Formação de professores de educação física para a educação inclusiva: práticas corporais para crianças autistas

Abstract

The teacher education in an inclusive perspective has become a field of studies and reflections on Education. This perspective, in Physical Education, as a curricular content, becomes a field of knowledge and action, to help the teacher in his work with Special Education. However, Physical Education teachers, in general, are not prepared to deal with children with ASD (autism spectrum disorder). In addition, the studies point to weaknesses in both initial and continuing education of Physical Education teachers. Considering this context, the main objective of this thesis was to analyze the Physical Education teachers’ education about corporal practices for the school inclusion of children with autism, from a program of continuing education in Grande Dourados/MS. In order to reach this goal, we sought to understand how the continuing education and teaching practice of physical education teachers were structured on the inclusion of students with ASD in their classes. We identified the existing guidelines in the National Policy on Special Education in the perspective of Inclusive Education and its relationship with the Municipal Public Education of Dourados-MS in elementary school. We evaluated the conceptions of physical education teachers on inclusion, with emphasis on the importance of corporal practices in the inclusion of children with autism. We analyzed the construction of methodologies of corporal practices during the in-service training, as well as the contribution of the proposal of teacher training in corporal practices. This research was characterized as qualitative, descriptive and exploratory, adopting the grounded theory as theoretical-methodological approach. Three physical education teachers and one teacher from the multifunctional resource room, who worked in regular (public) school and who had or had children with autism in their class, participated in the study. For data collection, we used observation, semi-structured interview, questionnaire, field diary and transcripts of reflexive sessions about the teacher training program, developed in twenty-four meetings. Through the methodology of collaborative research, a partnership was established between researchers and teachers. For the analysis of the data, the content analysis was used, based on a categorization according to the specific objectives of the work. With the analysis of the data, it was possible to verify that there has not been continuous training in the field of physical education for more than 10 years. In addition, it was noted that, even in difficulties, teachers seek to build inclusive strategies, but still based on previous experiences and formations. The collaborative research allowed the development of new inclusive body experiences; the union of the teachers; and the involvement of other professionals in the area of education at school. Thereby, we develop a continuing in-service training program in favor of the inclusion of students with ASD. Finally, we suggest that this work can be expanded among other physical education teachers in Dourados, both public and private schools, to increase the knowledge of these methodologies of corporal practices, aiming at the effective inclusion not only of students with autism, but of any child who needs specific methodological strategies grounded and adapted to their realities to facilitate learning.