A gestão para a inclusão: uma pesquisa-ação colaborativa no meio escolar

Abstract

The recent educational demands point to the need of change in schools concerning the care of students, taking into account their individual needs and singularities. Regarding this change, the role of the principal is identified as a fundamental role in the upcoming of inclusive schools, requiring new abilities, knowledge and development in order to face the challenge of managing those schools. This work encompasses a research experience developed throughout a partnership with a school, striving to build up elements of reference to the management of the school regarding the diversity issue. In order to accomplish this study we have done a comprehensive bibliographical account involving theoretical axis and researches on the themes of school, inclusion and the new kinds of school organization facing diversity. Moreover, studies on culture, diversity, difference, and the principles implied in change theory and the foundations of management towards an inclusive school were added in the bibliographical research. The research itself aimed to develop, in partnership with a city public school, an intervention program considering the school management regarding diversity issues, having as a starting point the constitution of a co-participative management. The methodology used was the collaborative action-research which is featured by the sharing of the knowledge among all participants of the process, so that, together, they can change an initial situation into a better one. The study lasted two years and a half and the results showed that a shared management may be beneficial to the constitution of an inclusive school. It is fundamental, though, that the school members learn to work together and seek, increasingly, the improvement of collaborative practices. In the specific school researched, we have considered as a key issue, the changing of management practices, specifically the way the guidance of daily actions was developed. This guidance allowed the improvement of some changing issues: the introduction of a collaborative action between the coordination and the teachers, mainly those teachers who were coached by members of the research “Learning Management in Diversity” team; the reorganization of planning actions; the reinforcement of actions in the issue of participative management; investment in the diversification of pedagogical equipment and in school facilities; the systematization of the actions of the director’s board throughout the sharing of the decision taking process; and the investment in the development of teachers and coordinators. The changes occurred along the research process lead us to say that the management model adopted in the school did not suffice the need for change from a traditional cultural pedagogical practice still prevalent. The changes occurred did not diverge from homogenous teaching practice neither guaranteed nor corresponded with a model that moved towards the constitution of an inclusive identity that devised the improvement of teaching patterns offered to the students