Inclusión: a process media ted by the teacher

Universidad de La Salle Universidad de La Salle

Ciencia Unisalle Ciencia Unisalle

Licenciatura en Español y Lenguas Extranjeras Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación

1-1-2014

Inclusión: a process media ted by the teacher Inclusión: a process media ted by the teacher

Charlin Daniela Castillo Camelo Universidad de La Salle, Bogotá

Jesús Alberto Moreno Morales Universidad de La Salle, Bogotá

Julio Andrés González Arana Universidad de La Salle, Bogotá

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Citación recomendada Citación recomendada Castillo Camelo, C. D., Moreno Morales, J. A., & González Arana, J. A. (2014). Inclusión: a process media ted by the teacher. Retrieved from https://ciencia.lasalle.edu.co/lic_lenguas/367

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INCLUSION: A PROCESS MEDIATED BY THE TEACHER

CHARLIN DANIELA CASTILLO CAMELO

JESUS ALBERTO MORENO MORALES

JULIO ANDRES GONZALEZ ARANA

LA SALLE UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

BACHELOR IN EDUCATION PROGRAM IN SPANISH, ENGLISH AND FRENCH

BOGOTÁ, 2014

INCLUSION: A PROCESS MEDIATED BY THE TEACHER

CHARLIN DANIELA CASTILLO CAMELO

JESUS ALBERTO MORENO MORALES

JULIO ANDRES GONZALEZ ARANA

Paper submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in

Education in Spanish, English and French at La Salle University

Tutor:

FERNEY CRUZ

ANA MILENA GONGORA

LA SALLE UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

BACHELOR IN EDUCATION PROGRAM IN SPANISH, ENGLISH AND FRENCH

BOGOTÁ, 2014

LA SALLE UNIVERSITY

PRESIDENT:

HNO. CARLOS GABRIEL GÓMEZ RESTREPO. FSC.

ACADEMIC VICEPRESIDENT:

HNO. CARLOS ENRIQUE CARVAJAL COSTA FSC.

DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION SCIENCES:

DANIEL LOZANO FLOREZ. PhD.

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

VÍCTOR ELÍAS LUGO VÁSQUEZ. PhD.

RESEARCH AREA:

Educative, Didactic and Pedagogical Knowledge

Subarea:

Didactic knowledge from the disciplinary approach

PROJECT TUTOR:

FERNEY CRUZ

ANA MILENA GONGORA

Teacher Researchers

School of Education Sciences

Acceptance note

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

President of the Panel of Jurors

____________________________________

Juror

____________________________________

Juror

Bogotá, June, 3rd, 2014

Dedication

I want to dedicate this thesis project to my grandmother Matilde who takes care of me from the

sky, also to my mother for her support and help in the bad moments. Finally to Mathias who is

the motor that move my life.

Jesús Moreno

I would like to thank God for this thesis. Thanks to my mom and dad for all their support in the

development of my major. I dedicate this thesis in memoriam of my brother Germán González.

Andrés Gonzalez

There are plenty of reasons why I should dedicate this project to my mother; however the main

raison d'être is her unconditional, honest and pure support. Without her the nights I kept awake

and the warm cup of coffee in the morning should have been colder that they felt. As well,

thanks to the human and perseverant spirit of my grandmother to be here with me, always…

Charlin Castillo

Ackowledgements

We want to express our sincere gratitude to the following people because this research

project would not have been what it is today without their great support, participation and

encouragement:

Thanks to God and all the good vibes that surrounded us along all this process. Thanks to

him we still together working as a team.

Thanks to our families that in one way or another always gave us their supportive voice,

keeping their faith in us. For their enduring love, patience, and determination to follow this

dream with us.

Thanks to Ferney Cruz who helped us out with the creation and born of this project. We

are thankful to him for all the hard questions, advices, patience, and sincere dedication till the

last moment.

Thanks to the teachers who opened their life books to us and shared their time and

thoughts. This study would not have been as enjoyable as it was without their participation.

Thanks to Ana Milena Góngora whose help and exhaustive corrections made this study a

final version of what we once just hoped to be real.

Resumen

Este es un estudio exploratorio de caso en el cual un grupo de profesores del área de

inglés y pedagogía de la Licenciatura en Lengua castellana, inglés y francés, de la Universidad

de La Salle participaron. Los constructos de ésta investigación son: inclusión, representaciones

sociales y prácticas pedagógicas. El propósito de ésta investigación era explorar las

representaciones sociales y prácticas pedagógicas que éste grupo de profesores tiene frente a la

inclusión. Este estudio cualitativo pretendía investigar en profundidad el impacto que las

construcciones sociales tienen en las prácticas de los docentes, teniendo en cuenta el proceso de

inclusión en el aula. Encuestas, entrevistas y didactobiografías fueron usadas para la recolección

y análisis de datos, relacionados a los constructos. Por medio del enfoque de teoría

fundamentada, tres categorías principales emergieron con sus correspondientes subcategorías: 1.

Inclusión: un proceso de pensamiento plural, 2. Representaciones sociales como una

interpretación y comprensión del crecimiento humano y 3. Prácticas pedagógicas: La fuerza que

impulsa el proceso inclusivo. Se encontró que la falta de formación de los profesores es una de

las grandes problemáticas durante el proceso inclusivo. Adicionalmente, este estudio mostró que

la inclusión como un proceso multidireccional no puede ser entendida fuera de la voluntad para

desear.

Abstract

This is an exploratory case study in which a group of English and Pedagogy teachers

from the B.A. in Castilian, English, and French at La Salle University participated. The

constructs of this research are inclusion, social representations and pedagogical practices. The

purpose of the study was to explore the social representations and pedagogical practices that this

group of teachers have towards inclusion. This qualitative study intended to investigate in depth

the impact that those social constructions had in each teacher practices, all framed by a particular

situation that is the inclusive process in the classroom. Surveys, interviews, and didacto-

biographies were used to collect and analyse data. By means of grounded theory approach three

main categories emerged with their corresponding subcategories: 1. Inclusion: a process of plural

thinking, 2. Social representations as an interpretation and comprehension of human growth, and

3. Pedagogical practices: the inclusive process driving force. It was found that the lack of

teachers training is one of the biggest problems along the inclusive process. In addition this

study showed that inclusion as a multidirectional process cannot be understood out of the

willingness to desire.

Table of contents

1. CHAPTER ONE .......................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Statement of the Problem .......................................................................................................... 3

1.3 Research questions .................................................................................................................... 5

1.4 Objectives .................................................................................................................................. 5

1.4.1 General.................................................................................................................................... 5

1.4.2 Specific ................................................................................................................................... 5

1.5 Justification ................................................................................................................................ 5

2. CHAPTER TWO ......................................................................................................................... 7

2.1 Literature Review ...................................................................................................................... 7

2.2 Related Studies .......................................................................................................................... 8

2.3 Theoretical Framework............................................................................................................ 11

2.3.1 How is inclusion understood?............................................................................................... 11

2.3.2 The concept of Social Representations ................................................................................. 15

2.3.3 The importance of Pedagogical Practices ............................................................................. 18

3. CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................................... 20

3.1 Methodological Framework .................................................................................................... 20

3.1.1 Type of Research .................................................................................................................. 20

3.1.2 Setting ................................................................................................................................... 23

3.1.3 Population ............................................................................................................................. 24

3.1.4 Data Collection Instruments and Procedures........................................................................ 25

3.1.4.1 Instruments ........................................................................................................................ 25

3.1.4.1.1 Surveys ............................................................................................................................ 25

3.1.4.1.2 Interviews........................................................................................................................ 26

3.1.4.1.3 Didacto-biography.......................................................................................................... 26

3.1.5 Procedure .............................................................................................................................. 27

3.1.6 The Role of the Researchers ................................................................................................. 29

4. CHAPTER FOUR ..................................................................................................................... 30

4.1 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 30

4.1.1 Inclusion as a process of plural thinking .............................................................................. 37

4.1.1.1 Building of a pedagogical practice based on dialogue ..................................................... 37

4.1.1.2 An evaluation process framed by a comprehension of the human being .......................... 38

4.1.1.3 Complex practice of learning, and teaching process ........................................................ 44

4.1.2 Social representations as an interpretation, and comprehension of human growth .............. 47

4.1.2.1 Ambivalence between inclusion and exclusion .................................................................. 47

4.1.2.2 Recognition of human faculties ......................................................................................... 49

4.1.2.3 Inclusion as an idealistic notion ........................................................................................ 52

4.1.3 Pedagogical practices: the inclusive process driving force .................................................. 54

4.1.3.1 An educational and political challenge ............................................................................. 54

4.1.3.2 Recognition of human aspects based on differences ......................................................... 57

4.1.3.3 The teacher is not the central piece in the inclusive education gear ................................ 59

5. CHAPTER FIVE ....................................................................................................................... 61

5.1 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 61

5.2 Pedagogical Implications ......................................................................................................... 64

5.3 Limitations and Further Research............................................................................................ 65

References ..................................................................................................................................... 67

Appendices………………………………………………………………………………………73

Appendix 1………………………………………………………………………………………73

Appendix 2………………………………………………………………………………………79

Appendix 3……………………………………………………………………………………....83

Table of tables

Table 3.1.5.1………………………………………………………………………………29

Table 4.1.1……………………………………………………………………………….. 32

Table 4.1.2………………………………………………………………………………...33

Table 4.1.3………………………………………………………………………………...33

Table 4.1.4………………………………………………………………………………...34

Table 4.1.5………………………………………………………………………………...34

Table 4.1.6………………………………………………………………………………...35

Table 4.1.7………………………………………………………………………………...35

Table 4.1.8………………………………………………………………………………...36

Figure 4.1.3.1.1 …………………………………………………………………………...56

Running Head: INCLUSION: A PROCESS MEDIATED BY THE TEACHER

1. Chapter One

1.1 Introduction

Along history, education has been framed by diversities; these are related to language,

culture, religion, genre, socio-economic aspects, as well as physical and cognitive aspects. These

aspects denote multiculturalism in pre-school, school, and high school contexts in Colombia.

Due to this diversity, Cedeño (2005) said that “The diversity is understood as a problem, more

than an opportunity to enrich and learn about the variety of individual’s life, and also about what

human beings mean” (pg. 2).

For this reason, we have to highlight the importance of including these types of

diversities in the educational field, and make evident it in the society. Our project was mainly

about teachers’ understandings and interpretations towards inclusion and how they were applied

in their pedagogical practices. This topic is relevant for us as teachers because inclusion could

not be seem as a problem, but it is a way in which people find possibilities to learn from

differences. It is also important here to clarify that our interest along the research was not

focused on a specific sort of inclusion –physical inclusion, cognitive inclusion, etc. – but on the

general understanding that teachers have about it; hence all the experiences they have had along

their lives were contemplated in the project. Following Cedeño’s ideas, the Ministerio de

Educación Nacional (MEN), (2005) created a project about inclusive education, with the purpose

of increasing the possibilities in terms of equality and opportunities for all; consequently private

and public schools can improve the quality of education in different manners, such as training

teachers to deal with inclusion in the classroom or include professional teachers to support it.

INCLUSION: A PROCCES MEDIATED BY THE TEACHER 2

Additionally, Frattura and Capper (2007) explained that the inclusion of students in the

general education curriculum and environment is an issue of equity and social justice.

According to the project proposed by the MEN, Colombian institutions can carry out inclusive

education to accept and embrace students’ needs. Nowadays, schools have gradually begun

improving education with inclusion because of social demands.

Our research was guided by three different constructs: inclusion, social representations,

and pedagogical practices. This study was developed at La Salle University, which is located in

Chapinero neighbourhood, in the Faculty of Education Sciences, specifically in the Bachelor in

Castilian, English and French. The population with which we worked were in-service English

and Pedagogy teachers. The main authors that we referred to were: Halvorsen, Turnbull, Erwin

(inclusion), Moscovici, Jodelet and Bernstein (social representations), Lakkala, and Manen

(pedagogical practices). Also, we took into account Banks and Banks definition for equity

pedagogy as this term is also important when talking about inclusion.

This was an exploratory case study. We gathered information by means of interviews,

surveys and didacto-biographies. For data analysis, we used segmenting –dividing data into

meaningful analytical units–, coding –marking segments of data with symbols, descriptive

words, or category names–, and developing category systems –for a collection of data as forming

a classification system to characterize it– (Jhonson and Christensen, 2004). Consequently we

triangulated data in order to give validity, and reliability to the information that we gathered

during the research to provide an in-depth and detailed understanding of it.

Bearing in mind these aspects mentioned above, participants gave us relevant

information; hence, the research took worth when the data analysis were presented, thus it gave

information about the lack of teacher’s training to face inclusion, the development of plural


thinking as a possibility to learn from differences and singularities, and inclusion as a

multidirectional process in terms of creating spaces to respect and promote equivalent

acceptance.

