Inclusive education and the activities of the assistance centers – Núcleos de Apoio às Pessoas com Necessidades Especiais – in the Federal Institute of São Paulo

Abstract

Assistance centers called Núcleos de Apoio às Pessoas com Necessidades Educacionais Específicas (Napnes) have been serving as reference in the education of students target-audience of special education (in Portuguese, estudante público-alvo da educação especial, acronymed PAEE) in the context of the Rede Profissional e Tecnológica. These centers have also carried out different initiatives within the context of the Federal Institute of São Paulo (IFSP). Thus, studies on the inclusion of PAEE students on federal institutes (IFs) and on issues related to teaching planning, their accessibility and permanence prove to be the more relevant. This study aims to map and analyze initiatives developed or experienced by Napnes’ teams from the different IFSP campuses, regarding the assistance center’s activities proposal. This is a qualitative and documental research, and the contents of the journal titled Napne em Ação were analyzed. Its first edition was published in 2015 and was composed by the annual reports of the activities carried out in the campuses. Institutional documents which regulate the activities performed by Napnes were also analyzed. The journal’s 302 pages were organized in quantitative information and analyzed qualitatively, divided in thematic axes. Data indicate that, analyzing IFSP as a whole, teaching, research and extension initiatives related to the PAEE students were carried, which fulfills the objectives in the center’s activities proposal.  Actions related to the different specificities were also carried out, with emphasis on deaf students, with the addition to those aimed at employee training. It is understood, through the individual analysis of each campus, that there are initiatives being carried out and that the proposal for school inclusion has not been stagnant since 2014. However, there is not enough data to affirm that PAEE students’ rights of accessibility and education have been guaranteed, which is a limit of this research.