A revista infância excepcional (1933 – 1979): uma contribuição para a história da educação especial

Abstract

History of Special Education in Brazil is characterized by the presence of many specialized institutions. Among them, the Sociedade Pestalozzi de Minas Gerais (SPMG), created in 1932. This institution was committed to foster, treat and educate children who strayed from the norm stablished during that time and announced its actions through many publications. This research aims to analyze how public policy for education of the exceptional was disseminated by the magazine Infância Excepcional: Estudos, Educação e Assistência ao Excepcional, published between 1933 and 1979. The publishing interval covers a period of many transformations on the education of the exceptional: changing from isolated services by private institutions and local governments to the development of broad national policies. Qualitative and historiographic research prioritizes the analysis of the magazine issues that compose the collection. Carr (1978) believes that the historian can’t narrate the historic fact like it happened, but among many sources he can choose events which, from his own point of view, deserve being analyzed. Events selected for this research allowed creating relevant categories in order to comprehend themes that were in the magazine. For the purpose of analyzing the proposals for public policy, it was utilized the definition of influence context, by Ball and Bowe, shown by Mainardes (2006). Public policy was defined as a public action, which considers the efforts of many civil society actors searching to acquire social rights. Context was analyzed through three categories: target audience, family and financing. About target audience, it was identified that the magazine showed changes on its definition and tried to diminish stigmas of this group while changing its nomenclature. As to family, it was identified changes on magazine’s attitudes about how it would spread the role of the exceptional student’s family in his/her learning process. Firstly, magazine describes family as a harmful environment to education of these students and the best way to educate them would be taking him/her away from this environment. After 1960’s, however, family is described as a fundamental mean of fighting and protagonism to acquire educational rights, encouraging the creation of Associações de Pais e Amigos dos Excpecionais (APAE) in many localities. About financing, political changes related to this area influenced significantly the publishing of this magazine. During the 1930’s, the work of SPMG was incipient and depended on donations. Therefore the magazines functioned as advertisement for institution’s actions and society awareness in order to raise funds. In the 1950’s the Campanha Nacional de Educação e Reabilitação de Deficientes Mentais (CADEME) is created and the financing of institutions like SPMG is, then, formalized by the Federal Government. Thus the institution’s self-image is no longer a current theme in the magazine and themes related to public policy gains strength.