Inclusive education in Brazil: discourses and liter-acy practices

Abstract

The inclusion of people with disability in the context of education in Brazil led to changes in school institutions and environments, and affected individuals involved in them. Highly focused on teaching performance, inclusion has been perceived differently by teachers, their feelings balancing between fear and delight. These changes have taken place in accordance with the guidelines established in the Education for All conference in Jomtien (1990) and the Salamanca Statement (1994), who mainly advocated the expansion of special education in developing countries. In the light of these policies, we aimed to investigate the discourses and practices of literacy in the context of special education. Framed by Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 2003) and the New Literacy Studies (Barton, 2007), ethnographic research was conducted in four Brazilian cities, in the period 2007-2013, involving 30 teachers. The results point to educational practices in an environment that underrates the value of teaching, by depriving teachers of means and resources, also configured by shy intersectorial family support policies. This is complemented by teacher training policies for inclusive education that have been contributing to non-emancipatory schooling practices. In the meantime, new discourses – discourses of inclusion, human rights and traditional family – emerge in the school context, that favor socialization between Special Education and Regular Education children and youth, as well as the social integration of people with disabilities in many contexts.