Abstract:

On July 6, 2018, Decree-Law (DL) 54/2018 was enacted revoking the previous Decree-Law 3/2008 that regulated Special Education in Portugal. In favor of a truly inclusive school, a new legal framework appears, aligned with a holistic view and with a continuous and integrated approach to the school path. As a consequence of this legislative change, there was an interest in studying this moment of transition experienced by professionals in educational contexts.

This transition requires a paradigm shift in the school's culture and the way of looking at students and the teaching-learning process. Thus, using interviews and subsequent categorical analysis of its content, there was an attempt to understand what difficulties and solutions the teachers and technicians in educational contexts encountered in this legislative transition.

The following difficulties were identified: lack of training; lack of time; lack of human resources; demarcation of previous legislation/paradigm shift; Roles’ definition; family involvement; personal dimension - students with Learning Support Needs/mandatory stay in the classroom; the personal dimension of regular teachers; characteristics - teaching category; ownership and understanding of the DL; incongruities; decree-law was not considered in the preparation of the school year. As for solutions, they pointed out support in the training domain, emotional support and logistical support (e.g., Human resources).

These results indicate a transition process marked by several difficulties that can be overcome by the joint agency of everyone, from higher levels, intermediate structures, professionals from educational contexts and families.

Keywords:

Inclusive school, educational policies in Portugal, inclusion.