Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress
International
Special Education Conference
Inclusion: Celebrating Diversity?
1st - 4th August 2005. Glasgow, Scotland
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Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress 1st - 4th August 2005. Glasgow, Scotland |
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MSc Maria José Monteiro Benjamin Buffa
University of São Paulo, Hospital for Rehabilitation of Craniofacial Anomalies
zeze@centrinho.usp.br
The hearing impaired child in the school environment has been the focus of concern of people who study this problem in Brazil; considering the earliness of this area of knowledge in the national area, it can be concluded that the theme of Inclusion has not yet been sufficiently studied.
The interest in the development and study of the theme, School Inclusion, arose from the fact that the author is coordinator of the Educational Center for the Hearing Impaired Child (CEDAU) of the Hospital for Rehabilitation of Craniofacial Anomalies (HRAC) of University of São Paulo (USP).
This Center has as the objective to develop the oral language of children with sensorineural deficiency, by utilization of the residual hearing. The work is based on the area of Educational Audiology, whose principles are directed to the auditory-oral approach.
One of the principles of this approach is to include the hearing impaired child in the regular school, to allow the opportunity of sharing a larger number of hearing experiences, living among children who can hear; therefore, children of CEDAU attend regular schools in common classes. Thus, with a view to minimize the difficulties faced by the hearing impaired child, some activities of systematic orientation are offered in schools, especially directed to teachers, preparing them to act efficiently in the education of the hearing impaired student.
Within this context and with such dynamics of performance, we could observe the disquietude of teachers in general, when facing the new educational paradigm – the inclusion.
This scenery justifies the search for knowledge that can serve as a basis for best comprehension of the question of school inclusion of children presenting special educational needs, especially the hearing impaired child. For a larger insight on the theme, a study of the social meaning of the deficiency was conducted, with an approach from the historical times until understanding of its social role in the contemporary society. Besides, we tried to offer a retrospective view of the legislation for a better knowledge of the conquests and rights of the deficient person)
Important events and facts for the process of school inclusion were highlighted, such as the World Conference of Special Educational Needs that can be considered as a landmark in the attempt to offer education for all. During that conference, the Declaration of Salamanca was elaborated, which determines the adoption of Lines of Action in the Special Education and whose fundamental principles are that schools must receive all children, independent of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional and language conditions, or others.
In turn, the promulgation of the Law of Directives and Bases of National Education in Brazil (Law 9394/96) was another decisive factor for the Special Education, because this achieved an important place when outlined as an autonomous chapter, being defined as a modality of teaching, assuring the specificity of curriculum, methods, techniques, educational resources and organization to attend the needs of those students.
The CEE Deliberation n.05 (São Paulo 2000) equally deserved a note, because it established norms that follow the principles of equality and opportunities for all, whatever are their differences, besides the Resolution CNE/CEB n. 2 (Brazil 2001), which institutes the National Directives for Special Education in the Basic Education.
It is interesting to notice the need to include considerations with respect to the terminology used in the official texts to characterize students that present difficulties of learning and consequently need a specialized attention, intending to find a more adequate expression when they are mentioned in the development of this work. We concluded that the most adequate is utilization of the expression “special educational needs”.
We emphasize that students presenting hearing impairment are included in this category of “special educational needs” and, being the object of attention of this work, they deserved a note in the literature review, for a better comprehension of the auditory-oral approach, its implications and resources necessary to benefit the development of the hearing impaired child.
With relation to the theme of inclusion, the forms of insertion of the deficient child in the regular school were revised, following the evolution of the integrating proposals in opposition to the segregating. We can observe the position of several authors, such as Bueno (1993, 1994, 1999), Carvalho (1994, 1997, 1998), Mazzota (1993, 1997, 1999), Glat (1998), Omote (1995), Bevilacqua and Formigoni (1997) and Mantoan (1998) in relation to the proposals of integration until the present movement of school inclusion, considered an advance in relation to the others. The previous theoretical principles had the deficiency as the focus of attention, where the child should be able to cope with the demands of the environment; on the other hand, today the movement of inclusion defends that the problem is situated in teaching and school, and no more in the deficiency. An evidence was made in relation to inclusion of the hearing impaired child in the regular teaching, and the necessary procedures and resources to assure their learning.
