Reflections on inclusive pedagogical practices with students with intellectual disability

Abstract

The school inclusion of students with disability has become a central issue in the educational field, as it involves the inclusion of the target group of special education in common schools. This article is an excerpt from the Master's thesis in Education and aims to propose reflections on inclusive pedagogical practices carried out with students with Intellectual Disability (ID). The methodology involved ethnographic techniques (participant observation, preparation of a field diary, conducting interviews), analysis of documents from the school in the field of investigation and national and municipal legal provisions that guarantee the rights of children with disability to attend and have access to knowledge in common schools of education. Data generation was carried out in 2018 in a municipal public school in Florianopolis – Santa Catarina (SC), which works from an inclusive perspective. The target subjects of the research were three students with ID, enrolled in the 6th and 8th grade. Data analysis permitted to conclude that the school inclusion of students with ID in the researched school is legally guaranteed. However, observations and interviews showed that there are challenges and barriers (pedagogical and attitudinal) that compromise the symbolic accessibility of these students. Furthermore, it was concluded that the three students of the research are able to learn at their own pace and under appropriate conditions, but the ideal of the student, present in the concept of student craft, can contribute both to school failure and to the establishment of soft exclusion practices.