Teaching and learning processes for students with intellectual disabilities: teacher training in the school context

Abstract

Students with intellectual disabilities (ID) require teachers to improve their training in order to work towards school inclusion. In this sense, courses developed in the context of schools that use real-life case studies and discuss the demands of the teachers who work with this audience, are an alternative for teacher development. This article raises the question: how did teachers taking part in a course based on action-reflection research come to understand the teaching and learning process of students with intellectual disabilities? The aim was to analyze the learning constructed by teachers about the teaching and learning processes of students with ID, discussed during a training course in the context of the school. The training, developed by means of qualitative action research, with a 40-hour workload spread over 10 meetings, was based on the demands of the three participating teachers. In the results of the 5th and 8th meetings, which are the subject of this article, content analysis was used. The data pointed to the need for discussion and reflection on this issue, as well as the participants' lack of knowledge about the importance of pedagogical assessment for the development of these students, reflecting the lack of support from the education network in teacher training.