntos Jurídicos. http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2015-2018/2015/lei/l13146.htm
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_at...
, p. 10). Thus, according to article 27, “education is a right of the person with disability”, and an “inclusive educational system at every level” should be guaranteed, as well as “access to higher education and vocational education on equal footing with other people” (Brasil, 2015Brasil. (2015). Lei nº 13.146, de 6 de julho 2015. Institui a Lei Brasileira de Inclusão da Pessoa com Deficiência (Estatuto da Pessoa com Deficiência). Presidência da República. Casa Civil. Subchefia para Assuntos Jurídicos. http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2015-2018/2015/lei/l13146.htm
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_at...
, n. p.).

The creation of these norms for educational inclusion shows how policies were progressively organized to provide special needs students with access to and permanence in all levels and stages of national education, and how such policies were marked by the bias of formal right in line with the logic of services, rather than that of education for all. This affirmation is confirmed by the proposition of the National Special Education Policy: Equitable, Inclusive and with Life-long learning, founded on the Decree No. 10.502 of September 30, 2020, whose goal is to widen the scope of service for students with specific demands and to implement programs that are focused on Special Education with a view to ensuring education and specialist educational services for students with disabilities, global developmental disorders and giftedness (Brasil, 2020Brasil. (2002). Decreto nº 10.502, de 30 de setembro de 2020. Institui a Política Nacional de Educação Especial: Equitativa, Inclusiva e com Aprendizado ao Longo da Vida. Presidência da República. https://presrepublica.jusbrasil.com.br/legislacao/936694859/decreto-10502-20.
https://presrepublica.jusbrasil.com.br/l...
).

This policy, which was recently implemented in Brazil, was met with perplexity by Brazilian and international research groups and non-government organizations, and was heavily criticized by various groups of politicians and academics as it advocates the return of the model of education for students with disabilities in which education is provided through exclusive services by specialist institutions, i.e., in a segregated manner. This policy was considered by many as a regression from the standpoint of inclusive education, since besides being exclusion-oriented, it also denotes incomprehension of the term “inclusive”, which should be considered as process of access to the education system that takes all students into account, regardless of their specific characteristics. The criticism on the Decree No. 10,502/2020 can be exemplified by this statement by the National Union of Municipal Education Councils (UNCME, 2020Uncme. (2020). Nota Pública nº 2020/003. Da UNCME em defesa da inclusão e pelas garantias legais democraticamente construídas. UNCME. https://uncme.org.br/novo/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/NOTA_PUBLICA_N_003-2020-ok.pdf.
https://uncme.org.br/novo/wp-content/upl...
):

The Presidential Decree represents a significant regression in the struggle for inclusion and diversity, the return to an old and extremely outdated paradigm, and it makes evident the segregation of students in special classrooms and schools, thus encouraging prejudice against and the exclusion of students with disabilities, and countering the constitutional principle of equality and equity. It should also be stressed that Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Brazilian Constitution, as well as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which, in Brazil, has constitutional status, prescribe that preference should be given to an inclusive education system. (UNCME, 2020Uncme. (2020). Nota Pública nº 2020/003. Da UNCME em defesa da inclusão e pelas garantias legais democraticamente construídas. UNCME. https://uncme.org.br/novo/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/NOTA_PUBLICA_N_003-2020-ok.pdf.
https://uncme.org.br/novo/wp-content/upl...
, p. 3)

In addition to this, another relevant criticism on the Decree No. 10,502/2020 is that it makes it incumbent on families to choose to enroll their children both in regular education and in special schools. Therefore, the family is induced to disregard the law, since the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 says that education is a duty of the State first, and then a duty of the family. Therefore, this proposition reinforces the segregationist idea. According to the UNCME’s criticism,

