MORAL IMAGINATION OF THE SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS IN BRAZIL: REFLECTING ON THE ROLE OF CONTINUING TEACHER EDUCATION

Abstract

The educational reforms in the 1990s in Brazil were devised to address the challenge of constructing an educational system sensitive to diversity at schools, turning them inclusive. In parallel, national policies enacted various strategies that reshaped the identities of school educators, particularly special education teachers. Continuing teacher education became a cornerstone of such strategies. However, as the existing studies point out, the public programs of continuing teacher education were unable to prepare special education teachers to address the complex challenges in their teaching practice. Moreover, of particular concern is the lack of attention to the moral foundations of teaching in continuing teacher education. The paper is structured as follows: first, I will provide an overview of how special education evolved in Brazil over the past two decades. Second, I will briefly discuss national policies concerning continuing teacher education with an emphasis on special education. Many of the challenges that special education teachers face in schools stem from fragmented national policies concerning continuing teacher education and inclusive education. Third, I will discuss the importance of cultivating moral imagination in special education teachers as the agents of school inclusion.