Undoubtedly, this study was the base to curricular implications in terms of universities

might create transversal projects with the aim of training teachers for inclusion. This change

make possible that teachers can differentiate inclusion, integration and mainstreaming.

Chapter one shows the importance of the study for the researchers, and the parameters

with the ones the study was developed, also the objectives that guided the study. Chapter two

presents in detail previous research on social representations, pedagogical practices and

inclusion. In addition, it gives the readers a straight forward definition of each construct by

means of the theoretical framework. Chapter three explains the approach and type of study,

describes the setting and population, and shows the procedures that followed to carry out the data

collection and data analysis. Chapter four explains the data analysis and shows the information

collected during the research. Chapter five shows the conclusions of the study.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

As education is a right for everybody, regardless of diverse issues, it is a function of all

schools to include all people in order to properly provide educational spaces for the learning

process. It is essential to involve the student in such process through our practices as teachers,

incorporating techniques and innovative methods that encompass an appropriate process of

inclusion in EFL contexts.

During our academic process at La Salle University, we were not well trained to face

inclusion, although university has more than one subject, it was not enough. That is why this


topic should be significant for the Bachelors and institutions in general. Additionally, for

teachers it is important to be aware of this kind of real life situations, thus can be evidenced

along the teachers’ career in one way or another; and it is not enough that everyone has some

superficial knowledge or opinion towards it. Notwithstanding, inclusion is generally understood

just as a theory rather than a practice on institutions, it is necessary that they do not believe that

those practices are only for specialized people.

In modern society, some public and private schools and universities include people

without enough resources neither including proper pedagogical practices; an example of this

statement is the José Felix Restrepo School where teachers expressed to be unable to deal with

the particularities that their students had, due to the lack of support and training. Teachers also

expressed that the school needed professionals that helped them out to face this situation, or at

least conferences or courses to learn how to deal with it. This information comes from empirical

data obtained from an ethnographic project we made at this institution with blind people; in this

project, participants –blind and non-disabled students– told us about the pedagogical practices

that teachers adopted to teach them. On the other hand, students shared the perspectives they had

towards each other, and how they felt sharing the same learning environment.

Taking into account the scope, dimensions, and characteristics that this topic has, our

main objective was to explore social representations and pedagogical practices that English and

Pedagogy teachers had towards inclusion, and how this is evident in their pedagogical practices.

It is important to make clear that from our point of view the importance of this topic is

undervalued in most educational aspects, because minorities (people with singularities or

differences) are not taken into account to an academic process. For the context where we

decided to work it should be even more important because we were taught to be teachers that


have the function to include people in academic and social scenarios. Therefore this study

attempted to explore in depth those aspects that are linked to inclusive education, and the role

that the teacher has during this process.

1.3 Research questions

The question that guided our research was the following:

What are the social representations, and pedagogical practices that English and Pedagogy

teachers at the B.A. Castilian, English and French at La Salle University have towards inclusion?

1.4 Objectives

1.4.1 General. To determine social representations and pedagogical practices that

English and Pedagogy teachers have about inclusion at the B.A. Castilian, English and French at

La Salle University.

1.4.2 Specific. To describe how teachers at the B.Ed. Program in Education understand

inclusion.

To identify the social representations that English and Pedagogy teachers at La Salle

University have towards inclusion.

To characterize pedagogical practices that English and Pedagogy teachers have towards

inclusion.

1.5 Justification

During our major, we noticed that many universities do not have enough spaces to teach

how to deal with differences into the classroom, thus we have the conception that inclusion is


just for specialized people; it refers to people who study special education for blind, deaf,

exceptional students and so on. Hence, our project was based on English and Pedagogy teachers’

social representations, and the pedagogical practices they have towards inclusion in general

terms, in order to give the detail of the interpretation that they had about it. In a similar way, we

wanted to know the pedagogical practices that they adopted to deal with it.

In the educational context, it is important to consider that the inclusive process in the

classroom demands a preparation with the aim of teachers carry out the student learning process,

and they could bear in mind the student’s needs as an indispensable part to develop the class.

Here we refer to different learning styles, and the singularities that each student has. However, it

is also valuable to deem that teachers have a collective construction of how things are

understood, in here included the notion of inclusion. This is mainly the reason why it is

remarkable to know how the educational agents are taking part of the development of an equal

and inclusive classroom; as well teachers have to think about being part of a transformative

teaching practice that allow them and their students to modify a certain process according to

specific contextual needs. Bearne (1996) said inclusion is known as an approach to teach in

which teachers proactively modify curricula, teaching methods, resources, learning activities,

and student products.

This study seeks to show the social representations and pedagogical practices that

teachers have about inclusion as an important part of educational context, as well as one of the

aspects that a B.A. curriculum must take into account. Some of the contributions that might

came up from this are related to the awareness that teachers should have considering aspects

such as their own history, and how their pedagogical practices are being unconsciously

determined by this. From this study, some other researches might start to look for how to draw


into the curriculum the inclusion in a stronger way, in order to train teachers better in a more

integral way-what will start making changes in the B.Ed. Program in Languages-.

This project was important because by means of an academic and pedagogical reflection,

teachers could contemplate different possibilities to incorporate pedagogical practices in order to

improve and enrich them. In this way, they can face inclusion and put into practice the theory

that they know about this, also they can express their opinions and make interpretations about

inclusion by taking into account their academic and professional background.

By means of this research, we wanted to show the difference between different concepts

used in the educational field, those concepts were inclusion and mainstreaming. Full inclusion

starts in the institutions, it is not mainstreaming, in this regard, Idol (1997) said that inclusion is

when students with disabilities receive their entire academic curriculum in the general education

program. This is different from mainstreaming, which is when students with disabilities spend a

portion of their school day in the general education program and a portion in a separate special

education program. Stoler (1992) explained that inclusion has been described as synonymous

with the least restrictive environment and the regular education initiative. By comparison, Willis

(1994) argues that full inclusion means different things to different people. These perspectives

help us support what we did in order to be aware of the complexity of the topic and the

magnitude of being involved in this branch of education.

2. CHAPTER TWO

2.1 Literature Review

This research project was grounded in Inclusion –and how equity pedagogy supports it–,

Social Representations and Pedagogical Practices. These three concepts are going to be


explained and connected in the following pages. Previous research and authors that have taken

this topic as their focus will be referred to provide valuable information that contributes to the

development of this project.

In this chapter, we first describe some related studies in different countries, and a

concrete discussion of the main constructs of the study (inclusion, social representation and

pedagogical practices). The theoretical framework was divided into three parts, the first part

corresponds to how inclusion is understood, the second part is the concept of social

representations, and the third one is the importance of pedagogical practices.

2.2 Related Studies

The first study was carried out by Susan Baglieri (2008); its intention was to query

whether and how a graduate level teacher education course could provide a learning context.

This research attempted to investigate in what sense graduate student, learnt about inclusive

education, and what model of disability they had in their minds. For the development of the

study, the researcher worked with five graduate teachers by making them write and talk about

their experiences of engaging in transformative and/or informative learning, all framed by

inclusive education. The central findings of the study highlight features of the curriculum

through which teachers learnt about social models of disability, in support of inclusive education.

The five graduated students demonstrated critical reflection as they, a) learnt through making

personal connections to disability experiences; b) learnt through negotiating dilemmas related to

disability; c) learnt from reading and writing about first-person accounts of disability presented

in documentaries and autobiographies. Bearing in mind that the instruction of teachers towards

inclusion and the experiences that came out from the practicum are strongly related to the current


research, this previous study makes a contribution since the idea of the inclusive teacher must be

in charge of filling the gaps in the inclusive process in the classroom. Also, a very important

relation among Baglieri’s research and ours is that one of the instruments was also

autobiographical which is closely related to what we intended to do with the didacto-biography

instrument. The outcomes of this study also made us aware of the ideas that teachers have not

only towards inclusion but also its impact on their practices.

The second study that we refer was carried out by Chris Forlin and Diane Chambers

(2010), a study carried out at the University of Notre Dame, Australia. The aim of this study was

to recognise the perceptions that pre-service teachers had about inclusion taking into account

their preparedness in regards to it. This research involved 67 pre-service teachers of the tree first

years of a four year undergraduate degree in education. Sentiments, Attitudes and Concerns

(SACIE) scale were the instrument applied to gather the data about pre-service teachers’ points

of view about their preparedness towards inclusion. As for the conclusions, the researchers

found that the attitudes that teachers have towards including students with special needs vary

among the type of needs –communicative and physical–. The concerns are closely linked to the

stress provoked by students with disabilities in the classroom, the lack of knowledge about how

to deal with inclusive environments, and the inadequateness and deficiency of additional staff to

support the inclusive process.

The reasons why this research supports and guides our project are related to the

importance that is given along the study to the role of the teacher’s practices, perceptions, and

feelings. One of the most important outcomes is linked to the relation between the knowledge

about the topic and the attitudes and concerns about inclusion; this means that, despite the

experience and training level, the ways of perceiving inclusion are not just a matter of


instruction. An unexpected outcome is that even when pre-service teachers were engaged along

the experience of working with people with special needs, many attitudes were not as positive as

expected. Thus, to consider the possible expected and/or unexpected outcomes of a similar

research think about it as ours can give us the opportunity to analyse how the research can

completely change depending on more than hypothetical variables.

A third useful research developed by Altieri (2001) focused on the impact that the

participant teachers had in an inclusive educational context. The study was developed during

two semesters in which reflection and inquiry took place with a small group of four teachers.

This process brought to light some of the issues that are involved when general educators make

serious effort to make inclusion work. The main instrument used was a polyvocal text that

served as a way to make teachers talk and write their own stories about their experiences with

inclusion in the classroom. The main outcomes of this research showed that by reconstructing

the teaching experiences a teacher becomes aware of the weaknesses and strengths that are there

inside the classroom, and how to apply such knowledge to face special issues such as an

inclusive classroom.

This research was also helpful for us because it reinforces the importance of making the

teacher reflects about his/her practices and how they have a definite impact on the learner with

special needs. Also, because using instruments where the teacher has to be in contact with

themselves is a useful way to gain more than content information. Something that can make this

research weak is the idea of gathering data just by applying one instrument, because it can

promote generalisations without having reliable and valid support to the outcomes. In contrast to

it, we will use more than one instrument, bearing in mind that to make the teacher expresses


his/her feelings and perceptions towards inclusion is an interesting and appropriate way to gather

more than measurable data.

The last important and helpful research was done by Herrera, et al (2011). This study

attempted to know and transform the pedagogical practices of the teachers toward inclusion,

framing it as a need that each institution must have according to the inclusive policies in

Colombia. They worked with both, teachers and students to collect data, and considered more

than the pedagogic variables. Along this study, they established the importance of creating new

places, in order to implement the inclusion articulated with the teacher’s practices and the

policies about it. The relation that they had with the conception of inclusive education gave a

different perspective that also focused on the law and the institution as the place where inclusion

was constructed as a process that should later have a social impact.

It was very important for our research to know that in Colombia, inclusion is a process

that is being developed day by day, and that has relevance in the educational field that is

increasing and does not stop. Having local references gave us the opportunity to compare other

countries findings about inclusive education with ours, being aware of the importance of

referring to a familiar context.

2. 3 Theoretical Framework

2.3.1 How is inclusion understood? First and foremost, the pillar of our study is

inclusion and it is important to know how inclusion is understood in nowadays society.

Although this is a controversial topic in different societies and cultures, in the educational field it

is important to propose different ways to put it into practice.


In the educational field teachers have talked about “integration”, a concept notably

different from “inclusion”. In general, Kunc (1992 cited by Ciyer, A. 2010) refers to

“integration” to helping the child to “fit” in already existing educational settings through

additional individual support or further modifications to curriculum. Likewise, Kunc (1992,

cited in Ciyer, A. 2010) says that inclusion refers to restructuring educational provision to

encourage children to feel they belong to an educational environment. To complement this

definition, inclusion is a somewhat more values-oriented term than integration, its legal

counterpart. The true essence of inclusion is based on the premise that all individuals with

disabilities have the right to be included in naturally occurring settings and activities with their

neighbourhood peers, siblings, and friends (Erwin, 1993, pg. 1). According to our research we

focused on Inclusive Education, understood as the education provided for people with disabilities

in the regular classroom where instruction is provided by the regular classroom teacher (Scruggs

and Mastropieri, 2003).

This theoretical background has been applied in several studies with the aim of

demonstrating the relevance of this construct in the educational field. Salend, & Garrick (1999)

created the movement toward inclusion with the emphasis on educating students with disabilities

in general education classrooms. Data from the U.S. Department of Education (1996) have

indicated that approximately 73% of students with disabilities receive their instructional program

in general education classrooms and resource room settings, and that 95% of the students with

disabilities are served in general education schools. In the inclusive school, all students are

educated in general education programs. Inclusion takes place when a student with special

learning and/or behavioural needs is educated full time in the general education program.

