Educational policies and professional identities: the case of Chilean special educational needs (SEN) teachers under new regulations for SEN student inclusion in mainstream schools

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores the professional identities of SEN teachers as related to new Chilean policies for educational inclusion. It focuses on the way in which professional identities are transformed by the new educational setting for special education. Drawing on ethnographical observation in four schools in Santiago, Chile we describe and analyse the main tensions present in SEN teachers’ everyday experiences building from a dialogue between their stories and their rule constrained practices. By doing so, we show how teachers’ professional identities are the product of a deep negotiation with themselves in which their understanding of inclusion, special educational needs and the new policy are at the heart of their inquiry.