Students with special needs in science and biology classes: what do teachers and trainees think?

Abstract

Works demonstrate or recognize that the inclusion process in educational spaces has been breaking social barriers and has demonstrated that school inclusion is the path to a better quality of teaching and life, both social actors who experience this process (such as teachers and undergraduate students) and for individuals with special needs. In this sense, this study aimed to diagnose the perceptions and representations conceived by teachers and undergraduate students of the Biological Sciences course during their initial training on the inclusion of students with disabilities in their science and biology classes. The work of identifying individuals with a disability in science or biology classes was carried out with undergraduate students and with science and biology teachers who work in the laboratories of a private school, in Natal/RN. At this time, the students were in a supervised internship period, in 2019. The studied sample consisted of 8 teachers who accompany the classes in the science and biology laboratories and 10 students enrolled in a supervised internship period. During these moments, the inducing theme ‘students with special needs in science and biology classes and the process of educational inclusion’ was considered, which served as the conducting link of the representations. In the work, the free evocation technique was used and the teachers and students in groups were asked to register 5 to 10 representations on the inducing theme 250 representations on the topic were obtained and, among the main occurrences, we can highlight that 75% of the words evoked by the teachers were related to improvements, new possibilities and challenges for the teaching process and 60% of the words evoked by the students reflected problems as difficulties in the teaching and learning process and fear of the new. The analysis of perceptions and reflections enriched the joint experience of both (supervisor teachers and students), as the interns were able to reflect on the reasons why they felt insecure in the initial stages of the training process (internship) and the need for inclusion educational.