Práticas pedagógicas em uma escola do campo: discursos sobre uma educação inclusiva e intercultural

Abstract

This dissertation encompasses the tetrad of pedagogical practices, rural education, inclusive education, and intercultural education, with the aim of producing knowledge at the intersection of these themes. Particularly, the research problem guiding us is the question: what discourses are produced by teachers in a rural school regarding pedagogical practices related to inclusion and interculturality? In line with this, we have delimited the general objective to explore the discourses of teachers in a rural school about pedagogical practices from perspectives of inclusive and intercultural education. We have outlined the following specific objectives: 1) characterize the training of teachers in a rural school; 2) describe the working conditions of teachers in a rural school; 3) analyze the presences/absences of inclusive and intercultural perspectives in the discourses of teachers in a rural school about their pedagogical practices, particularly regarding planning, pedagogical actions in the classroom context, and assessment of learning. Regarding characterization, this is an exploratory research with a qualitative approach. The investigative locus comprises a rural school located in a rural district of a small municipality in the Greater Dourados, region of Mato Grosso do Sul. We had the participation of eight teachers (head teachers, common curriculum areas, and support) who work in the Initial Years of Elementary Education (1st to 5th grade). The research techniques and instruments were: the questionnaire (printed) and the focus group (conducted in one session following a guiding topic script). Data analysis aimed to approach discourse analysis. The discourses articulated by the participants evidenced that: a) the act of planning has been guided by a conventional planning structure, facing barriers such as workload overload, increased demands from educational systems via online systems, and difficulties in organizing times and spaces for collective action and reflection; b) teachers understand the multiplicity of the pedagogical act in the classroom, mentioning affective, cognitive, emotional, and sociocultural aspects; regarding methodology, they articulate the search for diversification of teaching strategies in regular classes; c) there are aspirations for flexible evaluative practices even in the face of indignation with the imposition of educational systems and numerical evaluation standards; d) from the perspective of inclusive education, the discourses signal advances in everyday pedagogical practices, as well as indicate that improvements in structural, material, and teaching/training conditions and the hiring of other professionals can favor school actions aimed at inclusion; e) from the perspective of intercultural education, educators demonstrate attention to students’ identities and mention that the projects developed by the school and the offering of the subject “Land, Life, and Work” (LLW) end up inserting cultural issues of peasants into school practices; however, the challenge pointed out by teachers in exercising intercultural practices lies in the school curriculum, as it emphasizes content and distances itself from proposals that approach peasant culture. Finally, we hope that this research contributes to the scientific debates and reflections that touch on the search for inclusive and intercultural pedagogical practices, for rural education, and for a society project committed to combating inequalities, acculturation, ableism, differentiations, discriminations, and injustices historically produced in relations with other alterities.