Specialized Educational Assistance under the analysis of governmentality in the school context of the municipality of Canoas, RS

Abstract

The text presents a study that aimed to understand how strategies and teaching practices to support the inclusion of students with disabilities have been conducted in public schools in the municipality of Canoas, RS, based on the narratives of managers and teachers from Specialized Educational Assistance (Atendimento Educacional Especializado - AEE). The research also sought to establish connections between techniques for controlling the conduct of the subjects involved, understood as practices related to the context of governmentality. This Foucauldian notion guided the theoretical-methodological framework, together with the concept of biopolitics. The study also problematized the inclusion versus exclusion binary through the notion of in/exclusion. The methodology is qualitative, and data were collected through semi-structured interviews with nine education professionals from the municipal school system² of Canoas (RS), including five AEE teachers and four members of the management team. The questions addressed AEE as a support service for inclusion and its strategies. The analytical exercise was inspired by Foucauldian discourse analysis and employed concepts as analytical tools. From this, two movements were outlined, emphasizing support services for AEE and pedagogical strategies; and conceptions of in/exclusion and the impacts of AEE on the school. The perspective adopted allows one to argue that AEE constitutes an important link in representing the State in terms of “helping the other,” guiding them toward alignment with the metrics established in school curricula and institutional programs, within the context of governmentality.