The practice of inclusive education in vocational schools from DL 54/2018: perception of teachers and trainers

Abstract

The school is increasingly the stage for the heterogeneity of students with specific needs, from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. In this context, inclusion is one of the priorities of schools - including vocational schools - through the implementation of a set of measures to support learning and inclusion, according to Decree-Law 54/2018 of July 6 (DL). Through the application of a questionnaire survey to teachers/trainers of vocational schools and based on the idea of a democratic and inclusive school, we aimed to understand the perception of teachers/trainers of vocational schools regarding the results of the application of the measures provided by the normative, in the context of vocational education. The aim was to understand to what extent these professionals consider that the application of these measures promotes the learning/development of competences and knowledge in the training area, and we wanted to know if, in the opinion of these teachers/trainers, the application of the DL is, in fact, promoting the inclusion of students subject to measures. It was possible to perceive that, in general, the teachers/trainers consider that the measures are having the desired effect, although they point to a set of limitations that compromise the success of the mesuses set by the Decree-Law in vocational education.