Abstract:

Therapeutic pedagogy teachers or also called support teachers in Spain are those teachers specialized in students with learning difficulties caused by different reasons (physical, cognitive, contextual…). They work specifically with this type of students in several subjects, but mostly with languages and mathematics. In the Valencian Community, with the recent publication of an inclusion decree their role has been strengthened. One of the most polemical situations that takes places in schools regarding their role is referred to where should their work with their students. Although not specifically, the recent inclusion decree points out that therapeutic pedagogy teachers should work with their assigned students in the classrooms with the rest of the students, and not in a separate class as it often happens. The objective of this study was to determine which educational context was better for students with learning difficulties in mathematics. Five mathematics teachers and two therapeutic pedagogy teachers participated in this research. The methodological design of the study was purely qualitative. Discussion groups were carried out with them and the information was analyzed by means of a qualitative content analysis. Results suggest that, if possible, therapeutic pedagogy teachers should always work with their assigned students in the conventional classrooms with the rest of the classmates. This is justified from different inclusive, organizational and academic perspectives. Although many times this does not happen in many schools, both types of teachers conclude that when you compare the two approaches (inside or outside the conventional classroom) the benefits of the most inclusive approach exceed by far its difficulties. The main conclusion is that therapeutic pedagogy teachers and mathematics teachers should work with the students they share in the same environment for different academic, organizational and psychological reasons, apart from the evident inclusive nature that this approach implies.

Keywords:

Therapeutic pedagogy, mathematics education, inclusive education.