Developing inclusive education in Portugal: Evidence and challenges
- PDF / 541,780 Bytes
- 16 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 25 Downloads / 159 Views
Developing inclusive education in Portugal: Evidence and challenges Ines Alves1 · Paula Campos Pinto2 · Teresa Janela Pinto2
© The Author(s) 2020
Abstract This article assesses evidence of and challenges to the development of inclusive education in Portugal, which is built on three pillars: access to, participation in, and achievement in education for all children and young people. It presents an overview of the present policy framework, followed by an analysis of available statistical data on Portuguese students with disabilities in mainstream schools. The article also discusses significant achievements at the policy and practice levels, namely the attempt to align curriculum and pedagogy and the presence of almost 100% of students with disabilities in mainstream schools. It also considers challenges, such as the issue of monitoring achievement (both at the student and system level) and investments in the system and in teacher education. Keywords Inclusive education · Educational policy · Portugal In this article, we assess evidence of and challenges to the development of inclusive education in Portugal. Inclusive education has developed from a single-layered concept, focused on “mainstreaming” students with disabilities or “special needs” into regular schools (UNESCO 1994), to a multi-layered concept which implies developing equitable quality education systems by removing barriers to the “presence, participation and achievement of all students in education” (Ainscow 2005, p. 119). Presently, the United Nations defines inclusive education as “access to and progress in high-quality education without discrimination” (UN 2016, p. 3), which requires “a process of systemic reform…to provide all * Ines Alves [email protected] Paula Campos Pinto [email protected] Teresa Janela Pinto [email protected] 1
University of Glasgow, 11 Eldon St, Glasgow G3 6NH, United Kingdom
2
School for Social and Political Sciences/University of Lisbon (ISCSP/ULisboa), Lisbon, Portugal
13
Vol.:(0123456789)
I. Alves et al.
students of the relevant age range with an equitable and participatory learning experience and environment that best corresponds to their requirements and preferences” (UN 2016, p. 4). In this article, we consider the three pillars of inclusive education: access to, participation in, and achievement in education for all children and young people (UNESCO 2017, p. 13). The first concept is access. Moving beyond the notion of presence proposed by Ainscow (2005), which provided a first indicator of the level of “mainstreaming” in a specific context, access includes physical access but recognizes other potential sensory, intellectual, economic, and attitudinal barriers to education. For example, students with Portuguese as an additional language might be in a mainstream classroom, but if they have recently arrived in the country with little fluency in Portuguese, they might struggle to access education due to language or attitudinal barriers. Participation is the second key concept; it
Data Loading...
