Políticas públicas de formação de professores: a atitude social frente à educação inclusiva como princípio formativo

Abstract

The research aimed to question whether the formative processes influence the constitution of positive social attitudes of teachers towards inclusive education, linked to problematization about the historicity of the ideal of beliefs and values, as a construct of social representations, the human phenomenon of elaboration of socially shared attitudes in terms of social attitude towards the education of people with disabilities within an inclusive education system. The main objective of the study was to analyze the degree of favorability of the social attitudes of teachers of Technical Professional Education, in relation to the inclusion of students with disabilities in two Federal Institutes of Education, Science and Technology. In the secondary objectives, we sought to verify whether the area of initial teacher training and training courses in inclusive education influence social attitudes towards inclusion and to analyze the conception of disability and people with disabilities present in public policies of inclusive education from the political arenas (policy), the structures of regulation (polity) and the decision-making processes by these conditioned (politics). This is a descriptive and exploratory research, with a qualitative and quantitative, documentary and bibliographic approach. The data collection instrument was the questionnaire with the Lickert Scale of Social Attitudes towards Inclusion (ELASI). The data were treated using the statistical software GNU/PSPP, using descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests. Analyses of public policies and regulatory frameworks of the Brazilian inclusive education system in the period from 1970 to 2023 were developed, focusing on the conceptual terms of identification of people with disabilities from the analysis of the historical context, behavior of the actors in the implementation, ideas and values of the actors, typologies, approaches and the set of public policies that sustain inclusive education at the national level. The foundation of the theoretical propositions are approached in three analytical-conceptual categories: (a) historical, social and cultural context of the human psyche, within the conception of Liev Seminiovitch Vygotsky (1896-1934) in his perspective of historical-dialectical materialism; (b) social representations: based on the Theory of Social Representations (MOSCOVICI, 1978) and, (c) social attitudes: in the conception of Rodrigues (et al, 2007) and Omote (2005, 2017, 2021). In the study, the concept of inclusive education refers to a form of education in which all people, regardless of their abilities, gender differences, socioeconomic status, and other differences, participate, learn, and engage in a shared learning environment. Results indicated that the social attitudes of the teachers involved in the research were favorable to the inclusion of students with disabilities, likewise, the results suggest that continuing education in the area of inclusive education influences the positive social attitudes of these teachers. The results described showed agreement with the purpose of this study, regarding the relevance of teacher education that considers in its formative processes the subjectivity of social relations and the representations woven in these interactions, notably the social attitudes of teachers towards inclusive education. Studies involving social attitudes towards inclusion are needed, as they can provide clues to how those involved in inclusive teaching are dealing with students, as well as developing and applying possible coping strategies. Formative processes should consider at least four critical reasons for teachers to be aware of and incorporate discussions about disability and (in)ability in the classroom: (1) the identity of disability will present itself in all classrooms, as all students have unique learning needs and strengths; (2) students from early childhood perceive differences and have questions about disability identity that are important to address; (3) month, week, days or simulations of disability awareness promote a philanthropic-paternalistic, inadequate and misguided view of disability and should be replaced by multi-referenced and meaningful discussions about disability; (4) teachers do not need to be 'disability experts' to integrate-adapt-flexibilize curriculum and to centralize discussions about disability and (in)ability. It is pointed out as a top priority to the formative processes, that they seek to free themselves from the focus of special education and define their own, independent and reflective agenda. The dominance of special education in the debate of the field of inclusive education, may have stagnated both practical and theoretical developments. It is also necessary to (re)contextualize the training courses (initial and continued) of teachers, in order to adapt to the previous knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of teachers about inclusion. The discussion about the teacher and teaching competence is relevant, with a view to enabling inclusive education to promote the presence, participation and learning of all through the implementation of inclusive values in educational cultures, policies and practices. In this sense, inclusion becomes an educational philosophy, which promotes a pedagogical practice that is based on the training of teachers prepared and supported to teacher in inclusive classrooms.