Abstract:

Relative to the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 school years, data collected by the Ministry of Education report a number of pupils with disabilities attending Italian schools 299,057 and 304,016 (3.5 percent and 3.6 percent of the total number of pupils, respectively).
A profession in special education is best suited for those who have a strong desire to educate and care deeply about students with disabilities. Special education refers to individualized instruction provided to students with a variety of physical and mental problems. Students with severe difficulties require specialized training and teaching from well-trained special education specialists. For students and people with special needs, special education offers a variety of professional options, including teaching, instruction, and curriculum creation. A special educator's main role is to teach and engage with children who have a range of disabilities.
The role of the special educator in school is to ensure that pupils with disabilities have the right to full inclusion. Inclusion at school is achieved through a range of professionals such as the curricular teachers, the support teacher, and the special assistance or school-based educator and the personal hygiene assistant.
The school special educator is an ad personam professional who is provided by local governments and is governed by Article 13 paragraph 3 of Law No. 104/1992. It is aimed at all students with disabilities. This figure originated as "the assistance for personal autonomy and communication of pupils with physical or sensory disabilities." This basic definition has gradually been enriched over time, going far beyond the tasks of physical care and accompaniment alone, and increasingly including functions of support for personal and social autonomy, facilitation in the relationship with teachers and the class group, support for socialization and communication with peers, facilitation in the expression of experiences and needs, emotional support, and enhancement of resources and potential.
In Italy, the figure of the educator refers to Law 205 of Dec. 27, 2017 by which, after several years, the access qualifications and specific tasks of this figure were identified.
Based on this young professional figure, often also associated with the support teacher, an exploratory survey is presented aimed at knowing the cultural and professional profile of the school special educator. The research sample consists of 400 educators, who were administered an instrument to analyze self-assessed professional skills, professional beliefs, emotions and perceived degree of school involvement.
Analysis of the data shows a large repertoire of positive emotions accompanied by dysfunctional and stereotypical beliefs about one's work, as well as unencouraging self-perceptions about one's professional competencies.

Keywords:

Special educator, Inclusion, Disability, school.