By giving families a “supposed right to choose”, the Decree reinforces and induces a segregationist policy, exempting itself [exempting the State] from the duty to allocate the necessary resources to the public education system, to the regular school in order to deliver suitable assistance to persons with disability, thus eliminating all barriers regarding accessibility, and providing inclusive pedagogical processes, so as to collaborate to build a fairer and more egalitarian society. (UNCME, 2020Uncme. (2020). Nota Pública nº 2020/003. Da UNCME em defesa da inclusão e pelas garantias legais democraticamente construídas. UNCME. https://uncme.org.br/novo/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/NOTA_PUBLICA_N_003-2020-ok.pdf.
https://uncme.org.br/novo/wp-content/upl...
, p. 3)

For these reasons, the enacted document goes against the inclusion-oriented milestones, such as the international and national documents instituted in the last decades which were mentioned earlier. Therefore, it stands to reason that Brazil does not need a new policy on special education; rather it needs to implement quality education for all, with respect for learning peculiarities, thus creating conditions to materialize education that is truly inclusive, without electing those who can attend regular education and those who cannot.

It is also necessary to remember that society is formed by human beings who, by way of coexistence and communication, social relations and interaction with the environment, build culture, experience and knowledge. Breaking the opportunity of coexistence fragments the social being, tears apart structures and strengthens segregation and intolerance. (UNCME, 2020Uncme. (2020). Nota Pública nº 2020/003. Da UNCME em defesa da inclusão e pelas garantias legais democraticamente construídas. UNCME. https://uncme.org.br/novo/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/NOTA_PUBLICA_N_003-2020-ok.pdf.
https://uncme.org.br/novo/wp-content/upl...
, p. 3)

Therefore, education professionals must pay close attention to the new legal propositions in the field, particularly, in this case, to those relating with special education for inclusion.

Thus, this brief review of Brazilian education documents presented propositions and regulations about the historical and organizational processes that benefit inclusive education, as well as recent instances of regression in fundamental issues.

2. From Decontextualized Teacher Education to Inclusive Teacher Education

According to the LDBEN No. 9,394, the school must guarantee every student’s full development and promote citizenship and qualification for work, particularly in regular education classrooms (Brasil, 1996Brasil. (1996). Lei nº 9394/96, de 20 de dezembro de 1996. Estabelece as Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional. MEC. http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/l9394.htm
http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/lei...
). Fulfilling these purposes implies allocating resources to initial and continuing teacher education so as to contribute to, value and disseminate the development of inclusive pedagogical practices, to be built preferably in teachers’ work contexts.

Despite the time the LDBEN No. 9,394 has been in effect, it is undeniable that many teachers and managers do not feel prepared to deal with the challenges posed by inclusion. On the one hand, Poker (2003Poker, R. B. (2003). Pedagogia inclusiva: nova perspectiva na formação de professores. Educação em Revista, 4, 39-50, https://doi.org/10.36311/2236-5192.2003.v4n4.9350.
https://doi.org/10.36311/2236-5192.2003....
, p. 44) affirms that, “in many cases, newly graduated teachers leave college with mistaken and simplistic ideas about the paradigm of social and educational inclusion, thus reducing their concept of inclusion to accepting students with disabilities in their classes”. On the other, the accelerated technological, social, economic, environmental and cultural transformations seen in the last decades clearly require new education paradigms committed to connecting “curriculum knowledge to what emerges each moment in history and, when possible… anticipating such emergence, and designing solutions founded on knowledge about the past, on comprehension of present complexity and on uncertainties about the future” (Zwierewicz et al., 2020Zwierewicz, M., Zanol, A. G., & Horn, M. (2020). Desafios e possibilidades da formação docente. Revista Devir Educação, 2 (4), 232-250. https://doi.org/10.30905/ded.v4i2.319.
https://doi.org/10.30905/ded.v4i2.319...
, p. 233).

In legal terms, after the LDBEN No. 9,394, other guiding documents were enacted aiming at inclusive education associated with teacher education. Except for the regress represented by recent ordinances, including Ordinances CNE/CP No. 01/2020 and CNE/CP No. 02/2019, both of which, according to the ANPED (2020Anped. (2020). Manifesto contra a desqualificação da formação dos professores da Educação Básica. Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Educação. https://anped.org.br/news/manifesto-contra-desqualificacao-da-formacao-dos-professores-da-educacao-basica.
https://anped.org.br/news/manifesto-cont...
), have a clear authoritarian nature, there is, in the previous period, an emphasis on preparing the future professional to develop and transform the school environment so that the best possible learning and development conditions can be provided to students in their diversity.

