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Implementation of the legal framework for inclusive education in Portugal (Decree-Law 54/2018) – A qualitative assessment by primary and secondary school teachers Cover

Implementation of the legal framework for inclusive education in Portugal (Decree-Law 54/2018) – A qualitative assessment by primary and secondary school teachers

Open Access
|Jan 2023

Abstract

Successful inclusive education requires school transformations and changes to the education system. In Portugal new legislation passed in 2018 (Decree-law 54/2018) brought a new perspective in inclusive education for all educational agents. Three years later, it is essential that the legislation is evaluated by the teachers implementing it. Forty-three primary and secondary school teachers and two coordinators of multidisciplinary teams providing inclusive education support were the participants of our study. The data collection instruments were a questionnaire and interviews. This study values the participants’ narratives, highlighting the new concepts and attitudes required for the implementation of the new inclusive education legal framework in Portugal. The results of the thematic analysis were organized around four key themes: 1. Theoretical representations; 2. Practices; 3. Challenges; and 4. Training. It is also worth noting the notions of collaborative work, the need for reflective teachers and the development of learning communities to support the implementation of the new legislation.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jped-2022-0008 | Journal eISSN: 1338-2144 | Journal ISSN: 1338-1563
Language: English
Page range: 55 - 76
Published on: Jan 14, 2023
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 2 issues per year

© 2023 Marco Ferreira, José Reis-Jorge, published by University of Trnava, Faculty of Education
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.