Knowledge and Actions by Professionals of the Specialised Educational Assistance to Deaf Students in Santarém (PA)

Resumo

Background: Deafness, seen from a cultural perspective, is a constitutive condition of the identities and cultures shared by deaf people. In the context of inclusion policies, the school space brings together intercultural experiences and connections between deaf and hearing cultures. Professionals from Specialised Educational Assistance (SEA) are responsible for seeking ways of accessibility and guaranteeing the rights of deaf students in regular schools. Objective: to analyse how Specialized Educational Service professionals from public schools in the municipal schools of Santarém/PA describe practices developed with deaf students to understand what knowledge and actions guide the work of these professionals and what challenges for the pedagogical work are highlighted. Design: The research follows the guidelines of the qualitative approach and uses the narrative interview as its main method. Setting and participants: The interviews were conducted with nine teachers working in the SEA in different municipal schools in Santarém/PA. Data collection and analysis: The interviews were conducted through online resources, and the data obtained orally were transcribed and tabulated from enunciative recurrences. Results: In the analytical process, two main unifying axes were produced: the first focused on the knowledge and actions of AEE professionals and the second focused on the challenges for inclusive education. We observed that the processes of inclusion of deaf students in regular schools are challenging and that the narrated experiences characterise and give meaning to the work performed by the SEA teacher and others involved in the care of deaf students. Conclusions: The relevance of the work developed in the SEA and the need to expand a collaborative network aimed at school inclusion, involving teachers, professionals, managers, instances and student follow-up services to ensure the educational rights of deaf people, are highlighted.