This process considers “curriculum adaptation, teacher education, the organization of school materials, time and space” (Marques et al., 2020Marques, C. M., Bicca, L., Kaim, L. I., Silva, M. A., Oliveira, T., & Miranda, Z. R. F. (2020). Interações e brincadeiras como metodologia de inclusão na Educação Infantil. Revista Extensão em Foco, 8 (2), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.33362/ext.v8i2.2533.
https://doi.org/10.33362/ext.v8i2.2533...
, p. 2), stressing the need for reflections and actions that involve the epistemological bases of pedagogical practice, but also methodologies and processes. Thus, both initial and continuing education should mitigate the existing mismatch, as said earlier, between the theoretical principles and their materialization in schools and classrooms. This process is a condition for current reality, particularly for overcoming practices founded on individualism and decontextualization, in which knowledge transmission prevails.

Gatti (2014Gatti, B. A. (2014). A formação inicial de professores para educação básica: as licenciaturas. Revista USP, 100, 33-46. https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2316-9036.v0i100p33-46
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2316-9036....
, p. 43) highlights concerns about teacher education which, albeit not recent, are reinforced by the predominant idea that completing undergraduate studies implies a process of conclusion. That completion should not mark the end of teacher education, which should go on throughout one’s life and on the job (Tozetto, 2017Tozetto, S. S. (2017). Docência e educação continuada [apresentação em evento]. XII Educere 2017, Curitiba, Brasil. https://educere.bruc.com.br/arquivo/pdf2017/23503_13633.pdf.
https://educere.bruc.com.br/arquivo/pdf2...
), especially when we recognize the complexity of pedagogical practice (Nóvoa, 1999Nóvoa, A. (1999). Os professores na virada do milênio: do excesso dos discursos à pobreza das práticas. Educação e Pesquisa, 25 (1), 11-20. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1517-97021999000100002.
https://doi.org/10.1590/S1517-9702199900...
).

Thus, the need is pressing for continuing education to take place in a collaborative environment of reflection in which the process of building and rebuilding knowledge breaks with the traditional way of thinking about teaching and learning. This condition can be experienced by teachers in environments that allow them to “transform their reality and transform themselves” (Rebolo & Bueno, 2014Rebolo, F., & Bueno, B. O. (2014). O bem-estar docente: limites e possibilidades para a felicidade do professor no trabalho. Acta Scientiarum Education, 36 (2), 323-331, https://doi.org/10.4025/actascieduc.v36i2.21222.
https://doi.org/10.4025/actascieduc.v36i...
, p. 324).

Nóvoa (2019Nóvoa, A. (2019). Os professores e a sua Formação num Tempo de Metamorfose da Escola. Educação & Realidade, 44 (3), 1-15, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-623684910.
https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-623684910...
, p. 11) also advocates that continuing education should involve the context of teaching, and enable group reflection and the development of collective work with all the professionals that form the school community. According to him, “the school’s metamorphosis occurs whenever teachers come together to collectively think about their work, in order to build different pedagogical practices to respond to the challenges posed by the end of the school model”. In addition, “Nobody becomes a teacher without collaboration from their more experienced peers. It starts in universities, and continues in schools. Nobody can be a teacher today without reinforcement from the collective dimensions of the profession” (Nóvoa, 2019Nóvoa, A. (2019). Os professores e a sua Formação num Tempo de Metamorfose da Escola. Educação & Realidade, 44 (3), 1-15, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-623684910.
https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-623684910...
, p. 14).