Essentially, inclusion means that the student with special education needs is attending the general


school program, enrolled in age appropriate classes 100% of the school day (Idol, 1997, pg. 4).

Compared to this information, in Colombia according to the statistics from Departamento

Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (DANE) there were 2,9 million of people with special

needs; of the 33% (ages between 5 and 14 years old), and the 58,3% (ages 14 to 19 years old)

did not go to school, and only the 5,4% of the ones that began their high school studies, finished

them (Valencia, 2012).

Inclusion is a movement that seeks to create schools and other social institutions based on

meeting the needs of all learners as well as respecting and learning from each other's differences

(Salend, 1998). Inclusionary schools seek to establish communities of learners by educating all

students together in age-appropriate, general education classrooms in their neighbourhood

schools. Although the inclusion movement has focused on individuals with disabilities, it is

designed to alter the philosophy for educating all students (Ferguson, 1996, cited by Salend &

Garrick, 1999).

It is remarkable the variety of dimensions and spaces where inclusion is presented;

research studies show that even doing research in the same scope the results did not have

similarities. Klinger and Vaughn (1999) synthesized 20 studies that investigated the perceptions

of learning of over 4659 students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Among this group of

students, 760 students had high incidence disabilities. As the studies revealed, students with

disabilities want to learn the same material, use the same books, and enjoy homework and

grading practices as their non-disabled peers. Additionally, Klinger and Vaughn (1999) found

that students with and without disabilities understood that students learn differently and, as a

result, teachers started teaching by using a variety of styles in order to reach every learner.

These students also appreciated having teachers that slowed down instruction when needed.


Turnbull (2003) explains that students who receive special education must be educated

with their peers without disabilities to the maximum extent possible and appropriate. In addition,

students may be removed from the general education environment “only if they cannot be

satisfactorily educated with the use of supplementary aides and services” (Hosp & Reschly,

2003, p. 68). For this reason, all institutions must be in the capacity to deal with inclusion, thus

people with disabilities have the right to work with non-disabled peers in an educational context.

As we noticed, cultural and contextual background influence the results and the

development of each research, thus inclusion is not only for schools (public and private) and

official teachers, but for all educational agents, including pre-service teachers. Although

inclusion is not just reflected in the policies and democracy statements of an institution, inclusion

for all needs trained and conscious teachers to face this phenomenon.

Glazzard (2011) carried out a qualitative study aimed in a Primary School at the

University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, England. This research was developed with the bases

of ethnography with the objective to examine the barriers that are established by many of the

agents on that specific institution (teachers and teaching assistants.) For this, he started by

collecting some relevant information such as previous experiences, attitudes of the teacher in the

classroom, etc. After that, a conclusion was “that practices within the school were varied and

ranged from highly inclusive to highly exclusive.” The outcomes of this study reported that,

firstly, teachers usually answer in a negative form towards a case of inclusion and that this

produces a significant impact on the students’ learning process, second, he found that parents

also have a negative role because they presented resistance and bias to inclusive situations.

Third and final conclusion was that many institutions that presume to do inclusion are more

prone to exclude in different ways during that process.


Taking into account these research studies and the theory presented in this part of the

chapter, means that inclusion in this project was understood as an equity process in which

disabilities must not be a problem in the educational field, and each student can learn from each

one. In general terms, “la educación inclusiva es una actitud, un sistema de valores y de

creencias, en suma una forma mejor de vivir juntos” (Armstrong, 1999, Pearpoint y Forest, 1999

pg. 2). To sum up, students and educators must understand inclusion beyond an obligation, with

the aim of improving the process in education. Educators must diversify their goals, assessment,

and instruction to accommodate and meet the range of developmental and educational needs

present in today’s classrooms (Beattie, Jordan, & Algozzine, 2007; Gadberry, 2009; King, 2003).

When students with disabilities are placed in the general education classrooms, teachers must be

prepared to accommodate them based on their individual needs (Berry, 2006).

2.3.2 The concept of Social Representations. Starting from the point that this research

was conducted by social and humanistic purposes, inclusion is conditioned by social

representations. Moscovici (2001) described social representation as systems of values, ideas

and practices with a two-fold function; first, to establish an order which will enable individuals

to orientate themselves in their material and social world and to master it; secondly, to enable

communication to take place amongst members of a community by providing them with a code

for social exchange and a code for naming and classifying unambiguously the various aspects of

their world and their individual and group history” (Moscovici, 1973, pg. 13). In a similar

manner, Jodelet gives another definition; he said that social representations are the patterns

socially created and managed from the practice, in order to create a common reality in a

determined society. In fact, social representations are understood as the collective elaboration of


facts and reality of the world; besides, these representations permit to understand and explain

ideas of a situation or phenomenon presented in a determined context.

Social representations take into account different sciences and disciplines such as

psychoanalysis, anthropology, sociology and philosophy among others have researched in depth

this theory; for our study we were aware that social representations are linked to each person or

groups of people in the sense of reflecting historical origins, socio-cultural background,

educational profiles, etc., this construct was restricted just for educational purposes. There is a

large amount of research about this, such as the study carried by Mazilescu, et al (2010) where

the objective was to identify social representations of the persons involved in training process

regarding the concept of interpersonal and social competency of teachers. The investigation was

conducted on a population of 200 people (high school and university pupils/students and

teachers) and the working instrument used was the Fleishman-Post Analyses Survey (F-JAS 2), a

job analysis questionnaire developed by Edwin A. Fleishman. The results suggest a relative

homogeneity between teachers and pupils/ students regarding the representation of personal,

interpersonal and social skills of teachers. Also note that students' positions were much closer to

university teachers' positions in comparison to the ones of high school pupils.

Following Jodelet (1986), social representations are “a way to interpret and think our real

situations, this is a way of social knowledge” (p.473). Likewise, Abric (2001, p.13) argues that

A priori no existe realidad objetiva, pero toda realidad es representada, apropiada por el

individuo o el grupo y reconstruida en su sistema cognitivo, integrada en su sistema de valores

que depende de su historia y contexto social e ideológico que le circunda (…) Esta

representación reestructura la realidad para a la vez permitir una integración de las características


objetivas del objeto, de las experiencias anteriores del sujeto y de su sistema de normas y

actitudes.

As it has been noted, social representations are a way to interpret and analyse what

happens in the society or a context, since here people could understand and create social

knowledge in a collaborative way. For the specific context that framed our study, there was an

example that appropriately took into account social representations, and reaffirmed the

importance of this concept in the educational field, in this case the importance of teachers’ social

representations. Mazzitelli, C., Aguilar, S., Guirao, A., & Olivera, A. (2009) presented the

results from an exploratory study carried out with teachers, with the aim of identifying the

structure and the content of the social representations about teaching. They implemented an

instrument of evocation and hierarchy and a Likert scale, which have allowed them to identify

the structure of the social representations and the attitudes associated with teachers. The results

have made it possible for them to identify the elements that form part of the structure and the

content of the representation and that allow the teachers to recognize and to be recognized as

such.

According to Elcheroth et al, (2011), social representations could be defined as:

First, social representations are shared knowledge, and the way interpretations of the world are

collectively elaborated is critical to the way people are able to act within the world. Second,

social representations are meta-knowledge, which implies that what people assume relevant

others know, think, or value is part of their own interpretative grid, and that collective behavior

can often be influenced more powerfully at the level of meta-representations than of intimate

beliefs. Third, social representations are enacted communication, which means that social

influence is exerted by the factors that constrain social practices as much as by the discourse that


interprets these practices. Fourth, social representations are world-making assumptions:

collective understandings do not only reflect existing realities but often bring social reality into

being. Put together, these four components provide a distinctive theoretical perspective on

power, resistance and conflict.

In short, social representations were important for this study because we had to explore

teachers’ ideas and understandings about inclusion; also we had to know what were the teachers’

positions related to this phenomenon. In conclusion, a social representation is a constructed

collective knowledge determined by thoughts and feelings inside a community, in order to

explain facts and situations that happen there.

2.3.3 The importance of Pedagogical Practices. Pedagogical Practices have been

defined in different ways as they refer to various types of tasks, ways of working or types of

activities and practices according to which pupils or students are directed or instructed to act by

the teacher in school lessons or in another pedagogical setting (Lakkala, Ilomäki and Kantosalo,

2011). Similarly, Manen (1991) argues that pedagogy refers only to those types of actions and

interactions intentionally engaged in by an adult and a child, directed toward the child’s positive

being and becoming. These practices have been studied along time with the aim to improve the

teaching and learning process.

Edwards, Higley, Zeruth, & Murphy (2007) did research exploring the link between

teachers’ reports of their relationships with individual kinder gardens and their self-reported

pedagogical practices toward these children. Two samples of kindergartner teachers were

examined. They were questioned about, respectively, 117 and 167 children selected as socially

inhibited, hyperactive, or average relative to their classmates. The analysis revealed significant

associations between relationship characteristics and teachers’ practices independent on


children’s behaviours. Teachers reported more socio-emotional support and more behaviour

regulation for children with whom they reportedly had unfavourable, conflictive and distant

relationships. Results qualify the idea that supportive teacher behaviours are a defining

characteristic of positive teacher–child relationships, and further underline the need to include

teachers’ relationship perceptions in practical assessments of children referred for emotional or

behavioural problems.

In order to clearly support this construct, we took into account what Patiño (2009)

argued: “the pedagogical practice is the most important aspect in teachers, because it has identity

with the profession. For this reason, it intends to put to the teacher in relation to the tradition in

order to consider the positive aspects into the pedagogical practice, and innovate over routines

that are not currently functioning” Evidently, pedagogical practices are important to carry out

the teaching and learning processes in a correct way. These are the way to get students closer to

knowledge; likewise they permit the communication in terms of method, cultural knowledge, and

agents that belong to the teaching learning process.

Another aspect to bear in mind for our study was equity pedagogy understood as teaching

strategies and classroom environments that help students from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural

groups attain the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to function effectively within, and help

create and perpetuate, a just, humane, and democratic society (Banks & Banks 1994). In other

words, equity pedagogy is not only to incorporate techniques and methods for people with

differences in the classroom (Economic, ethnic, cultural and religious), but also to include people

with disabilities (physical, cognitive, and social).

Pedagogical practices have to be applied by teachers as a response of immersing students

in a contextualized knowledge, taking into account teachers’ formation and students’ needs. In


view of that, teachers have to transform their traditional practices with the aim of including all

students in the process. Nowadays, pre-service teachers are being trained to go beyond teaching

knowledge, their process is integral in the sense that they are expected to think critically, and

they are transforming their practices to involve students in different ways bearing in mind

learning styles, and multiple intelligences which benefit both the teacher and students.

These constructs supported our study because they allowed us to give validity and

reliability to our research question and the objectives proposed in terms of theory, also with the

studies we could contrast the research proposed in this part of the document with ours. Besides

they gave an overview perspective about daily educational aspects. They covered the most

important aspects needed to carry out this study considering contextual variables, ethical issues

and teachers’ points of view towards their complex role in the classroom.

3. CHAPTER THREE

3.1 Methodological Framework

This chapter includes a general description of the approach, and type of research that

framed this study, specifying the population, the context and the instruments used to gather

information, including the procedures to analyse them. As well as the schedule that determined

the amount of time the research took.

3.1.1 Type of Research. To carry out this project we used a qualitative approach because

of the flexibility that it provided to the development of our study. In the words of Mack et al

(2005), qualitative research “seeks to understand a given research problem or topic from the

perspectives of the local population it involves. Qualitative research is especially effective in


obtaining culturally specific information about the values, opinions, behaviours, and social

contexts of particular populations” (p1).

The following points were considered with the aim of answering the following question:

What are the social representations, and pedagogical practices that English and Pedagogy

teachers at La Salle University have towards inclusion?

As we were looking for a method that allowed us to seek intangible issues such as

attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs represented on social representations, we carried out this

research through exploratory case study in a qualitative approach.

Theorists such as Stake (1995), claim that a case study “is expected to catch the

complexity of a single case. A single leaf, even a single toothpick, has unique complexities –but

rarely will we care enough to submit it to case study.” Also Stake argues that “we study a case

when it itself is of very special interest. We look for the detail of interaction with its contexts.

Case study is the study of the particularity and complexity of a single case, coming to understand

its activity within important circumstances.”

According to Yin (2009), case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a

contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the boundaries between

phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are

used. This method is then related to the study due to the amount of information that we gathered

regarding its complexity and the variables that had an impact on each person social

representation. Also Yin (1993) describes three forms of case study: exploratory, explanatory

and descriptive. In exploratory case studies, fieldwork and data collection may be undertaken

prior to definition of the research questions and hypotheses. Exploratory case study has been

considered as a prelude to some social research. Explanatory cases are suitable for doing causal


studies. In very complex and multivariate cases, the analysis can make use of pattern-matching

techniques. Descriptive cases require that the investigator begin with a descriptive theory, or in

other words, they form hypotheses of cause–effect relationships. According to the

aforementioned information, the type of case study selected for the development of this study

was exploratory, as we wanted to understand a real-life phenomenon in depth, but such

understanding encompassed important contextual conditions (Yin & Davis, 2007).

