O enigma da inclusão: das intenções às práticas pedagógicas

Abstract

This research has sought to weave a web from theories and experiences with the purpose of generating some knowledge about “school inclusion”. Based on a qualitative approach, and taking as a point of departure the foundation in and of the daily life, the study had as its main focus a year-long investigation in a Center of Integral Child Care (CAIC) in the city of Juiz de Fora (MG). The objective of this investigation was to observe the procedures adopted, transformed or adapted by the institution in its attempt to include handicapped children and adolescents into regular teaching. Observations were conducted at various moments: pupils’ entrance, break, and exit; in different environments: classrooms, staff rooms, courtyard; and in several occasions: classes, council meetings, pedagogical meetings, and celebrations. The study also included 34 interviews with teachers, administrative and technical staff and some students directly involved in the study, along with their mothers. Seven handicapped students had their daily routine observed in classes of Child Education and Fundamental Schooling. This research allowed us to see that working, innovating, and daring to implement an inclusive education that caters for all students indistinctly, with or without handicaps, in Regular Education is not a mission impossible, but a challenge that can be met. It is all a matter of thinking and wishing, “thinking and doing” a school that inspires the exchange between students, that confronts unfairness in thinking and life styles, that seeks interactive methodologies, and that makes out of the recognition of diversity strategies for a new learning. In short, a school that recognizes differences and, respecting them, lives together with them.