In this way of thinking, the space of work, i.e., the school environment, becomes the locus of teacher education, since it enables reflections about the real conditions of the context and the creation of possible solutions in a collaborative manner. This allows overcoming a model that is attached to “a traditional and overly individualistic teaching habitus which, instead of adopting cooperation as a principle that regulates pedagogical action”, he stresses, “promotes and naturalizes competition between subjects and generates, by adopting a hegemonic curriculum and standardized methodology and evaluation, an apparent lack of interest in and motivation for learning” (Venâncio, 2017Venâncio, A. L. (2017). Grupos de apoio entre professores e a inclusão: uma reflexão sobre a reinvenção das práticas de docência a partir da ênfase no ensino colaborativo [tese de doutorado, Universidade Federal do Paraná]. Repositório da UFPR. https://acervodigital.ufpr.br/handle/1884/53434
https://acervodigital.ufpr.br/handle/188...
, p. 19)

Therefore, in this way, the school is considered a space not only for students’ learning and development, but also one of the main places for teacher continuing education, a place that contributes to building the entire educative action. In this space, continuing education needs to “enable acquiring further knowledge and access to new concepts”, thus widening “the situation of analysis of teaching” and contributing “to the development of the professional and the institution” (Tozetto, 2017Tozetto, S. S. (2017). Docência e educação continuada [apresentação em evento]. XII Educere 2017, Curitiba, Brasil. https://educere.bruc.com.br/arquivo/pdf2017/23503_13633.pdf.
https://educere.bruc.com.br/arquivo/pdf2...
, p. 6).

This view corroborates Behrens’ (2007Behrens, M. A. (2007). O paradigma da complexidade na formação e no desenvolvimento profissional de professores universitários. Educação, XXX (63), 439-455. https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/ojs/index.php/faced/article/view/2742/2089
https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/ojs...
, p. 445) claim that teacher education “requires continuing qualification processes that approach a critical reflective and transformative view”. According to Moraes, these propositions regarding teacher education contribute to thinking about education problems in an integral manner, thus avoiding discourses that tend to justify teacher education by means of fragmented initiatives. These stances bring teacher education closer to the context’s real conditions, including those related with inclusion.

3. Research Methodology

For this study, the method we chose was bibliographic review with a qualitative approach. Thus, we searched the CAPES Catalogue of Theses and Dissertation for studies linked to master’s and doctoral programs that were published from 2016 to 2019.

The chosen period is justified as it ensures access to studies conducted in the years near the beginning of the dissertation that originated this article. Based on the results of the review of correlate studies, inclusion-oriented teacher education activities for elementary and middle school teachers were proposed.

The selection was carried out according to the following phases: a) in the initial selections, the descriptors used were “inclusão escolar” (educational inclusion), “formação docente” (teacher education) and “ensino fundamental” (elementary and middle school), which yielded 211,967 theses and 73,254 dissertations; b) then, we separated the dissertations and theses that were published from 2016 to 2019, identified in Phase I; subsequently, from these dissertations and theses, we selected the ones that were linked to the system’s categories denominated “Grande Área de Conhecimento - Ciências Humanas” (Broad Field of Knowledge - Humanities), “Área de Conhecimento - Educação” (Field of Knowledge - Education), “Área de Avaliação” (Field of Evaluation) and “Área de concentração - Educação” (Focus Field - Education); in addition, we used in our selection the Programs in “Educação” deposited in the “Biblioteca Central” (Central Library); d) finally, we selected five dissertation and one thesis because their titles included the terms “formação” (education) with these variations: “de professores” (of teachers), “docente” (teacher [or ‘related to teachers’]), “inicial ou continuada” (initial or continuing) and “inclusão ou inclusiva” (inclusion or inclusive).

4. Results and Discussion

In the selection of studies, we catalogued five dissertation and one thesis, which were published from 2016 to 2019. Chart 1 below presents the information about these studies, such as: title, year of defense, researcher, type of work, university and program.

Chart 1
Studies about educational inclusion and teacher education

The six studies are linked to programs in the field of Education. It is also worth highlighting that they were developed at federal universities in three Brazilian regions: i) South Region: UFSM, UFPR and UNIPAMPA; ii) Northeast Region: UFAL and UFS; iii) Southeast Region: UNIFAL.