Merriam (2002) explained that the case study is an intensive description and analysis of a

phenomenon or social unit such an individual, group, institution, or community. The case is a

bounded, integrated system. By concentrating upon a single phenomenon or entity, this

approach seeks to describe the phenomenon in depth. The unit of analysis, not the topic of

investigation, characterizes a case study. We understand the unit of analysis as an event, or

activity which we are going to study. The view that Merriam puts forward here is largely in

agreement with the idea of Abercrombie et al (1984) which claimed that the detailed examination

of a single example of phenomena, a case study cannot provide reliable information about the

broader class, but it may be useful in the preliminary stages of an investigation since it provides

hypotheses, which may be tested systematically with a larger number of cases. Hernandez

Sampieri et al. (2006), said that the case studies are considered by many authors as an

experimental design, as an ethnographic design and as a method but he concluded saying that

they are a mix of all of them because they have their own procedures and design classes.

Using the theoreticians’ definitions posed above, we say that we developed our research

at La Salle University through case study for two reasons: First of all, case study is pertinent for

our research question in order to answer the inquiry considering the contextual and empirical

variables of each subject; this can be the first step of a future social research, as we were not


trying to modify or change anything, but to explore representations; and secondly, to emphasise

the study of a single phenomenon regarding the live stories of participants to collect natural and

in depth data.

We focused on identifying the social representations, and pedagogical practices that

teachers have during their teaching process by exploring how their experiences are evident in

their teaching, when facing inclusion in the classroom.

3.1.2 Setting. La Salle University was founded by the Institute of the Christian Brothers

on November 15, 1964. It is a private and non-profit Higher Education Institution. It is based on

a Christian vision of the human being, the world, history and knowledge.

At first, La Salle University started offering academic programs

in Economics, Philosophy, Civil Engineering, Chemistry, Biology and, last but not

least, Mathematics and Physics.

It is currently recognized by the Colombian government and, in 2008, it was awarded

with the High Quality Accreditation by the Ministry of Education.

La Salle University embraces the social thought of the Church and recognizes in it the

source of sense, principles, judgment, and criteria to achieve the common welfare. The social

thought of the Church is originated from the combination of the Gospel message and the

problems of society. The social thought of the Church as such recognizes the ethical and moral

character of human decisions and asks for ethics in all forms of knowledge. Based on this

perspective, the University makes a commitment to promote the dialogue between faith, science

and culture.

http://english.lasalle.edu.co/index.php/under-graduate-programs.html


The comprehensive and sustainable human development from the Lasallian vision

implies that the respect and the dignity of the person are the centre of the social, scientific and

cultural development processes, both for present and future generations. As a referent, we have

to preserve and reinforce human aspects; we understand that our mission is linked to the

development of socially participative, culturally appropriate, technically clean, ecologically

compatible, economically feasible and sustainable, politically striking, and ethically responsible

and pertinent characteristics.

The mission of the university attempts to privilege the values posed on the lasallian

mission such as the sense of truth and respect for the autonomy of knowledge, solidarity and

fraternity, honesty and social responsibility, respect and tolerance and hope and faith. (PEUL,

article 1) Bearing this in mind, what the University attempts to develop on the students that are

part of the institution as such, is to educate people with a sense of trustworthiness, and social

responsibility.

3.1.3 Population. The population with whom we worked to develop our research were a

group of English, and Pedagogy teachers from the B.A. in Castilian, English, and French from

La Salle University.

It was a group of 14 teachers, 6 from the English area, and 8 from Pedagogy, that were

selected at random to carry out the first instrument (surveys). After the analysis of the

preliminary data found on the surveys we selected 7 teachers (4 Pedagogy teachers, and 3

English teachers) to apply the interviews and didacto-biographies. Some of the criteria that we

took into account to select these 7 teachers were: previous knowledge about the topic, empirical


evidence of dealing with inclusion in the classroom, and time disposition to be part of the

research project.

We did not work with students (pre-service teachers) because our priority is to know

pedagogical practices and social representations experienced that teachers have towards

inclusion.

3.1.4 Data Collection Instruments and Procedures.

3.1.4.1 Instruments. The instruments that we used to collect information about teachers’

perceptions and pedagogical classes in the classroom were surveys, semi structured interviews,

and an instrument to study teachers’ experiences which is called didacto-biopraphy.

3.1.4.1.1 Surveys. A survey is a data collection instrument which “collects information by

asking a specific population the same questions related to their characteristics, attributes, and

opinions” (O’Learly, 2004, p. 152). We implemented this instrument at the beginning of the

study with the aim of first, gathering information about the social representations or

interpretations that teachers have towards inclusion, and second, as mentioned previously, select

the appropriate group of teachers to develop the following instruments. In order to reach the

objectives already mentioned, the survey’s questions were related to know the experience

teachers have had facing inclusion, how they understand this concept, and general aspects about

how inclusion has been evident along their professional life. This survey had six questions in

total, 3 open-ended questions and 3 of multiple choices. The piloting of this instrument was

developed with an English teacher of La Salle University and with a Pedagogy teacher graduated

from it (See appendix1).


3.1.4.2 Interviews. Interviews are the most common and widely used instrument. It is

applied in order to gain information from another person or group. Potter (1996) has defined

interviewing as a “technique of gathering data from humans by asking them questions and

getting them to react verbally” (p. 96). The purpose of the interview was to gain full and detailed

information, in this case from teachers’ experiences and perceptions. Kvale (1996) has written

that its “purpose is to obtain descriptions of the life-world of the interviewee with respect to

interpreting the meaning of the described phenomena” (pp. 5–6). We used semi structured

interviews due to the characteristics that it has; we designed flexible and open-ended questions to

gather information that we were not able to achieve just by observing the phenomenon. During

this study we administered one interview that was developed with the purpose of exploring what

teachers knew about inclusion, social representations and pedagogical practices articulated to

their practicum. We used recordings by means of tapes to capture data of the interview and to

analyse the data gathered by making transcriptions. The piloting was made with a Pedagogy

teacher from La Salle University, where she claimed that the questions were clear, but the

interview needed a formal headline, in order to contextualise the participants and show them the

objectives of the research (See appendix 2).

3.1.4.1.3 Didacto-biography. Didacto-biography is an instrument where participants are

able to write their experiences taking into account a specific topic, in this case “inclusion”. This

instrument allows the researcher to know the participants’ life events through their feelings

expressed in the writing.

Quintar (2012) has explained that

la Didacto-biografía es un espacio o una apuesta por reconocer las propias andaduras didácticas

donde cada uno narra su propia historia vinculada a una problemática o cuestión que se desee


abordar; así mismo, el maestro provoca en los sujetos de aprendizaje evocaciones de imágenes

de su vida, de su biografía, vinculando, desde la revisión de sus sentires, la realidad y por ende

constructor de interpretaciones científicas y empíricas, transitándola por la propia geografía

psíquica y corporal, es decir, es recuperar la posibilidad de un dispositivo de aprendizaje que

tiene la propia historia, la narración de sí mismo y su análisis en distintos niveles.

We used didacto-biographies because it is a way to identify participants’ experiences,

facts, and life events towards inclusion. In view of the above, researchers registered the 7

selected teachers’ histories as a form of how they self-recognise themselves in order to determine

actions, and conceptions that make the individual behave in one way or another. The piloting

was developed with an English teacher at José Felix Restrepo School, she agreed with the format

and the way it was presented (See appendix 4).

3.1.5 Procedure. Bearing in mind the research objective, and to carry out the data

collection, we proceeded to use different instruments in order to make the study reliable,

avoiding bias and subjective perspectives; this to gain precise and trustful results.

These were the stages that researchers followed to reach the objectives.

Stage 1: Diagnosing: Previous perspectives about social representation towards inclusion.

In order to identify participants’ perspectives by means of a survey that took place at the

first time contact with each teacher. All teachers answered the survey individually.

After applying the survey, the researchers selected the group of teachers to develop the

study.

Stage 2: Interviewing: Gaining in-depth information


To gather information in detail, researchers conducted an interview to all teachers to

identify the affinity of each teacher with the main topic. This was with the aim of weighing up

the information for better results, as this instrument gave us in depth information about this topic.

Stage 3: Identifying: participants’ social representations towards inclusive education.

In this stage, teachers had to write about their experiences dealing or facing inclusion.

Participants used colour coding to identify the facts that identified them as historical subjects.

With this information triangulated the data with the results of all instruments.

Stage 4: Data analysis

After data were collected, researchers systematised, compared, contrasted and analysed

the data. (see table 4.1.8)

Considering the instruments applied to gather information, we triangulated the data

collected to validate the results obtained. Triangulation is the combination of two or more data

sources, investigators, methodological approaches, theoretical perspectives (Denzin, 1970;

Kimchi, Polivka, & Stevenson, 1991), or analytical methods (Kimchi et al., 1991) within the

same study.

We used data triangulation as defined by Rossman (1989) as clearly and simply as “the

act of bringing more than one source of data to bear on a single point” (p. 146). Jick (1979)

assumes that the benefits of triangulation can include increasing confidence in research data,

creating innovative ways of understanding a phenomenon, revealing unique findings, challenging

or integrating theories, and providing a clearer understanding of the problem. We agree with

Jickand Rossman’s points of view as our range of research instruments considers more than one


perspective and type of data. A positive issue of this was that the phenomenon was considered

not just contemplating ideas or imaginaries, but behaviours and, also experiences. What all our

instruments revealed gave us strong bases to argue the findings of the research, considering a

better understanding and a deeper analysis of each teacher process.

Table 3.1.5.1

Stages and procedures for the study

Stage

Instruments

Participants

Date

Diagnosing:

Previous

perspectives about

social representation

towards inclusion

Surveys

English and

Pedagogy

Teachers

Feb 19th

- March 5Th

2013

Interviewing: Gaining information

in-depth

Interviews

March 12th

– April 2nd

Observing: Classes

and Focal groups.

Interviews

Focus groups

Field notes

Mar 12th

– Mar 26th

Identifying: participants’ social

representations

towards inclusive

education

Didacto-biography

Huella indicial

Apr 2nd

- May 17th

Data analysis Triangulation May-June

3.1.6 The Role of the Researchers. We were non-participant observers; besides we

chose the participants to develop the research. Apart from this, it was important for us as

researchers to consider the ethical issues that demanded from us to adopt a specific role along the

research process. Darlington and Scott (2002) point out that the ethical considerations have an

important gate keeping role in all research studies that involve human subjects; it is not just to

carry out a research, it is necessary to have permission from the participants to develop the stages

of the study procedure.


Our role in the research was etic, because we were outside the phenomenon with an

objective view (Punch, 1998). We were objective and impartial at the moment of gathering data

and reporting findings. As well, we collected the information by means of different instruments

to avoid misunderstandings and misinterpretations. We managed participants’ data insofar we

did not use their names along the data collection and analysis process. All the investigation was

carried out without prejudgment and assumptions. Besides we presented in detail the

information collected during the study to the participants.

4. CHAPTER FOUR

4.1 Data Analysis

This was an exploratory case study where seven English and Pedagogy teachers

participated. In this chapter, we explain the method we used in order to analyse the data

gathered and the exact procedures and outcomes.

Taking into account our research question and the inquiries that this study wanted to

answer, the type of approach we used to analyse data was grounded theory. Grounded theory

may be defined as “the discovery of theory from data systematically obtained from social

research” (Glaser and Strauss, 1967:2). To analyse data we followed the following steps:

naming, grouping, finding relationships and displaying, that according to Freeman (1998) are the

basic elements of any data analysis. In the same way, we organised the information by means of

mapping (Freeman, 1998), in order to establish connections between what was analysed.

Grounded theory does not take into account categories prior to the process of naming, grouping

and finding relationships (Freeman, 1998). In terms of social representations there are not pre-

existing categories that can lead the process in a determined way. All of this data gathered was


relevant to disclose social representations and pedagogical practices that English and Pedagogy

teachers have towards inclusion.

The instruments designed for the project, were surveys, interviews and didacto-

biographies. In the following paragraphs we describe the procedures, and steps that were

followed to analyse the collected data.

A survey, which consisted of six questions, was an instrument applied to a group of

fourteen English and Pedagogy teachers of the B.A. in Castilian, English and French at La Salle

University, to identify previous perspectives towards inclusion. We segmented the information

in order to find codes and start building the categories that answered some of the inquiries we

had. This was the same procedure to analyse interviews and didacto-biographies. The

interviews were used to know how social representations were being expressed by means of the

reflection on teachers´ pedagogical practices, and the didacto-biographies were applied to

explore participants´ social representations about inclusion through analysing the written

experiences of each teacher (see: appendices 5 - 10).

The didactobiography is supported by grounded theory in Chiovitti and Piran (2003)

words, because it has delineated a list of criteria for achieving rigor in grounded theory approach.

