School Counseling and Inclusion

Connections and routes in the development of an inclusive culture

Abstract

This study presents a research of an end of specialization program in Inclusive Education of Pontifícia Universidade Católica. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the importance of the school counselor in inclusive procedures of regular school system context intending to answer the following question: which are the needed connections and routes to the inclusion process in regular Primary Education, focused on the elementary levels of a private school in Porto Alegre, from the view of the School Counselor’s practice? For this, a qualitative research was undertaken through observations of the school routine in distinguished times and semi-structured interview questions to seven teachers and four special education students’ families. The results indicated possible approaches in partnership and paths required from this professional’s practice through the embracing of families and students, support provided to teachers and other school faculty’s members, purposes of continuing education to all school community as well as resources to provide equity in the teaching and learning processes in order to contribute to the
development of a broader inclusive culture in this school’s scenario. Interviewees’ responses revealed that it’s possible to think about routes and paths to be taken in connections and partnership demanded to implement this initiative. The teacher alone does not make a school inclusive. In this process everyone needs to be an actor and a protagonist so that the role of the School Counselor is essential considering the fact that he is the first contact of the student and the family at school.