Contributions from the Studies on Teacher Education towards Educational Inclusion

Our analysis of the selected studies allowed observing relevant conditions for teacher education linked to educational inclusion processes. We now proceed to systematize part of these contributions.

Konig’s (2019Konig, F. R. (2019). Formação inicial e educação inclusiva: um olhar para cursos de licenciatura [dissertação de mestrado, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria]. Repositório da UFSM. http://repositorio.ufpa.br/jspui/handle/2011/1656
http://repositorio.ufpa.br/jspui/handle/...
) study, whose goal was to know the possibilities of building knowledge about inclusive education in Licensure programs at a public university in Rio Grande do Sul, highlighted aspects of initial teacher education that need to be considered in continuing education. Based on the method of bricolage, “which presupposes transcending reductionism and embracing the complexity and unpredictability about investigation activities” (Konig, 2019Konig, F. R. (2019). Formação inicial e educação inclusiva: um olhar para cursos de licenciatura [dissertação de mestrado, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria]. Repositório da UFSM. http://repositorio.ufpa.br/jspui/handle/2011/1656
http://repositorio.ufpa.br/jspui/handle/...
, p. 51), the study encompassed two analytical dimensions: the first one aimed to know the offer of teacher education contexts in relation to contents and disciplines linked to inclusive education, based on legal documents, on the analysis of guidelines on course curricula and disciplines’ syllabi, as well as on interviews with managers and course coordinators at the Higher Education Institution. The second dimension addressed academics and their possibilities of relationship with those contexts, in addition to presenting an overview of the profile of students who were about to complete the program, and insights on how these students understand their teacher education context and how they build their knowledge about inclusive education in initial education.

The study’s results suggest that, in initial education, inclusion is limited, on the one hand, to theoretical studies, and on the other, to internship. This information contributed to planning a teacher education proposition that strengthened the relationship between theory and practice, so that participants could realize the relevance of building possibilities while undergoing teacher education, and could share experiences that value such relationship.

These results are in line with the view of Rebolo and Bueno (2014Rebolo, F., & Bueno, B. O. (2014). O bem-estar docente: limites e possibilidades para a felicidade do professor no trabalho. Acta Scientiarum Education, 36 (2), 323-331, https://doi.org/10.4025/actascieduc.v36i2.21222.
https://doi.org/10.4025/actascieduc.v36i...
, p. 324) about the need for teachers to work in environments that allow them to “transform their reality and transform themselves”. To that end, they, too, highlight the relevance for continuing education to take place in a collaborative environment of reflection, in which the process of building and rebuilding knowledge and practices break with overly individualistic and fragmented views.

Ferro’s (2017Ferro, M. B. (2017). Formação docente na perspectiva da inclusão educacional [dissertação de mestrado, Universidade Federal de Sergipe] Repositório da UFS. https://ri.ufs.br/handle/riufs/12512
https://ri.ufs.br/handle/riufs/12512...
) study, in turn, sought to analyze teaching towards educational inclusion based on teachers working at a public education school. In their research, they found the need for preparing educational professionals to deal with students’ peculiarities, both in the academic stage and in continuing education.

Among his findings, Ferro (2017Ferro, M. B. (2017). Formação docente na perspectiva da inclusão educacional [dissertação de mestrado, Universidade Federal de Sergipe] Repositório da UFS. https://ri.ufs.br/handle/riufs/12512
https://ri.ufs.br/handle/riufs/12512...
) highlighted that the discourse of the study’s participants showed weaknesses in relation to their pedagogical practice and extolled the importance for teachers to learn with a view to inclusive education. He also found that teacher education is one of the pillars to building educational inclusion, thus confirming Ferro’s (2017Ferro, M. B. (2017). Formação docente na perspectiva da inclusão educacional [dissertação de mestrado, Universidade Federal de Sergipe] Repositório da UFS. https://ri.ufs.br/handle/riufs/12512
https://ri.ufs.br/handle/riufs/12512...
) initial hypotheses about the need for: improving the quality of initial teacher education; providing all types of resources to serve students with disabilities; and a constant reflection by teachers about their own practice.

