Abstract
This article examines policy change in special education in Brazil, with regard to educational provision for learners with special needs. There has been a far-reaching policy shift from educational provision for such learners in special schools to provision in mainstream schools. The focus of the research reported here was on particular educational settings, schools and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Brazil. The research provided insights into the different discourses about inclusion that circulated in these settings and into the limited nature of capacity-building for teachers. It also showed that some teachers and educational practitioners (e.g. peripatetic support staff) were devising inclusive pedagogic practice by drawing on different textual and multimodal resources, thereby demonstrating individual agency and reflexivity. At the same time, they were constrained by the paperwork demands associated with the management and monitoring of policy change. These managerial constraints are illustrated here, with reference to the institutional practices, the particular literacy events, and the power asymmetries involved in the production of student evaluations. The article highlights the value of taking account of situated literacy practices and the uses of particular kinds of texts and genres in ethnographic research into educational policy processes, as well as analyzing policy discourses.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Literacy in the study of social change: Lusophone perspectives
- Discourses about language and literacy education in Portugal: past and present
- Timor-Leste 1974–1975: Decolonisation, a nation-in-waiting and an adult literacy campaign
- Adult literacy in Timor-Leste: Insights from ethnographic research with teachers, learners and coordinators of contemporary literacy programs
- A critical analysis of literacy discourses in two urban neighbourhoods in Brazil
- Meanings of literacy in the intersection of religious and secular practices: examining local and global changes in a Brazilian bairro
- Taking account of discourses, literacy practices and uses of texts in ethnographic research on educational inclusion: insights from two studies in Brazil
- Opening up ideological spaces for multilingual literacies at the margins of the Portuguese education system? Ethnographic insights from a Russian complementary school
- Book Review
- Judy Kalman and Brian Street: Literacy and numeracy in Latin America: local perspectives and beyond
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Literacy in the study of social change: Lusophone perspectives
- Discourses about language and literacy education in Portugal: past and present
- Timor-Leste 1974–1975: Decolonisation, a nation-in-waiting and an adult literacy campaign
- Adult literacy in Timor-Leste: Insights from ethnographic research with teachers, learners and coordinators of contemporary literacy programs
- A critical analysis of literacy discourses in two urban neighbourhoods in Brazil
- Meanings of literacy in the intersection of religious and secular practices: examining local and global changes in a Brazilian bairro
- Taking account of discourses, literacy practices and uses of texts in ethnographic research on educational inclusion: insights from two studies in Brazil
- Opening up ideological spaces for multilingual literacies at the margins of the Portuguese education system? Ethnographic insights from a Russian complementary school
- Book Review
- Judy Kalman and Brian Street: Literacy and numeracy in Latin America: local perspectives and beyond