National Observatory on Special Education: Network Study about Inclusive Education in Brazil

Mendes Eniceia, Cia Fabiana

Department of Psychology, Federal University of Sao Carlos, Sao Carlos, Brazil.

DOI: 10.4236/jss.2015.39009                

Abstract

Considering the importance of collaborative networks of research, a group of Brazilian researchers has created the National Observatory on Special Education (in Portuguese Oneesp), whose focus is on the production of integrated studies about policies and practices directed to the issue of school inclusion in Brazilian reality. The present project has focused on a nationwide study about a government policy to stimulate the creation of support services to students with special educational needs in regular schools, called “Multifunctional Resource Rooms (MRR)”. According to official data, between 2005 and 2011 the Brazilian Ministry of Education had financed 30.000 MRR spread in all Brazilian states. To what extent this type of service has supported the education of children and young with educational special needs? To answer these questions 203 researchers from 16 Brazilian states, representing 22 universities are leading a network study to analyze the municipalities’ implementation of this policy. Studies were conducted involving 58 municipalities for concurrently produce, knowledge and professional development through collaborative research, and were conducted through interviews with focus groups composed of approximately 450 MRR teachers, and then a national study survey in progress, directed to about 500 MRR teachers. The analysis of the results, still preliminary, indicated that the policies of the municipalities, despite following some guidelines from the Ministry of Education, were translated to their reality and assumed quite different local expressions depending in part on local history of the development of services of special education in determined reality.

Keywords

Special Education, Inclusive Education, Educational Policy, Brazil

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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