The new educational point of view started to require more knowledge from teachers, in addition to those they received in their graduation courses, what determines that they have to develop new attitudes and the capability of having a close relationship with the deficient children, surmounting prejudices with relation to the minorities. With this purpose, at the end of the present study, the graduation of teachers is approached with the purpose of acquiring knowledge in relation to the new proposals of Brazilian Education.
In front of those new professional demands, more specifically for those who educate children with hearing impairment and, due to the inexistence of parameters and/or subsidies for best comprehension of Being, Knowing and Making in front of the challenge of such situations in common classrooms, studies and researches on this issue are required, such as those presented following, so as to offer interdisciplinary contributions to the areas of Audiology, Speech therapy and Education, in partnership with institutions that traditionally have been developing experiences connected with the process of inclusion.
The objective of this study, therefore, was to describe and analyze the point of view of teachers of regular teaching with respect to the inclusion of the hearing impaired child in the common class, identifying those professionals as to their graduation and experiences, verifying what they know and think about the hearing impairment and what they know about school inclusion.
The universe of this study enclosed 1,276 teachers of regular teaching of the city of Bauru, State of São Paulo, who teach in common classrooms. From these, 473 teachers were of state schools (first to fourth grade of fundamental teaching), 449 teachers of municipal schools (infantile education and first to fourth grade of fundamental teaching) and 354 teachers of private schools (infantile education and first to fourth grade of fundamental education). We decided to analyze these levels because the children of CEDAU attend, in these levels, the regular teaching.
The sample for this study enclosed 15.4% of the universe, equivalent to 196 teachers, stratified in relation to the type of school, yielding the following sample: 73 teachers of state schools, 69 teachers of municipal schools and 54 teachers of private schools.
Data collection was done by a questionnaire with questions related to the inclusive education, by classification with the following themes:
Descriptive methods have been utilized and we will describe only the more meaningful results under our perspective.
With regard to identification of the teachers, data indicate that, from 196 teachers, 31.63% (62) have a superior level of graduation in Pedagogy, being only two with training in hearing impairment; 25.00% (49) have superior graduation in other courses, and 42.34% (83) have no graduation in superior level.
With relation to the knowledge on the hearing impairment, we observed that scientific evidences are distant from teachers, because 48.98% (96) acquired knowledge by informal reading and 40.82% (80) through the media, affirming that they were permeable to the opinions of groups and popular thoughts. Thus, 72.95% (143) of teachers did not feel satisfied in relation to the knowledge, and even though 81.62% (160) felt unprepared to deal with a hearing impaired child in the classroom, 45.91% (90) of teachers had already performed with such children.
Concerning the knowledge on school inclusion, despite feeling unprepared, the teachers demonstrated that they have some knowledge on inclusion, 56.63% (111) think that the ideal school for a hearing impaired child is the regular school, in a common class, with the support of resources, and that evaluation should be prepared considering the conditions of development of children and evaluation of their potentialities.
In the opinion of 88.77% (174) of teachers, the child must participate in a rehabilitation program; 93.87% (284) think that it is important to have assistance from the team of this program.
In the questions related to school environment, 73.98% (145) of teachers think that a reduction is required in the number of students per class; 72.96% (143) have the opinion that classrooms should be equipped with specific and adapted materials.
With relation to inclusion of the hearing impaired child in the regular teaching, we observed that only 15.30% (30) are against this, whereas 83.16% (163) are favorable. Analyzing the justifications of teachers, we observed that those who were against presented a resistance based on their ignorance, discredit in relation to the government and discredit in the possibilities of change. The justifications in favor primarily referred to favoring of socialization, opportunities of developing the potentialities of the child, end of discrimination, and that participation in regular teaching is a warranted right.