The list includes: let the participants guide the process, check the theoretical construction

generated against participants’ meanings of the phenomenon, use participants’ actual words in

the theory; articulate the researcher’s personal view and insights about the phenomenon

explored; specify the criteria built into the researcher’s thinking and specify how and why

participants in the study were selected; delineating the scope of the research, describe how the

literature relates to each category which emerged in the theory. (p. 299). By applying this


instrument, and considering what our research question was aimed to answer, the bridge that is

being constructed between these two perspectives gave validity to the interpretation of the

findings we are going to present.

Table 4.1.1

Surveys data analysis 1


Table 4.1.2

Surveys data analysis 2

Table 4.1.3

Interviews data analysis 1


Table 4.1.4


Table 4.1.5



Table 4.1.6

Didactobiography data analysis 1

Table 4.1.7

Didactobiography data analysis 2


The process of analysing data was a challenge because along data collection our

perspectives towards the topic, although they have not biased the analysis, were modified since

in terms of inclusion we have now richer perspectives compared to the ones we first thought

would be found. For a better understanding of the data analysis, we present a diagram that

makes reference to the categories and their scope or subcategories, obtained from the coding

process.

Table 4.1.8

Data analysis overview


4.1.1 Inclusion as a process of plural thinking.

4.1.1.1 Building of a pedagogical practice based on dialogue. Taking into account the

outcomes of the data gathered in the three instruments, there are some ideas strongly related to

inclusion. One of those ideas is respect, which is undoubtedly the first step to make a dialogic

process possible. Within this respectful way of thinking the role of particularities is important in

the way in which teachers and students have the possibility to start removing barriers giving

opportunities in terms of equity. When participants were first asked about how they understood

inclusion through their pedagogical practices, they expressed: “teachers must consider

pedagogical practices that involve not only recognition of personal differences, but also the

development of particular abilities.” (Participant 4, survey). In this respect, that recognition of

differences is related to each person-student experience, thus the environment where he/she is

involved should take into account more than cognitive and performance issues such as culture,

ethnicity, religion, traditions, genre, and all the other aspects that surround the subject in the

society. In terms of education and teaching, as participant 8 said in the survey, “la posibilidad de

reconocer lo particular de cada sujeto y desde allí generar procesos que permitan que sea él

mismo en relación con los demás, y para generar procesos donde, como maestro, pueda orientar

experiencias comunes donde cada sujeto participe en igualdad de condiciones”. The teacher

must be a key agent in the promotion and encouragement of an inclusive classroom. Inclusion

refers to restructuring educational provision to encourage children to feel they belong to an

educational environment (Kunc, 1992). Particularities are not only related to differences in a

negative form, it is valuable to recognise that those additional needs that students have can be

related to special abilities and talents, “inclusion has to do with recognizing the individual’s


talents and capacities; his /her own interests and needs in the learning process”. (Participant 14,

survey).

Transformation, change, and improvement are terms that are related to dialogue as well.

Regarding the idea of inclusion, generating transformations starts by how the different agents in

the educational field can deal with the process of sharing those ideas that allow particularities as

a learning possibility. However, one important step along that dialogic process has to do with

working on deficits and limitations to avoid exclusion. Turnbull (2003) explains that students

who receive special education must be educated with their peers without disabilities to the

maximum extent possible and appropriate. To bear in mind this at the moment of developing an

intentioned practice creates a possibility to be involved in the learning process by being aware of

all those factors that can modify the “current performance” of a class. “Uno debería estar más

involucrado con los estudiantes al inicio sobre todo, y preguntarles cuáles son sus intereses y

necesidades particulares” (Participant 4, interview). We can see that it is reiterative that the

importance of the role of the teacher has to be related to the notion of accomplishment and

persistence.

As we have said, there should be a well-constructed notion about inclusion as such, one

idea that involves respect, considering particularities, and aimed to generate transformation.

Nonetheless those practices within the school should not stay as part of a discourse, because even

when it is idealistic, those practices may permeate society.

4.1.1.2 An evaluation process framed by a comprehension of the human being. Inside

the educational system, there is a strong presence of those political patterns that constrain and

delimitate people behaviours. These points of view are related to the construction of general


ideas about social performance and how this has an impact on the conception that we have about

democracy. Political facts are the first step to create an institutionalised processes framed by

fairness and a comprehension of the human being that is carried out by the process of social

acculturation,

Hemos tenido avances en Colombia frente a políticas de inclusión, no obstante, son reducidas, no

tienen la suficiente inversión y no articulan los otros elementos como la formación docente, ese

es como el primer punto. Un segundo punto es el hecho de que exista la política y digamos que

exista la formación de maestros y el presupuesto, pero no garantiza prácticas pedagógicas

incluyentes, porque yo creo que la configuración de prácticas pedagógicas incluyentes están

relacionadas con la perspectiva que tiene el maestro, con la comprensión que tiene el maestro

frente a lo que es distinto, frente a lo que es diferente, y lo que motiva esa comprensión en él

hacia la intencionalidad de la enseñanza, hacia el tipo de interacción que establezca. (Participant

5, interview).

In order to guarantee the educational right to everybody without exceptions, it is

necessary to be aware of the invisibility that is connected to the idea of how teachers and

institutions can promote inclusive/exclusive spaces unconsciously, but intentioned to overcome

the instrumentalist conception of education, and emphasize on cultural dimension.

The evaluation process cannot be isolated from students, teachers and administrative

perspectives, but intertwined with the purpose of including all agents and their expectations and

interests in the curriculum design. As participant 1 said in the interview,

La ley de inclusión la hicieron solo los que conocen del tema desde su lado, del lado de

“cognitive abilities” o se tuvieron en cuenta los de “cognitive disabilities”?, lo digo porque


cuando también pensamos hacer un currículo, arrancamos por los que hacen “curriculum

developer”, ellos diseñan su currículo, y sí, es cierto toman las necesidades de los estudiantes,

pero ¿realmente las toman?, aunque no hay esa inclusión de ellos como participantes dentro del

diseño de esa institución.

This type of reflections are going to be fundamental at the moment of overviewing

how the educational system is working, and what are those weak aspects that, in terms of

inclusion, need to be reconsidered. Then, we must not think that inclusion is just related to

teachers and laws, but it has to be connected to all the things that are going to have an impact

on the inclusive process.

Making a reflection about what this overview shows, we found out that along the

educational process there is some evidence about what are those situations that are frequent in

the school, regardless of social status, genre or historical background. According to the analysis

there are two main structures that clearly show how the dichotomy between inclusion/exclusion

is part of the social roles within the classroom. These situations are powerfully related to the

construction of identity and the importance of finding it inside a specific context. Inclusion is

therefore, a movement that seeks to create schools and other social institutions based on meeting

the needs of all learners as well as respecting and learning from each other’s differences (Salend,

1998).

As some participants said, the importance of being recognised by a specific group (inside

and outside of the school) and playing a role on it is decisive for the development of certain

identity characteristics. The experiences that each person has are going to determine the way

they establish their relationship with the world. These experiences within a group in order to


promote inclusive/exclusive processes can be strong enough to start building those human

behaviours that define how a person faces the inclusive/exclusive process.

The following paragraphs show the different experiences that some participants of this

study had along certain moments of their lives. These examples are going to illustrate the

importance of belonging to a group and genre identity,

(…) una de las cosas que nos gustaban era encontrarnos con los compañeros de las fincas

vecinas, por ejemplo con los hijos de los mayordomos teníamos un colectivo muy agradable en

el sentido en el que nos acompañábamos, caminábamos, jugábamos, y nos ayudábamos con las

tareas, en ese momento no había muchos recurso para hacer tareas, no había bibliotecas porque

era en el campo, entonces entre todos nosotros hacíamos cosas tales como que si tu papá compra

estos libros, y mi abuela compra estos, y así empezamos una biblioteca en una de nuestras casas,

y hacemos las tareas juntos. (Participant 5, didacto-biography).

This is an example of how the cooperative work can promote inclusive spaces in a group

of people; nonetheless it is also an experience that illustrates that inclusion cannot be understood

out of exclusion.

Desde el punto de vista del trabajo realizado con pandilleros, los procesos de inclusión se

comienzan a dar con el reconocimiento de ellos como ellos, no con moralismos ¿cierto?, lo que

están haciendo es bueno o es malo, pórtense bien, ¡no! El proceso de inclusión que yo viví con

ellos fue a través de una mediación estética que fue el teatro, y a partir de lo atractivo que fue

para ellos ese arte sintieron que pertenecían a un grupo y se fueron incluyendo. (Participant 3,

interview).


Inclusion is not always part of unconscious processes only; sometimes it is part of social

needs that are framed by the necessity of recognising certain groups that are marginalised. This

process of including others not necessarily has to deal with elaborated theories about how to

properly include people; it is related to how to create possibilities, and spaces where differences

are accepted, and respected in order to create new learning environments. In general terms,

inclusion is “una actitud, un sistema de valores y de creencias, en suma una forma mejor de vivir

juntos” (Armstrong et al, 1999).

So far, we have made a reflection about the influence that belonging to a group has in

terms of human behaviour, and building of knowledge. Nonetheless, when we talk about a group

of people, there is one issue that must be considered in terms of inclusion/exclusion and that

sometimes is undervalued: genre. In the following lines we have an example that contrasts the

notion of being part of a group and the fact of being the only woman in it.

(…) yo fui de las primeras promociones jesuitas en el país, yo estaba sola con 44 hombres…En

términos de educación en un colegio jesuita que tradicionalmente había sido un colegio

masculino implica una cantidad de cosas, de ponerlo a uno en el lugar de los distinto, lo

diferente, y esto que aparentemente era la consentida o la niña entre los hombres se vuelve lo

contrario, yo siento que me tocó guerrear mi espacio dentro del colegio para posicionarme siendo

distinta, pero también como estudiante(…)Tuve esa experiencia de ser distinta y de estar un poco

en desventaja, porque no vamos a negar que este tema diseñado patriarcalmente, pues el ser

mujer implica ciertas cosas de desventaja, entonces en eso creo que jugar ese papel de ser la

única mujer ahí, además de que en mi casa tengo 3 hermanos hombres, creo que eso me ha

generado muchas transformaciones en términos de mi papel como docente, en términos de cómo

se posiciona uno como mujer frente al mundo. (Participant 2, didacto-biography).


These extreme conditions, where being included is necessary because of the learning

environment, illustrates some of the particularities that may be taken into account in order to

build a solid idea about inclusion. Genre is one of those particular aspects that in our society

keep being a reason to be excluded. This exclusive process is led from school till higher

education,

(…) éramos el mismo grupo para todas las materias, entonces había un punto en el que fuimos

muy excluyentes, en el sentido en el que el que no diera la talla era censurado, en el grupo

entonces teníamos compañeras de lenguas que estudiaban con nosotros y era una mamera,

porque les decíamos «a ver, aquí hay que trabajar» (…) tenía profesores en el doctorado que eran

misóginos, entonces tenía dos compañeras en el grupo que nunca les daban la palabra, y los

hombres hablábamos y nos hacían eco, y cuando ellas hablaban les decían «ah sí bueno muy

bien» y seguía la clase. (Participant 8, didacto-biography).

The data we have analysed in terms of human complexity elucidates the variety of

variables that a person, and in this case a teacher has to consider when developing awareness

about inclusion, and how all these lived experiences contribute to the current and future

pedagogical practices that they will carry on.

All in all, what we have talked about is related to how education in terms of the

evaluation process must be rethought. Evaluation at first sight is not exactly related to inclusion,

however, as we have intrinsically shown, this process is one of the most important ones the

learning process has. This connected to the inclusive practices has as a result the necessity of

reconsidering how evaluation is understood in terms of quality. Recalling those political

implications that we first tackled, evaluating the importance of including in our society is the


first step to generate those transformations that are going to make contributions to the general

perception of inclusion, and the way in which it is shown. In addition, we have found that the

most important fact that must be born in mind is the one related to differences, diversity, and

equity. As well, these aspects in the educational field are going to determine the relevance that

quantitative, and qualitative processes have along both the learning and teaching development.

4.1.1.3 Complex practice of learning, and teaching process. Through the development

of this study, we have found that talking about inclusion in education leads us to think about how

the pedagogical practices are being carried out and in that way how those learning processes are

being developed. As a result of this necessary relation between teaching and the inclusive

process in the classroom, it is relevant to establish the complexity of carrying out a learning

process within an inclusive classroom.

Considering principles such as respect and recognition the learning process led by an

inclusive practice can be understood as a process that “seeks to meet the diverse needs of all

members of an educational community in order to guarantee or facilitate the learning process”.