Cardoso’s (2017Cardoso, C. R. (2017). Desvelando as tramas e os dramas da inclusão escolar: um estudo com professores do ensino fundamental [dissertação de mestrado, Universidade Federal de Alfenas]. Repositório da UNIFAL. https://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UNIFAL_dfd9f81e689f59bb4fccf40f2bdeb86c
https://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UNIF...
) study sought to make explicit the representation of teaching linked to the presupposition of educational inclusion by investigating inclusive educational practices developed by educators, in order to understand how institutional dynamics are constituted as spaces of subjectivation of the process of educational inclusion of students with disabilities. The study showed that teachers’ practice “is an indispensable aspect for change in the school’s social subjectivity, whose configuration, in most cases, is pervaded by elements that hinder the materialization of inclusive education”, stressing that continuing education is of great relevance, since it “constitutes the core that justifies the possibilities of change in practice” (Cardoso, 2017Cardoso, C. R. (2017). Desvelando as tramas e os dramas da inclusão escolar: um estudo com professores do ensino fundamental [dissertação de mestrado, Universidade Federal de Alfenas]. Repositório da UNIFAL. https://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UNIFAL_dfd9f81e689f59bb4fccf40f2bdeb86c
https://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UNIF...
, p. 98).

Venâncio’s (2017Venâncio, A. L. (2017). Grupos de apoio entre professores e a inclusão: uma reflexão sobre a reinvenção das práticas de docência a partir da ênfase no ensino colaborativo [tese de doutorado, Universidade Federal do Paraná]. Repositório da UFPR. https://acervodigital.ufpr.br/handle/1884/53434
https://acervodigital.ufpr.br/handle/188...
, p. 16) study aimed to analyzed the effectiveness and suitability of teaching practices in meeting diversity and inclusion by means of the formation of a group that supports public education teachers. According to her, there is not just one model of action, therefore, contextual analysis is required, as well as knowledge, participation, adhesion, belonging, engagement and motivation on the part of education professionals, and these conditions are indispensable for re-signifying curricula and “organizing school materials, time and spaces” (Marques et al., 2020Marques, C. M., Bicca, L., Kaim, L. I., Silva, M. A., Oliveira, T., & Miranda, Z. R. F. (2020). Interações e brincadeiras como metodologia de inclusão na Educação Infantil. Revista Extensão em Foco, 8 (2), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.33362/ext.v8i2.2533.
https://doi.org/10.33362/ext.v8i2.2533...
, p. 2).

In comparative terms, we can see how Venâncio’s (2017Venâncio, A. L. (2017). Grupos de apoio entre professores e a inclusão: uma reflexão sobre a reinvenção das práticas de docência a partir da ênfase no ensino colaborativo [tese de doutorado, Universidade Federal do Paraná]. Repositório da UFPR. https://acervodigital.ufpr.br/handle/1884/53434
https://acervodigital.ufpr.br/handle/188...
) view converges with research notes by Cardoso (2017Cardoso, C. R. (2017). Desvelando as tramas e os dramas da inclusão escolar: um estudo com professores do ensino fundamental [dissertação de mestrado, Universidade Federal de Alfenas]. Repositório da UNIFAL. https://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UNIFAL_dfd9f81e689f59bb4fccf40f2bdeb86c
https://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UNIF...
), since both corroborate the relevance of collaborative work. Venâncio (2017Venâncio, A. L. (2017). Grupos de apoio entre professores e a inclusão: uma reflexão sobre a reinvenção das práticas de docência a partir da ênfase no ensino colaborativo [tese de doutorado, Universidade Federal do Paraná]. Repositório da UFPR. https://acervodigital.ufpr.br/handle/1884/53434
https://acervodigital.ufpr.br/handle/188...
), however, stresses that this type of work is not a simple process, mainly because many teachers are used to individualism and the tradition that “promotes and naturalizes competition between subjects and generates, by adopting a hegemonic curriculum and standardized methodology and evaluation, an apparent lack of interest in and motivation for learning” (Venâncio, 2017Venâncio, A. L. (2017). Grupos de apoio entre professores e a inclusão: uma reflexão sobre a reinvenção das práticas de docência a partir da ênfase no ensino colaborativo [tese de doutorado, Universidade Federal do Paraná]. Repositório da UFPR. https://acervodigital.ufpr.br/handle/1884/53434
https://acervodigital.ufpr.br/handle/188...
, p. 17), instead of adopting cooperation to mobilize pedagogical actions.

