Abstract:

Faced with the now well-established and shared need to guarantee quality education, to promote continuous learning opportunities for all, to improve teaching environments and processes, to valorise everyone's diversity as required, for example, by objective 4 of the Agenda 2030 (UN, 2015), there is in fact an objective difficulty in building, in each country, a school system that lives up to the ideals and best intentions of inclusion, as defined by various international organizations (Peder, 2017).

The hypothesis underlying the study is that the possibility of success of teaching-learning processes aimed at students with disabilities and special educational needs depends strictly on the teacher training (Cottini, 2018), in particular about quality and effectiveness of the initial training courses for educational support, of an academic nature, intended as a driving force to promote inclusion and an innovation factor in school teaching and learning.

The study delves into the role, professional identity and development potential of the specialized teacher for support regarding the promotion of school inclusion. A large group of specialized teachers (n. 962) was interviewed in three Italian University (Foggia University, Link Campus University, University of International Studies) in in the 2021-2022 academic year.

The survey instrument is the resulting multiple choice questionnaire (Limone & Simone, 2022) which was subjected to testing procedures until June 2022, in an anonymous and self-administered form online. It was filled out by the students individually, at the end of the specialization courses activated at the three universities mentioned above.

It was possible for the researcher to ideally divide the questionnaire into five areas of investigation:
1. General profile
2. Motivation to teach and skills considered useful for teaching
3. Teaching experience and inclusion
4. Relationship with educational technologies
5. Pandemic and distance learning.

The results that emerged from the exploratory investigation reveal three avenues for reflection:
1. Improve the teachers' skills regarding special education. Therefore, it is necessary to leverage the motivation to teach which characterizes, in a very specific way, the initial teacher training phase so that, through a path of high university specialisation.
2. Make the school an increasingly inclusive educational and teaching environment, aimed at achieving well-being for all, where diversity is celebrated and difference is valued.
3. Have quality training for the teachers in the use of educational technologies. In this way we can encourage the development of digital competence which, according to the 2018 European Council Recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning "presupposes an interest in digital technologies and their use with familiarity, critical spirit and responsibility. to learn, work and participate in society” (European Council, 2018).

Keywords:

Specialized teacher, initial training, support teaching, inclusion.