(Participant 9, survey.) Therefore, it is important to promote different possibilities to learn such

as cooperative learning and distinguish the particularities of each one into the classroom; hence,

the teacher must treat students in the same way, with the aim of giving them the possibility of

participating and expressing their feelings, ideas, emotions, etc. This statement immediately

goes against the idea of inclusion as a process of domestication because what is expected at the

end of each part of the educational process is that the student can be able to be part of a

community where he or she is not going to be constraint because of his or her differences, but

that is going to be respected by what he or she has to give to certain context.


Obviously to achieve these objectives it is suitable to consider the building of knowledge

in the same scenario as one of the aspects that may help the inclusive learning process to be

successful. Inclusion takes place when students with special learning and/or behavioural needs

are educated full time in the general education program (Idol, 1997, pg.4). Nonetheless, as we

have said, most of the times the process of including is going to exclude some other agents inside

the classroom, thereby the teacher has to be aware of the importance of planning not just to

attend particularities (differences) but to promote a solid and flexible space that allows

everybody to participate.

Focusing on the previous idea, those spaces provided by educational agents are going to

be the key to create equity pedagogy environments. “Not having any sort of bias in the design of

an educational process. A scenario in which individuals are offered the same opportunities”

(Participant 6, survey). In other words, what the teacher has to do is “ofrecer escenarios donde

cada uno se reconozca como ser particular y se reconozca en igualdad de condiciones con los

demás”. (Participant 8, survey).

Before reaching the stage where heterogeneous scenarios are recognised as learning

spaces, what must be clear is that specialised institutions are not the exit door for a better

inclusive process. Leaving apart each difference can be restrictive and counterproductive to the

social, emotional, political and academic processes. This does not mean that we are against this

kind of institutions; however we can say that those places should not be the only ones that deal

with differentiated education. The belief that specialised institutions are the ones that have to

include people with special needs would change if people knew that exposing the student to a

regular classroom is not always counterproductive. It is true that there are cases that do need

special places to be educated; however, this statement cannot be a general rule. There are several


ways in which a student with special needs can be included to a regular classroom where his/her

particularities can be a learning possibility rather than an obstacle for other students. On top of

that, there are institutional requirements that must be considered to carry out a successful

inclusive process in order to be at the same level of the institutions that are specialised on the

treatment of special needs. The most important issue here is the training of teachers to make

them capable enough to face this process. In other words, as participant 5 expressed in the

interview, even when it is hard to believe in inclusive education due to all the facts we have

already explained, some of the requirements are: how the topic is understood by the society,

higher investment, teacher’s training, and institutional restructuration.

As a consequence of this analysis there is something that supports why the relation

between inclusion and pedagogical practices is one of the most complex issues for this research.

This inclusive process is not going to be led by a general teaching method, there are certain

teaching particularities that are going to delimitate each teacher’s way to include students. Both

the teacher and the institution might be aware of this concern to avoid the utilitarian and

idealistic views that usually surround the idea of inclusion. “A nivel institucional sería abordar:

respeto, conocimiento, cómo manejar situaciones en ese caso y dar actividades y ejercicios, pero

que esto se convierta realmente en algo institucional, que sea para todos, ya aquí entramos a los

micro contextos y micro mundos que forman los profesores en sus salones de clases.”

(Participant 1, interview).

All in all, regarding inclusion as a multidirectional process related to pedagogical

processes, a building of a flexible comprehension, and as a complex view of the educational act,

it is needed to develop a permanent reflection about the relations that are being developed


between teachers and the inclusive process in the classroom. Inclusion as a learning opportunity

rather than an obstacle will be a way to start reconsidering this phenomenon in the classroom.

4.1.2 Social representations as an interpretation, and comprehension of human

growth.

4.1.2.1 Ambivalence between inclusion and exclusion. Almost everything in the society

is classified taking into account different characteristics and the way in which these things

permeate an identity. People become used to making classifications framed into what is

appropriate or not, but in inclusive terms, this categorisation is linked to a wider view of human

freedom comprehension that is related to the capacity to understand and recognise the human

complexity in an integral way.

The conflict between these terms in the educational system is very controversial, because

people cannot separate the situations to make a reflection and act at the same time. With this in

mind, what/who is not included then is excluded. Stoler (1992) argued that inclusion is

providing to be a complex and controversial issue in education, with considerable debate about

what it actually means. For this reason, the relation between inclusion/exclusion generates

spaces of violence and aggressiveness, but these aspects are not only physical, but emotional,

and structural, this last term is understood as violence to the general rules in the institutions,

Tuve un problema con un chico llamado Zambrano que me tenía mucha rabia porque yo siempre

levantaba la mano para contestar, así que yo le dije: -listo Zambrano, si usted quiere pégueme

(…) cuando usted me pegue mi respuesta es ir a donde el rector, o al coordinador académico o de

disciplina para que usted se enfrente a él (…) de alguna manera la exclusión produce violencia, y

es una violencia estructural que lleva a una violencia física, y sobretodo esa violencia en el aula


de clase donde un chico tiene ciertas potencialidades y otro no las ha podido descubrir genera

espacios de confrontaciones. (Participant 7, didacto-biography).

Similarly, the ambivalence between inclusion/exclusion within the comprehensive

framework of the human being is mediated by the degree of conformity or unconformity of the

agents, and the context. Moreover, what we know as the modern educational system intends to

provide spaces for intercultural interaction, areas to know the history of others and create

consensus in order to coexist in harmony. Somehow this system is going to start promoting the

way in which we understand inclusion nowadays.

On the other hand, exclusion condemns and punishes; besides it conditions people

socially and psychologically. “(…) el salón era bastante grande y al fondo quedaba un espacio

donde era la entrada y los estudiantes que se portaban mal los castigaban con los brazos arriba en

fila uno tras otro y quien no se portara bien pues iba tomando el castigo, normalmente éramos

como 6” (Participant 8, didacto-biography.) This excerpt makes evident that exclusion is the

lack of awareness towards differences in the society, especially on institutions.

Between inclusion and exclusion there is a contradiction, because not everybody wants to

be excluded or included within a system: sometimes inclusion can be understood as submission

or slavery when the inclusive process is not desired by the student, but when the student is the

one that desires to be excluded. This is caused by how some inclusive practices are being carried

out in a way in which not everybody is going to entirely agree. Hence the inclusive or exclusive

process can be an individual decision connected to experience, and context, even when there is a

bit of obligation to belong to a group.


Yo mismo me excluía, porque había momentos en que a mí me fastidiaban esas festividades que

en los colegios hacen, en donde se reproduce el sistema, (…) a mí no me gustaban por ejemplo

las fiestas de Halloween, en la que lo hacen disfrazar a uno. Yo recuerdo que los demás

compañeros eran felices con eso y a mí no me gustaba esa vaina, y yo me ponía demasiado

malgeniado porque no me gustaba esa clase de cosas, y además me disfrazaban a las malas. Me

ponían a mí a declamar poesía de Rafael Pombo, porque yo era un buen declamador y me

aprendía todo de memoria; quiero decir con esto que a veces el proceso de inclusión va en contra

de lo que uno quiere. (Participant 7, didacto-biography).

To sum up, this ambivalence leads us to question the right everybody has to be educated.

Here there are two main problems that arise: the conflicts between minorities and majorities, and

the limitations that are related to inclusion; these problems condition people because of the lack

of empowerment awarded to them due to their disadvantaged role. The first problem is related to

the laws provided for each community, because the rules proposed for minorities can affect

majorities and vice versa. The second problem is connected to the lack of knowledge, spaces,

and policies to treat inclusion as a comprehension of all human beings.

4.1.2.2 Recognition of human faculties. Everybody develops his/her potentialities

depending on the possibilities to access to knowledge and the different ways to learn. For this

reason, the recognition is given for the particularities beyond the differences without

distinguishing or discriminating. The educational system must allow inclusive attitudes

evidenced in all educational decisions. In the forefront, the possibility to question is the first step

to identify the human faculties in a pluralistic society,


(...) la técnica a veces se va en contra de lo que uno quiere hacer, entonces es eso, la posibilidad

de mirar distinto (...) así que el aspecto de ser crítico y de cuestionar se puede hacer de formas

distintas y de cómo lo aprendemos para así cuestionar a los profesores, cuestionar a las

instituciones y estar abiertos a que existan otras posibilidades, otras cosas. (Participant 2,

interview.)

As a result those people that are involved along the educational process will become

aware of how able they are to understand and be understood. This idea has to do with the

promotion of critical thinking and how this way of sharing ideas can lead institutions to build

identity in terms of what are its agent’s expectations and projection towards inclusion. Once this

process is established there are benefits that will develop group support and transformative

practices.

Another aspect that deals with the recognition of human faculties is the one related to

human reflections. These reflections are linked to the social representations that each person

internalises according to daily life. Social representations are “una manera de interpretar y de

pensar nuestra realidad cotidiana, una forma de conocimiento social” (Jodelet, 1996).

Consequently human beings are empowered by the context to criticise and think the way how

they are behaving and performing: however the most important part after (or even before) that

process is the one related to making reflections. In education, the reflective process is not as

important as other educational issues, regarding that it is a process that demands from the person

a long and non-quantitatively evident result. This means that on institutions, according to what

teachers said, there is a gap between the functional and the formative processes of all the

individuals. In this or other words, it means that:


(...) no hay que perder la fuerza ni la esperanza (...) uno tiene que inventarse formas para

posibilitar la reflexión humana, entonces por ejemplo en nuestro caso concreto, acá en la

facultad, cuando nosotros hablamos de un modelo pedagógico con enfoque crítico, quienes

hicimos la reflexión en su debido momento, la hicimos partiendo de estos supuestos (los de la

reflexión), y a partir de allí se proponen materias como subjetividad y educación, narrativas

estéticas como mediación pedagógica, que intentan mantener viva la esperanza de que se pueden

hacer reflexiones de carácter humanístico y presentar alternativas a reflexiones que se quedan

meramente en lo instrumental y en lo técnico (Participant 3, interview).

Once we have realised that the reflective process is as complex as the human being as

such, we can say that this plus the fact that inclusion in the school is stuck to the possibility of

establishing dialogue determine the importance that is going to be given to individual human

aspects. Since this process of reflecting is not in charge of the institution in terms of legal

requirements, it is the teacher who has the possibility to make a change and help students to face

themselves as individuals. “(...) el maestro tiene que generar la posibilidad del diálogo o

planteémosla sobre otro punto de vista, esa posibilidad de la inclusión se tiene que generar desde

la academia a partir del proponer unos mecanismos de análisis e interpretación de la realidad

tanto individual como colectiva” (Participant 3, interview). By interpreting this excerpt, what we

can say is that the teacher makes possible something that we will call differentiated action, which

refers to the reflective process that each student makes by own. When each person makes a

reflection about what surrounds and conditions him/herself is when s/he turns able to be aware of

the impact that the community and the context has in his/her behaviours and decisions. If we

extrapolate this interpretation to what teachers and students can do inside the classroom in order


to create an environment where particularities and singularities are valuable, what we must

obtain is a conscious and sensitive process that will lead to recognise others.

Consequently with the aforementioned idea, we conclude that education is part of human

growth to the extent that will always result in an affective relation. Education is a global

intrinsic agreement between all human beings and the societies where they belong. It was

understood as the steps that should be followed to grow up as part of a society; notwithstanding

this process of education did not considered one specific phenomenon: the one related to human

relationships. In this regard one of the social representations that are going to explain the impact

of including in the classroom is this one. The main reason of the importance of human

relationships is the interaction between the agents in the classroom framed by common

experiences, life’s stories, and sharing ideas.

4.1.2.3 Inclusion as an idealistic notion. As many themes in education, inclusion may

sound idealistic in the sense of transferring what is being said to real life situations. Doubtless

this notion is connected to what social representations signify, in Jodelet’s words (1997) «les

représentations sociales sont des formes de connaissances socialement élaborées et partagées

ayant une visée pratique et concourant à la construction d’une réalité commune a un ensemble

sociale.»

Some of the hardest critics that are related to this “utopia” are the ones that require the

compromise of the society, the government, and the institutions, among others to guarantee

policies and opportunities for all. One perspective is related to politics, “Mientras la política se

quede en estímulos superficiales y no comprometa el ser de los profesores y de las comunidades

educativas, las políticas están muy lejos de la realidad” (Participant 8, interview). It is evident the


critical nature of this reflection; nevertheless, most of the participants also recognise that these

statements are not going to be effective in an isolated way.

Even when what we are trying to show with this study is not how viable or not the

inclusive process is, it is important to highlight that for our participants inclusion keeps being

one of those topics in education that are not easy to talk about, less to be carried out. Another

important thing to say here is that what makes inclusion an idealistic thing is not just the lack of

fair policies, or the shortage of investment from the government, but the static reproduction of

the idea that does not regard the particularities that the Colombian society has.