Amaral (2016Amaral, L. A. O. (2016). A inclusão dos alunos com deficiência na rede municipal de Jaguarão: o repensar das práticas docentes através da formação [dissertação de mestrado, Universidade Federal do Pampa]. Repositório da UNIPAMPA. http://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UNIP_3aa653f7d3a4d9a2b087134c04085dac
http://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UNIP_...
), in turn, presented in her study the results of a proposition for intervention conducted with teachers in a Municipal Education System. The researcher proposed a pedagogical intervention that sought to provide teachers at the study’s locus with “a space for reflection about their pedagogical practices, for action that suits the principles of school inclusion with regard to students assisted by special education within inclusive education” (p. 33). She expected that the teachers at the school could, among others, “Promote change in aspects that pervade curricula, the elimination of barriers and discriminatory attitudes” (Amaralo, 2016Amaral, L. A. O. (2016). A inclusão dos alunos com deficiência na rede municipal de Jaguarão: o repensar das práticas docentes através da formação [dissertação de mestrado, Universidade Federal do Pampa]. Repositório da UNIPAMPA. http://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UNIP_3aa653f7d3a4d9a2b087134c04085dac
http://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UNIP_...
, p. 18).

The results of Amaral’s (2016Amaral, L. A. O. (2016). A inclusão dos alunos com deficiência na rede municipal de Jaguarão: o repensar das práticas docentes através da formação [dissertação de mestrado, Universidade Federal do Pampa]. Repositório da UNIPAMPA. http://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UNIP_3aa653f7d3a4d9a2b087134c04085dac
http://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UNIP_...
) study indicate that it achieved its goal, since it provided participants with a space for reflection about their own practices, with recognition for initiatives committed to educational inclusion principles. In this process, the participants were able to share their concerns in discussion circles and reflect together about them, in addition to increasing their knowledge of Brazilian laws on special education within inclusive education. The study cases that were conducted allowed identifying special educational needs “arising from diverse disability conditions”, and “there was a feeling of contribution, both in the individual and the collective spheres, with the certainty that there was reflection about practice” (Amaral, 2016Amaral, L. A. O. (2016). A inclusão dos alunos com deficiência na rede municipal de Jaguarão: o repensar das práticas docentes através da formação [dissertação de mestrado, Universidade Federal do Pampa]. Repositório da UNIPAMPA. http://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UNIP_3aa653f7d3a4d9a2b087134c04085dac
http://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UNIP_...
, p. 87).

These results reinforce Nóvoa’s (2019Nóvoa, A. (2019). Os professores e a sua Formação num Tempo de Metamorfose da Escola. Educação & Realidade, 44 (3), 1-15, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-623684910.
https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-623684910...
, p. 14) claim that the school’s metamorphosis takes place when teachers come together to build pedagogical practices that respond to educational challenges, since, according to him, it is not possible to be a teacher without prioritizing the collective dimensions of the profession.

