A POLÍTICA DE INCLUSÃO EM QUESTÃO: UMA ANÁLISE EM ESCOLAS DA REDE MUNICIPAL DE ENSINO DE PONTA GROSSA – PR

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate how the policy of inclusion of students with special needs was put into practice in municipal schools in Ponta Grossa – PR. The research was based on the policy cycle approach (Bowe et al., 1992; Ball, 1994) and the theory of policy enactment (Ball; Maguire; Braun, 2012), as well as other authors who discuss aspects of the role of the State in the definition of educational politics (Carnoy, 1986; Dourado, 2007), curriculum and inclusion (Stainback; Stainback, 1999; Gimeno Sacristán; Pérez Gomez, 1998; Gimeno Sacristán, 2000), the right to education (Cury, 2000), exclusion and inclusion (Martins, 1987), integration and inclusive education (Mazzotta, 2005; Fernandes, 2007; Mantoan, 2006). The research was carried out in two municipal schools in Ponta Grossa – PR and comprised: a) interviews with professionals who were involved with Special Education in the Municipal Secretariat of Education - MES (context of context), b) official documents analysis and interview with the Municipal Secretary of Education and the Inclusive Education team (context of text production); c) analysis of practice context, through interviews with headteachers, deputy heads and teachers, and participant observation in two regular classes and in a multifunctional class (first years of primary school). The main conclusions were as follows: a) inclusion politics is still in construction and poses several challenges to the educational management (MES), school managers and teachers; b) due to the challenges that inclusion brings to the education system as a whole, from the aid and support offered to teachers, school infrastructure to other contextual aspects, the inclusion of students with special needs in the regular school might become a weak, unstable and marginal one (Martins, 1987); c) in the context of practice, practitioners create different strategies to put the politics into practice (translation and interpretation processes), and in some contexts the inclusive process becomes more favorable to the development and learning processes of students with special education needs who attend regular classes, while in other contexts, the access to curriculum and global development of students might be hampered. Finally, it is important to highlight that Inclusive Education is a process that demands long time for concretization and targets all students without distinctions. Due to the conditions of the context where the policy is put into practice and the translations carried out by school agents, the schools might be closer or farther from what can be considered as an ideal model or inclusive education.