As concepções sobre deficiência e as práticas pedagógicas inclusivas de professores da educação básica

Abstract

This paper presents discussions in the field of teacher training in Brazil, both from a general and an inclusive perspective, and the perceptions of basic education teachers regarding the schooling of students with disabilities. Although the historical context presented indicates progress in the quality of initial and continuing teacher training courses to work from an inclusive perspective, the research carried out in the Jequitinhonha and Mucuri valleys, in Minas Gerais, pointed out that these professionals claim to be still unprepared to work with this public in their classrooms. This research intended to answer the following question: do the teachers' perceptions regarding disability interfere with the educational practices offered to students with disability? The objectives were to identify the conceptions about disability (medical, social, and biopsychosocial) mentioned by teachers as guiding their practices; to analyze the pedagogical practices suggested by them for the inclusion of students in regular classrooms; and to relate their answers to the conceptions about disability. This research was conducted with qualitative and quantitative approaches, with a descriptive study, using themes to analyze the teachers' reports. Through the analysis of the participants' answers to a form applied during a continuing education course, it was possible to conclude that the way teachers understand the students' condition of disability is one of the factors that influences the choice of educational practices to work in regular classrooms.