Even with those justifications, we observed that only 15.30% (30) of teachers think that, at the beginning of inclusion, the school should be transformed. Most of them do not have the knowledge that, otherwise, the school should be flexible to receive the diversity of students, according to the Declaration of Salamanca (1994): “all children have the fundamental right of education and must be given the opportunity of reaching and keeping the adequate level of scholarship”.
All items studied indicate the limitation of teachers with relation to their graduations.
We concluded that:
The teachers did not yet perceive that, at the beginning of inclusion, it is the school that should be transformed, and that the central focus is in teaching, and no more in the deficiency.
The present study presents subsidies, so that measures for better graduation of teachers are taken, chiefly considering the challenges of the present moment and of the new demands in educational fields, delineated by the Law of Directives and Bases of National Education in Brazil, which requires more qualified and permanently updated professionals from the infantile education through superior education, committed with the new approach that has as horizon the school inclusion of students with special educational needs, including the hearing impaired child.
References
Bevilacqua MC, Formigoni GMP. Audiologia educacional: uma opção terapêutica para a criança deficiente auditiva. Carapicuíba: Pró-Fono; 1997.
Brasil. Ministério da Justiça. Declaração de Salamanca e linhas de ação sobre necessidades educativas especiais . 2ª ed. Brasília: Coordenadoria Nacional para Integração da Pessoa Portadora de Deficiência; 1997.
Brasil. Conselho Nacional de Educação. Câmara de Educação Básica. Resolução CNE/CEB nº 2, de 11 de Setembro de 2001, institui Diretrizes Nacionais para a educação especial na educação básica. Diário Oficial da União, Brasília, p. 39-40, 14 set.2001. Seção1E.
Bueno JGS. Educação especial brasileira: integração/segregação do aluno diferente. São Paulo: EDUC; 1993. (Série Hipótese).
Bueno JGS. A educação do deficiente auditivo no Brasil: situação atual e perspectivas. In:Alencar EMLS de, organizador. Tendências e desafios da educação especial. Brasília: Ministério da Educação e Cultura; 1994. (Série Atualidades Pedagógicas, 1).
Bueno JGS. Crianças com necessidades educativas especiais, política educacional e a formação de professores: generalistas ou especialistas? Rev Bras Educ Esp 1999; 3:7-25.
Carvalho RE. Panorama internacional da integração-enfoque nacional. Integração 1994 5:9-13.
Carvalho RE. Integração, inclusão e modalidades da educação especial-mitos e fatos. Integração 1997; 7:19-25.
Carvalho RE. A nova LDB e a educação especial. 2ª ed. Rio de Janeiro: WVA; 1998.
Glat R. A integração dos portadores de deficiência: uma reflexão. 2ª ed. Rio de Janeiro: Sette Letras; 1998. (Questões atuais em educação especial, v.1).
Mantoan MTE. Inclusão: ensino inclusivo/educação (de qualidade) para todos.
Integração 1998; 8:30-2.
Mazzotta MJS. Trabalho docente e formação de professores de educação especial. São Paulo: EPU; 1993.
Mazzotta MJS. Fundamentos de educação especial. São Paulo: Pioneira; 1997. (Cadernos de Educação).
Mazzotta MJS. Educação especial no Brasil: história e políticas públicas. 2ª ed. São Paulo: Cortez; 1999.
Omote S. A integração do deficiente: um pseudo-problema científico. Temas Psicol 1995; 2:55-61. São Paulo. Conselho Estadual de Educação. Deliberação CEE nº 05/00 (CEE Aprovado 29/03/00) fixa normas para a educação de alunos que apresentam necessidades educacionais especiais na educação básica do sistema estadual de ensino . São Paulo: Conselho Estadual de Educação; 2000.
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