The Challenges Of the Inclusion of Students with Special Educational Needs in the Santarém Polytechnic Institute

Abstract

The dynamics of the social responsibility of organizations is becoming increasingly important and is now a mandatory requirement of any institution. The Santarém Polytechnic Institute (IPSantarém) is one of the members of the newly created Observatory of Social Responsibility and Higher Education Institutions (ORSIES), a collaborative network of Higher Education Institutions, sponsored by the Student Forum and support from the State Secretariat for Science, Technology and Higher Education (SECTES), whose objectives are: (1) to strengthen the awareness and civic action of the HEI's educational community, with regard to Social Responsibility; (2) to develop common, shared and with a strong social impact of Social Responsibility in Higher Education Institutions; (3) share methodologies, tools and best practices; (4) develop action research initiatives on Social Responsibility that add value through knowledge and (5) mobilize other community stakeholders at the national and local levels to cooperate with Higher Education Institutions for Social Responsibility.

In this working group, the axes on which social responsibility in Higher Education should be based should be discussed in the following areas: school social action, volunteering, promotion of diversity and service to the community, environmental responsibility, internalization and special education needs.

This Communication will focus on the area of ​​ special education needs and we will report on the work that has been carried out in IPSantarém on the challenges inherent to the inclusion of students with special educational needs in the five schools that constitute it – School of Education, School of Agriculture, School of Management and Technology and School of Health.

Several studies carried out in Portugal point to the existence of several barriers to the attendance and completion of higher education by students with special education needs, in addition to architectural studies, such as limitations in pedagogical material, different forms of discrimination, difficulty and accessibility to the recommended bibliography, absence of specific regulation and lack of continuity of support provided to students in secondary education (Rodrigues, 2015). Along with a survey on how schools organize to support students with special education needs (eg whether they have a service or a contact person responsible for the reception and follow-up of these students, whether there are special regulations for students with special education needs, if curricular adaptations are made, namely of evaluation, which are the accessibility, among other aspects) is also being carried out an exploratory study, based on a quantitative methodology using the questionnaire survey, whose objective is to analyze Curricular Units organization by the IPSantarém teachers, identifying the inclusive practices developed.

According to the opinion of the National Council of Education (CNE) referring to the students with Special Educational Needs in Higher Education, and taking into account the specificities listed in the document, IPSantarém intends to orient its conduct of action, evidencing the recommendations presented with a view to the inclusion and educational equity of all.