Finally, Pereira Filho (2019Pereira Filho, A. D. (2019). As múltiplas dimensões do fazer pedagógico criativo de uma escola alagoana: contribuições no sentido da construção de um ambiente inclusivo [dissertação de mestrado, Universidade Federal do Alagoas]. Repositório da UFAL. http://www.repositorio.ufal.br/handle/riufal/5260?locale=es
http://www.repositorio.ufal.br/handle/ri...
) presented an innovative approach by exploring creativity and its pedagogical contributions to educational inclusion. To that end, the researcher aimed to show the creative movements of a school to build an inclusive environment. In addition, he sought: to understand the benefits of transdisciplinary approach and eco-education for building creative schools; to identify the multiple dimensions of the school where creativity needs to be mobilized; and to observe how much these multiple dimensions, by means of which creativity manifests, contribute to building an inclusive environment. Among the results of the study, which involved a school situated in the coast of Maceió, Alagoas, Pereira Filho (2019Pereira Filho, A. D. (2019). As múltiplas dimensões do fazer pedagógico criativo de uma escola alagoana: contribuições no sentido da construção de um ambiente inclusivo [dissertação de mestrado, Universidade Federal do Alagoas]. Repositório da UFAL. http://www.repositorio.ufal.br/handle/riufal/5260?locale=es
http://www.repositorio.ufal.br/handle/ri...
) concluded that it is from creative pedagogical practices that one can think about a school that “values inclusion in its daily life and in all of its projects”.

In addition, according to the author, creativity “opens the doors of classrooms and of knowledge” (Pereira Filho, 2019Pereira Filho, A. D. (2019). As múltiplas dimensões do fazer pedagógico criativo de uma escola alagoana: contribuições no sentido da construção de um ambiente inclusivo [dissertação de mestrado, Universidade Federal do Alagoas]. Repositório da UFAL. http://www.repositorio.ufal.br/handle/riufal/5260?locale=es
http://www.repositorio.ufal.br/handle/ri...
, p. 120), thus allowing teachers to rethink about ways of building it. In turn, this approach, which rethinks about practices by means of creativity, mobilizes the education professional to reflect about his own practice

Based on all these observations, it is convenient to highlight the numerous theoretical, methodological and conceptual contributions of the studies mentioned here to the present study and to education in general. Thus, we can see that all of the studies above sought, each in its own way, to break with the traditional way of teaching, thus providing, based on collected data, various possibilities of practices so that inclusion will not be limited to unfeasible imagination.

5. Final Considerations

Accessing research published in the CAPES Catalogue of Theses and Dissertation in order to systematize contributions to teacher education towards educational inclusion allowed identifying in individual studies conducted at graduate level the relevance of linking teacher education to the inclusion practices that teachers develop.

Theoretically, we found that inclusion has been entering the agenda of renowned researchers because it constitutes a fertile ground for research. Such progress enables deeper conceptual insights and shows possibilities and gaps in bringing these contributions to classrooms.

With regard to regulations, the progress comprises milestones diluted in different norms that define conditions for schools and professionals to be able to develop inclusive practices, while indicating a range of responsibilities born by the school context. In this process, instances of evolution can be seen in the legislation that supports teachers, but also restrictions caused by the enactment of norms that reduce rights that were historically earned.

In view of this reality, teacher education takes on a prominent position, be it initial or continuing teacher education. In this scenario, it changes as demands for inclusion emerge and new events, productions and legislation progressively encompass conceptions that differ from what was previously experienced.

In addition, theoretically, the studies affirm the relevance of teacher education linked to the context of teachers’ work. Specifically with regard to continuing education, this context has been configured as a fundamental locus for reflections about pedagogical practice, whose surroundings are particularly conducive to the collaborative construction of inclusive initiatives.

In these approaches resides the relevance of the contributions of the analyzed master’s and doctoral studies. They point to teacher education as one of the pillars to building educational inclusion. In addition, they demonstrated the importance, in this inclusive process, of creativity and collaborative work. In this complex system, it was found that the teacher practices that work better are the ones that operate in environments that allow teachers to re-signify reality as they also re-signify themselves, mobilized from reflections about their own pedagogical practices and from recognition for initiatives committed to educational inclusion principles.

Thus, these approaches to teacher education for inclusion overcome the traditional practices centered on lectures, on discontinuous work and on disregard for teachers’ real demands and the reality they are situated in. With these studies, we also intend to contribute to overcoming a conception of teacher education that disregards teacher initiatives and how much educational inclusion can advance when actions provide recognition for creativity and the key role played by teachers.

References

Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    18 Mar 2022
  • Date of issue
    2022

History

  • Received
    15 Sept 2021
  • Accepted
    14 Nov 2021
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