Teacher training in and for an inclusive perspective: making voices visible from Physical Education graduates with low vision

Abstract

Brazilian law No. 13,409 is an important legal framework regarding the reservation of positions for students with disabilities in public higher education institutions, for the first time. In this sense, this article emerges as a part of a longitudinal research that seeks to monitor students with specific needs in the Degree in Physical Education at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). To achieve this, we are theoretically based on a broad, procedural, dialectical and endless concept of inclusion. We understand that the exclusionary history still leaves marks on teacher training and action; seeking to counter this historical trajectory, we base ourselves on elaborations on teacher training in and for an inclusive perspective. This concept seeks not only to train teachers to deal with differences in future actions, they are also considered as unique beings even during graduation. Within this context, the objective of this article is to reflect on inclusive and exclusionary situations in school Physical Education and in the teaching training of students with visual impairments actively enrolled in the Physical Education course at UFRJ. For this, semi structured interviews were used as a collection instrument, with two students with low vision who were actively enrolled in the course. From the analysis of these data, we discussed about the identification of their singularities regarding potentialities and barriers in relation to visual impairment, inclusive/exclusive situations at school and in teacher training. Dialoguing with the theoretical framework, we identified that the main barriers both in the school environment and at the university are intrinsically linked to the action of teachers who do not observe each student singularly, associated with a structure that does not consider the countless ways of being in the world.