In regards to the context, there is one valuable and constant objection that teachers make,

and is the one related to the process of inclusion in the conditions that (public) schools have. It is

evident that recognising cognitive, emotional, motivational, and contextual students’ needs is

quite hard when the population overloads 45 to 50 students in one classroom. In these terms it is

even more overoptimistic to think about inclusive education, and it is even harder for those

teachers that work in these conditions to have awakened expectations day by day. “La verdad

me gustaría ser más optimista, yo creo que se pueden dar cambios desde lo pequeño, pero yo

creo que lo institucional y los discursos son tan fuertes que nos toca trabajar mucho todavía para

pensar en que esto [la inclusión] suceda, porque no es un asunto solo de querer” (Participant 2,

interview). Participant 5 agrees with this statement when he said:

(…) no me siento muy positivo frente al asunto, pero tampoco puedo ser totalmente negativo,

porque hace unos veinte años el tema (la inclusión) ni se tocaba, ahora por lo menos es un tema

que hace parte de la agenda pública (…) sin embargo el tema requiere mayor posicionamiento

(…) se requiere formación docente.” (Participant 5, interview).


It is true that one of the possibilities that teachers have is to build knowledge through

experience in order to gain information from the student and develop a more complex learning

process; we say this founded on statements from teachers such as the one from participant 3 in

the didactobiography:

(...) en los procesos de alfabetización lo primero que hacen es preguntarle al obrero ¿Qué

palabras son significativas para usted? Entonces el obrero decía ‘palustre’ y por ahí se comienza,

la pregunta del pedagogo era aquí ¿Por qué palustre? Y el obrero responde ‘porque es lo que me

ayuda a ganarme la vida’. A partir de ahí se desarrolla un proceso de dar la voz y ahí cambia la

metódica que posibilita 1.) La emancipación, porque se le permite sacar todo lo que tiene dentro

y 2.) Lo relativo, a que en la medida que puede sacar lo que tiene dentro se siente escuchado.

As a result, we have that every single process can include each subject experiences as a

valid and valuable contribution to the learning process. In addition, this comprehension of the

impact that social representations have on people’s perspectives are the key to understand how

each action is conditioned by a previous experience, at least, for this specific situation

(inclusion). As well, we have that even when the inclusive classroom (and the educational

system in general) is not centered enough on the real conditions that teacher’s have to face, there

are other ways to give dialogue a space in the classroom.

4.1.3 Pedagogical practices: the inclusive process driving force.

4.1.3.1 An educational and political challenge. Teachers are not only the responsible

agents in the learning process, hence students are involved in a society, they share with their

families, and many other people, they do not only learn in the institutions. This is to say that the

challenge in education must be covered from all the aspects that compose society (social,


political, educational, and cultural.) When society learn and teach together, it can generate

proposals, in order to promote learning scenarios, emphasising on cultural dimensions by

teaching to students from different cultural backgrounds.

From the political point of view, it is necessary to improve, create and restructure

educational principles that point out to inclusion, in other words it is to make possible the

aggrupation of different particularities, and provide educational devices to carry out a good

process in the educational system, where teachers and students have benefits. Within these

educational principles, the inclusive pedagogical practice is evident, and therefore institutions

and educators have to spread them, and put into practice in a real context. “Prácticas que tengan

en cuenta los variados estilos de aprendizaje, prácticas que promuevan el desarrollo de un

pensamiento plural, participativo e incluyente, y prácticas de participación y promoción de

derechos humanos” (Participant 5, survey).

From the educational perspective, institutions have to work by common consent with the

community, in order to tend to create formative spaces to value and respect the differences of

each person in equal conditions. This work is tangible when institutions design a flexible

curriculum and make curriculum adjustments with the purpose of responding to what society

demands, in terms of particular needs and process. It should be pointed out that teachers are in

charge of replaying and accomplishing what political views want. Their practices are framed

into educational challenges because each teacher inside the classroom needs to seek alternatives

to group all singularities immersed into the learning environment. Now, equity pedagogy is the

practice for/to differences and diversity, “pedagogía equitativa es aquella que se pone al servicio

de los sujetos en equidad de condiciones, donde tiene en cuenta las características, condiciones y

necesidades de las poblaciones, generando propuestas culturales, sociales, pedagógicas, laborales


al servicio de las poblaciones especialmente minoritarias” (Participant 13, survey). Taking

Banks & Banks (1994) perspective into account, equity pedagogy is understood as teaching

strategies and classroom environments that help students from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural

groups attain the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to function effectively within, and help

create and perpetuate, a just, humane, and democratic society. Following this idea, the dare of

teachers lie in making changes in the official pedagogical discourse for derogatory terms that

will carry out the creation of teaching strategies to include students with additional needs in the

“regular” context, and work in favour of including others for equity in education. One of these

important changes is the one related to teachers training. According to the data we gathered,

none of our participants were trained to face inclusion along their majors (see Figure 4.1.3.1.1)

Figure 4.1.3.1.1

Teachers training

As the graphic shows, none of the participants were trained during their major to face

inclusion as such. This also means that participants were not prepared enough to manage

different inclusive issues in the classroom.


Apart from the aspect mentioned above, participants claimed that another alternative to

achieve this change is to work with tools related to inquiries that will provide information about

the context, students and social needs. In this way educators will gather data about how to carry

out a process framed by pedagogical practices that indicate what educational and political

patterns propose to improve and enhance teaching and learning process by seeking benefits for

the society in general.

4.1.3.2 Recognition of human aspects based on differences. Sometimes formal

education does not have enough spaces to make human reflections; teaching maths, science, or

language is always a need but in order to give sense to what the other dimensions of the learning

process are about, it is important to comprehend that within the classroom there are particular

needs or faculties that can enrich such process. “A la política hay que darle una perspectiva

crítica porque la política no solamente se operacionaliza en unos planos donde los proyectos se

estructuran, sino que también debe abarcar las personas que cotidianamente deberían tener ese

tipo de actitudes y comportamientos” (Participant 8, interviews). This is to say that institutions

and society in general must put into practice what laws say, thus this is one of those ways to

change the human perspective towards inclusion. Connecting policies and laws with how each

institution is carrying out de promotion of inclusive dialogues is essential to start debating about

how the country and our society should face the phenomenon regarding the difference as a

learning possibility.

In this sense, pedagogical practices are not isolated, because they bring along knowledge,

emotional, motivational, social, and cultural aspects, and it is indispensable that teachers try to

integrate these aspects, in order to enhance and enrich human faculties. Students need to know

about different subjects, but this process cannot be led in a utilitarian way, but from a


comprehensive perspective. This is the first step to comprehend, interpret, and analyse the

information in a context, and finally taking into account the individual as such. When we talk

about this pedagogical reformulation, we highlighted that it is important to work a meta-

knowledge to go beyond the mere instrumentalism.

(…) nosotros tenemos que trabajar un meta conocimiento es decir ética, epistémica y

políticamente, para qué me sirve fonética 1, cultura, o didáctica, para no seguir construyendo

elementos fragmentariamente, cuando alguien postula como va hilando y como en la medida que

se va interconectando interdisciplinariamente todos los contenidos, eso va dando una

cosmovisión mucho más amplia y me va a servir para mi propia comprensión y dignificación, y

de esa manera será mucho más afectivo en cuanto a dignificación y proyección histórica

(Participant 3, didacto.biography).

This meta-cognitive reflection is strongly related to that pure aesthetic process of

contemplating, comprehending, and explaining others.

La inclusión debe comenzar por la contemplación en términos de contemplar, de dar primero que

todo y habitar al otro, es decir al estudiante, y dejarse habitar por el estudiante, es decir que haya

una compenetración, y la contemplación se da cuando uno es capaz de sentir al otro, de

vivenciarlo, no solamente de percibirlo desde afuera, sino dejarse vivenciar en todo sentido.

(Participant 3, interview).

Therefore teachers and students can have a communicative interaction and a

comprehensive attitude, in the sense of perceiving feelings, ideas, perspectives and attitudes; in

other words what inclusion seeks is that each person can be in each other position. This would


be the dynamic to recognise the differences of human beings: contemplate, understand each

other, experience and explain the other.

4.1.3.3 The teacher is not the central piece in the inclusive education gear. When we

talk about pedagogical practices we start by thinking about the agent that carries them out: the

teacher. Even so the agent is not the one that is going to be in charge of generating the whole

change, but the one that must reflect about how to start setting the main parameters to think

about certain educational processes. If teachers are going to share their ideas about one topic

such as inclusion, all the dimensions that are covered by them should be tackled.

A teacher must be considered from different angles and as a person that creates a balance

between the integration of many dimensions. The epistemic, didactic, pedagogical and research

discourses that each teacher has interiorised work as a personal fingerprint that has an impact (or

not) in his or her students, participant 3 explained in the interview that

(…) teniendo en cuenta un diálogo centrado o cuyo eje sea el permanente movimiento entre una

actitud y un pensamiento investigativo, alimentado por una actitud y un pensamiento epistémico

y una actitud y un pensamiento pedagógico y didáctico que a la vez debe ser alimentado por una

muy buena fundamentación y una fundamentación conceptual, pero también de carácter

empírico, es decir de la vida misma, un buen manejo un muy buen y excelente manejo de unas

herramientas de carácter indagatorio y por supuesto de la constitución de un pensamiento y de

una actitud investigativa que posibiliten que el sujeto se constituya como un sujeto indagador, un

sujeto problematizador que problematiza las realidades, que no las deja quietas, que las moviliza

a partir de la pregunta.”


In other words, what the teacher and the student can have as a result of the

teaching/learning process is a transformation of real life performance, fed by a permanent

synergy between all the subjects that participate in daily life situations. Synergy in the classroom

is one of the clearest examples that show how effective group recognition can be, this including

the teacher. When the teacher includes and lets students include him or her in the dynamic of the

classroom there is something related to teaching strategies and practices that are not led just by

reproduction of knowledge. One of the most successful strategies that are related to inclusive

processes in the classroom is the one that was explained by participant 1 in the interview: “(…)

orchestrate es saber administrar todos los recursos del aula, todos los materiales que yo doy, y

saber orquestrar para que cada uno de los estudiantes tenga su participación en la creación de ese

ambiente de aprendizaje, y ese ambiente de convivencia que es el salón de clase”.

Although it is true that the teacher cannot be the central piece of the learning process,

there are strategies that could start modifying a general notion and end in inherent and explicit

practices that support themes as inclusion in the classroom.

In terms of equity and inclusion, the pedagogical practices do not depend on a teacher. As I said

before it has to do with the decision and conviction of a society or a community. It has to do

with administrators, parents, students, and teachers. However, in general, I believe teachers

should include activities and processes through which students experience and reflect about

aspects such as integrity, respect, fairness and democracy. Such work can ensure the creation

and support of a socially supportive and inclusive learning environment (Participant 9, surveys).

Pedagogical practices in terms of learning a language, for example, tend to be restricted

to instrumental aims, however thinking about how to promote different classroom environments


from the point of view of didactics is not an effective solution. Here we could start inquiring

about the dialogue that is being established between pedagogy and didactics. Manen (1991)

argues that pedagogy refers only to those types of actions or interactions intentionally engaged in

by an adult and a child, directed toward the child’s positive being and becoming. Marti (2005)

explains that Pedagogy is understood as the science that has as its objective of reflection how to

teach and in general what is related to education, and didactics as the science that is in charge of

study how to pass on knowledge during the learning process. Taking these definitions into

account the dialogue between these two “sciences” should lead the teacher to a better

comprehension of what his or her actions are expected to do in the student; therefore if this

dialogue is one of the main principles in education, processes as inclusion should not be as

impossible as it seems.

5. CHAPTER FIVE

5.1 Conclusions

In this chapter, we explain the conclusions obtained from the research, also the

pedagogical implications, the limitations and possible related issues for further research in terms

of inclusion, social representations and pedagogical practices.

One of the most relevant findings is the one related to the lack of teachers training. This

issue is being seriously undervalued in different educational levels. This lack of teachers’

training is linked to curriculum restructuration. Thus, if there is not a development of a new

curriculum that includes spaces to reflect about inclusion, the future teacher would not have the

same awareness towards this issue as those who have the possibility to become more familiar

with what inclusion means and entails. Even when teachers’ formal training is not the only


solution to develop a more inclusive society, it is one step that must be taken in order to build a

more comprehensive process of education.

Based on the outcomes of this project, for the participants, in the society there should not

exist any type of social, political and economic discrimination. For them it is clear that in the

Colombian society there are marked differences at social, political, economic and cultural levels

and despite this fact those differences should not hinder access to education. One of the critics

related to how these marked social differences are permeating education is how superficial and

conformist inclusive policies are. The inclusive policies are not taking into account the

importance of teacher’s training to manage inclusion in a regular classroom and the variables that

this phenomena involves. As a consequence, it is important that those policies allow teachers

voice to help in the construction of a critical and transformational reflection that entails to

improve their pedagogical practices to promote inclusive learning scenarios.

