Analysis of the attitudes of fundamental education teachers towards inclusive education

Abstract

This article is based on the critical theory, and describes the result of a study on the attitudes towards inclusive education, which was conducted with twelve teachers of the 5th grade of fundamental education. Among them, six had the experience of having handicapped pupils in their classroom, and six did not. The qualitative analysis of the data resulting from the assessment carried out in six schools of the Campo Grande (MS) municipal school system demonstrated, broadly speaking, that teachers were in favor of inclusive education. However, prejudiced attitudes, veiled or explicit, were also clearly visible within the school. The formation to deal with those that are "different" still faces barriers due to prejudice and discrimination present in a society based on a logic of "marginal inclusion". In their manifestations, teachers pointed to difficulties of working with pupils with severe mental handicap; they signaled that the responsibility of working under the dominance of an education centered on performance, with focus on the insertion of students in the labor market, generated a "feeling of impotence". Faced with the existing contradictions, inclusive education does not fail to bring forward the presence of injustices that still reveal themselves in the educative process. Despite that, several elements were observed that are favorable to this form of education, which is not dissociated from wider social movements.