Teaching practice and Biology teaching: what are the challenges to the inclusion of blind students?

Abstract

The discussions in the field of education that took place during the 1990s resulted in a series of public policies, of which we can mention the inclusive perspective in school education. As a result of these public policies, Brazil has seen the number of enrollments of students with disabilities in regular classes grow considerably. However, a number of challenges and obstacles are imposed on the implementation of this perspective in contemporary education. Taking this into consideration, this research work aimed to investigate, from the perspective of the active teachers, the challenges posed by the Biology Teaching for the inclusion of blind students. Based on the data collection performed by questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, it was possible to observe that the school discipline Biology brings challenges related to its
curricular organization and in the classic way of exposing its contents. In addition, it was also possible to observe with the subjects participating in this research, an inadequate initial training to deal with the needs of these students. However, teachers develop pedagogical practices that range from adapting didactic materials to the use of technological devices aimed at including blind students in their class.