In this regard, it is important to highlight that the pedagogical practices are framed by

those social representations that teachers have. Thus, for a group of English and Pedagogy

teachers at La Salle University, inclusion is a process of plural thinking where singularities,

abilities and disabilities are a possibility to learn. They have reached this conclusion after

reflecting about how complex and remarkably common this phenomenon can be in their own

classrooms. For them, it not just a matter of one subject, it has to do with institutions working

together with teachers, students and parents, intending to create a gear where everybody is being

listened to and recognised. In this sense, everyone, especially teachers, develop plural thinking.

In terms of social representations it is also relevant to say that inclusion is understood by

teachers as a multidirectional process that makes possible scenarios of respect fairness and


equity. This means to consider all the agents in the process. In the same manner, inclusion is a

political and ethical act that a society commits to. In other words, it has to do with laws, public

actions and administrative, pedagogical, and conceptual conditions that promote quality of life,

and the recognition of how to offer pertinent education.

According to the aforementioned conclusions, most of the professional actions that

teachers perform are related to inclusion. However, it was also found that from a human

comprehensive perspective, the concepts of inclusion/exclusion cannot be understood out of the

willingness to desire; in other words, inclusion and exclusion must be seen from a wider

perspective of the human being, in terms of contemplating, comprehending, and explaining

others (participant 3). In this regard, inclusion turns out to be a critical and intentioned action

that is interiorised in each one’s daily life. It is worth noting that people do not just want to be

included, but that self-exclusion is also one of the ways how experiences can be enriching. This

last statement should be taken into account by teachers with the aim of recognising all those

personal interests that sometimes do not deal with “fitting with others beliefs”; keeping this in

mind will help out a lot as it demonstrates that the inclusive process has to go beyond a personal

view point.

To sum up, to reflect about the aforementioned aspects will provide teachers with much

more tools to face an inclusive classroom. The aspects related to pedagogical practices and how

these are related to the constructions of the social representations towards inclusion might be

considered as one of the starting points to reach a more flexible thinking about how we as

teachers proceed. Constructing and deconstructing some behaviours and beliefs along the

teaching and learning process carried out in the classroom is the first new horizon to consider the

promotion of inclusive education.


5.2 Pedagogical Implications

In Colombia there is little research about inclusion. As it is visible in this study, most if

not all teaching and learning actions are mediated by inclusive processes, therefore in order to

have a better understanding of this phenomenon, continuous research about it might be done.

Research in this field can help us to have a better articulation of the agents of education

(teachers, students, administrative staff, parents and the outer community) and the way how they

are performing in and out an institution.

This study also has curricular implications. As participants explained, none of them were

trained to deal with inclusion in their major; hence education programs should include in their

curriculum a transversal interest in training knowledgeable and sensitive educators towards

inclusion. We firmly believe that well trained and sensitive teachers towards difference will help

to develop a more comprehensive and human classrooms. Once this incorporation of inclusion is

articulated to all the other knowledge a teacher have, each single experience in the classroom

will be even more enriching, because he or she reflects about how to make possible spaces where

interculturality and particularities of people foster the learning and teaching process.

As a result, this research is a base to start thinking about how to promote awareness

towards what inclusion means for education and for society, in order to become teachers and

students that are conscious of the importance of including particularities and singularities as an

alternative to enrich human faculties along the academic processes.

Taking into account these aspects, it is important that teachers keep in mind the

difference between inclusion, integration and mainstreaming. One of the most deep-seated

obstacles to promote inclusive attitudes is the one related to this mixture of concepts. Once this


is clear, social and political agents have to watch over the limitations that policies of inclusion

state, and avoid integration in the classroom. Nonetheless, we cannot deny that there are some

cases, as deep mental problems or extreme autism that need specialised institutions to manage

the situation in the most appropriate way.

Taking up again the impact that the development of plural thinking has, we can say that if

teachers have the disposition to promote spaces framed by dialogic processes the benefits for

both the teacher and the student will be evident in the learning process. To rescue the varieties

that composes the classroom, and that enriches the interactions between the agents, is what

teachers sometimes lost because of utilitarian and functional routines. Despite the discipline that

teachers teach, the most important issue has to be the formation of human beings that are

recognised and valued as individuals, especially in their educational environment.

5.3 Limitations and Further Research

In this part we state the limitations that this research presented along its development, and

some proposals that may be the reference for further research based on inclusion.

One of the main limitations that we had since the beginning of this study is framed by the

topic as such, because inclusion is one of those themes that are as wide as the interpretations that

can be found about it. For this reason, as we found that inclusion is understood in plenty of

senses, what we suggest for following studies is to keep including categories that can make even

more specific the discussion towards inclusion. These categories can be social, cognitive,

physical, genre, cultural or special talents inclusion.

Another limitation was teachers’ availability to participate in the project, because along

the development of a research project some teachers were not able to spend enough time on


every step. It is well known that one of the greatest difficulties for novice researchers is to learn

how to deal with the context and the unexpected situations that can happen. Moreover those

procedures that required from us a different performance in terms of ethics made us be aware of

our role as researchers and not just as students, which was quite hard but enriching. What we

could suggest for future research in this regard is to dedicate as much time and patience as

possible.

On the other hand, based on the outcomes of this study, there are some other topics that

are still worth digging into. One of those topics that can be taken as part of further investigations

is the one related to curriculum arrangements. We found out that teachers lack of training in

terms of how to face inclusion is due to the few or non-existent spaces to talk and learn about

this educational issue. Further research can focus its attention on developing one sample of

curriculum for Bachelor in Castilian, English and French that could balance pedagogy, didactics

and general language issues in order to create or promote classes where the main topic is

inclusion.

Another research area of interest here might be related to certain teaching strategies that

can help to build inclusive classrooms and see if they work or not. However, a similar proposal

can be bent on the practices that a teacher can adopt to create inclusive awareness in all

classrooms. Having this in mind, it would be interesting to find out how the research we carried

out can help other teachers and students to become interested in inclusion.


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Appendices

Appendix 1: Survey

Name:

Date:

We are grateful that you have had the disposition to answer this survey. It is aimed to contribute

to a research project that has as its main objective to gather information about the social

representations that English and pedagogy teachers at La Salle University have towards

inclusion, and how this is represented in their practices. The outcomes obtained from this survey

will be confidential and will not affect your labour at the university.

1. How do you understand inclusion?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

2. What do you understand for equity pedagogy?


______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

3. Have you worked with people with special needs? If so, mark with an X all the options

that apply, if not choose the last option.

I have worked with deaf people.

I have worked with blind people.

I have worked with cognitively challenged people.

I have not worked with people with special needs.

If any other, please mention it:

4. In your academic background, have you been trained to deal with inclusion in the

classroom? Chose all the options that apply:

Yes, I was trained in my major to face this kind of issues in the classroom.

I have read about this topic.

I had the opportunity to take a course related to this issue.

I have done research about it.

I have not been trained to deal with inclusion.


If any other, please mention it:

5. Do you know anything about policies of inclusion? Select the papers that you know talk

about this.

La Constitución Política de Colombia

Ley General de Educación

Código de Infancia y Adolescencia

Human Rights

Please mention an example of a law, article or decree that talks about inclusion:

6. In your view, what are the pedagogical practices that language teachers must consider in

an inclusive classroom?

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Appendix 1: Encuesta

Nombre:

Fecha:

Estamos agradecidos de que usted haya tenido la disposición para responder esta

encuesta. Las preguntas de ésta están encaminadas a contribuir a un proyecto de investigación

que tiene como objetivo principal reunir información acerca de las representaciones sociales que

los profesores de inglés y pedagogía del programa de Licenciatura en Lengua Castellana, Inglés

y Francés de la Universidad de la Salle tienen sobre la inclusión, y cómo ésta se ve representada

en sus prácticas pedagógicas. Los resultados obtenidos de esta encuesta serán confidenciales y no

afectaran su labor en la universidad.

1. ¿Qué entiende por inclusión?

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2. ¿Qué entiende por pedagogía equitativa?


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3. ¿Ha trabajado con personas con necesidades especiales? Marque con una X las opciones

que aplican.

He trabajado con personas sordas.

He trabajado con personas ciegas.

He trabajado con personas con discapacidad cognitiva.

No he trabajado con personas con necesidades especiales.

Si hay otra, por favor mencionela:

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4. ¿En su campo académico, ha tenido algún entrenamiento para trabajar procesos de

inclusión en el salón de clase? Escoja las opciones que aplican.

Si, fui entrenado en mi pregrado para enfrentar esta clase de problemas en el salón de

clase.

He leído acerca de este tema.

Tuve la oportunidad de tomar un curso relacionado a este tema.


He hecho investigación sobre este tema.

No he tenido ningún entrenamiento para trabajar procesos de inclusion.

Si hay otra, por favor mencionela:

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5. ¿Sabe sobre las políticas de inclusión? Seleccione los documentos que conoce.

La Constitución Política de Colombia

Ley General de Educación

Código de Infancia y Adolescencia

Derechos Humanos

Por favor mencione un ejemplo de una ley, artículo o decreto que hable acerca de la inclusión:

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____________________________________________________________________

6. Desde su perspectiva, ¿Cuáles son las prácticas pedagógicas que un profesor de idiomas

debe considerar en un salón de clase inclusivo?

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Appendix 2: Interviews

We are grateful that you have had the disposition to answer this survey. It is aimed to contribute

to a research project that has as its main objective to gather information about the social

representations or imaginaries that English and pedagogy teachers at La Salle University have

towards inclusion, and how this is represented in their practices. The outcomes obtained from

this survey will be confidential and will not affect your labour at the university. The results will

not be evaluated.

Name: _____________________________________

1. Can you tell us something about your academic and professional background?

2. How has your professional background been related to practices of inclusion?

1. What do you understand by inclusion in education?

2. What do you know about policies of inclusion?

3. What do you know about inclusive pedagogical practices in the classroom?

4. Have you ever experienced a case of inclusion along your career? Support your answer.

5. Do you believe in inclusive education? If so, in what sense?

6. What aspects do you think must be considered in practices of inclusion in a foreign language

classroom?

7. Do you take into account students’ needs and ways to build knowledge? If so, in what ways?

8. What do you think should be the role of the teacher in an inclusive classroom?

9. Do you have knowledge of any tips to include people in the classroom? If so, which ones?

10. Taking into account your role in the classroom, how do you promote inclusive practices?


11. How could institutions address inclusion?

1. Do you want to say something else?

Thanks!


Appendix 2: Entrevista

Estamos agradecidos de que usted haya tenido la disposición para responder esta encuesta. Está

encaminada a contribuir a un proyecto de investigación que tiene como objetivo principal reunir

información acerca de las representaciones sociales que los profesores de Inglés y Pedagogía de

la Universidad de La Salle tienen acerca de la inclusión, y como esto es representado en sus

prácticas pedagógicas. Los resultados obtenidos de esta encuesta serán confidenciales y no

afectaran su labor en la universidad. Los resultados no serán evaluados.

Nombre: _____________________________________

1. ¿Puede decirnos algo sobre su vida académica y profesional?

2. ¿Ha estado su vida profesional relacionada con las prácticas de inclusión? ¿Por qué?

1. ¿Qué entiende por inclusión en educación?

2. ¿Qué sabe acerca de las políticas de inclusión?

3. ¿Qué sabe acerca de las prácticas pedagógicas inclusivas en el salón de clase?

4. ¿Ha evidenciado un caso de inclusión durante su vida profesional? Argumente su

respuesta

5. ¿Usted cree en educación inclusiva? ¿En qué sentido?

6. ¿Qué aspectos deberían ser considerados en las prácticas inclusivas en un salón de clase

de lengua extranjera?


7. ¿Usted tiene en cuenta las necesidades de los estudiantes y las formas de construir

conocimiento? ¿De qué forma?

8. ¿Cuál cree usted que debería ser el rol del profesor en un salón inclusivo?

9. ¿Conoce algunos tips para incluir personas en el salón de clase? Si/No ¿Cuáles?

10. Teniendo en cuenta su rol en el salón de clase, ¿Cómo promueve prácticas inclusivas?

11. ¿Cómo podrían las instituciones enfrentar la inclusión?

1. ¿Quiere decir algo más?

¡Gracias!


Appendix 3: Didactobiography

Estimado docente, este es un vademécum de preguntas existenciales para que usted se inspire en

narrar sus experiencias de inclusión/exclusión. Sólo léalas para recordar lo que ellas provoquen

en su memoria, si hay experiencias en su profesión docente universitaria en torno a la

inclusión/exclusión. ¡Gracias!

Preguntas

1. ¿Se ha sentido incluido y/o excluido en su formación académica? Narre su experiencia

2. ¿Recuerda en su formación académica aprendizajes en torno a la inclusión?

3. ¿Cómo ha promovido ambientes de igualdad e inclusión en el aula? Ejemplifique.

4. ¿Ha incluido y/o excluido en el ejercicio de su vida docente? Narre su experiencia

DIDACTO-BIOGRAPHY: INCLUSION

TRANSCRIPCION HUELLA INDICIAL

Inclusión: a process media ted by the teacher

Documents

Transcript of Inclusión: a process media ted by the teacher