Teachers training in inclusive education times

• Grant number: 15/10857-1
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: October 01, 2015 - September 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Education - Specific topics in Education
• Principal Investigator: Rinaldo Voltolini
• Grantee: Rinaldo Voltolini
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Educação (FE). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The proposal of inclusive education is a universal trend in contemporary democratic societies. Its implementation, as a public policy, has raised polemics, either due to the quantity and / or quality of the resources at disposal, or due to the degree of effective use of these resources. We have observed the prevalence of a juridical and administrative model in the approach to the discussion of the vicissitudes and the impasses of inclusion, which privileges the dimension of the material implementation of inclusive device through administrative and legal means.Despite the importance of the discussions related to the legal and administrative ambit, our research stems from the realization of the limit of power of the measures taken in this context in order to reach an effective installation of an inclusive process. Indeed, it is not enough having resources available and installed, it is as important the implication of the various subjects involved in the process in question, namely students, parents, teachers and education agents in general, and, more broadly, the whole society that formulates inclusion as a goal. This implication may not result from simple administrative measures. It is known the impasses that Brazilian inclusive education policies have placed. Among these, the teachers training stands out, either because of the impact that the new reality of inclusive education establishes in the daily school, forcing teachers to review their practices, or because of the frequent and persistent complaint claiming these training courses to prepare them for the new reality. Such a complaint and claim, which matters be highlighted at first, in general is predominantly motivated by the presence of students with pervasive developmental disorders, which seem to be the biggest challenge of inclusive education.In compliance with a broad discussion on the effectiveness of teachers training models, including theoretical researchers in Sociology, Pedagogy, Psychology, etc., it is proposed in our research to test the validity and the effectiveness of a training model focused on the premises of work arisen out of the Psychoanalysis and Education field: basically the inclusion of the notion of the subject of the unconscious. In contrast to the dominant model of teachers training, coined within the income ideology centered on the premise of conceptual domain for instrumental purposes, the designed model here consider as a premise that the realization of the conceptual and instrumental domain is not sufficient for an effective change in practices. Several authors from Sociology, Pedagogy, and Psychoanalysis, as a matter of fact, corroborate this understanding.The teachers listening group is the model proposed here to be tested for it represents an excellent opportunity to work that includes the subject in his particular relationship with knowledge. Gathered around a common task: to discuss their problems with the inclusive labor, teachers find themselves faced with horizontal identifications with their colleagues and not only exposed to a vertical identification with the Master, which supposedly holds the knowledge. The handling of this discussion, guided by the idea of discursive turns, proposed by Lacan in his theory of discourse, may conduct the work towards an accomplishment of knowledge with implication of the subject, therefore, with more significance and effectiveness in practice. The aim is to conduct a research that unfolds in two axes simultaneously. At first, the goal is to build an inventory of discursive modes that make up the social bond teacher-student. Secondly, the objective is to test the validity and effectiveness of this working model with groups as a formative work. If so, it is expected that the research findings can contribute to the broader discussion on teachers training, which orientates the government decisions about public policy of inclusive education. (AU)