Inclusive education in Brazilian context

Abstract

Inclusive education is at the centre of discussions in the Brazilian educational context, and for the development of very recent policies. In the last few decades, concepts such as diversity, equality and inclusion have guided the discourse seeking the alignment of educational practices with policies that guarantee access, permanence, learning and inclusion of all Brazilian citizens. However, the evidence coming from schools demonstrate that the Brazilian educational system has a long way to go regarding the effectiveness of current practices of inclusive education; that is, the system must improve if it is to develop theory into practice. This chapter presents an analysis of recent public policies about inclusive education in Brazil. This process of analysis made it possible to survey potential scenarios and current demands about inclusive education, based on a legal pathway that is in tandem with the global movement of inclusive education based on a social model. This is so because the current theoretical model adopted in Brazil validates the understanding that the education of all students must preferably occur in the regular school system. Thus, and in practice, inclusive education in Brazil must assume a character that transcends the school space and implies the necessary changes in the paradigm of inclusive education based on the medical model to the paradigm of inclusive education from the perspective of the social model.