Social Representations about the Work of the Second Teacher in Inclusive Education

Abstract

This article presents a research report that aimed to identify the elements present in the formation of social representations, by teachers who were teachers of early years, about the work of the second teacher, from the perspective of Inclusive Education. The education of students with disabilities in regular education has challenged the educational systems, giving way to a new professional in the classroom, the second teacher. The Social Representations Theory was used as a theoretical-methodological framework, which constituted an important tool to identify and to analyze the objectivation and the anchorage processes present in social representations. Fifteen teachers were interviewed. A lexical analysis of descending hierarchical classification was performed on data analysis, allowing to establish relationships and considerations about the perceptions and meanings attributed to the work of the second teacher by the participants, revealing the anchorages and objectivations that are in the formation and support of their representations. Considering that the role of the second teacher is a recent practice, we emphasize that the images about this teacher are not fully defined. The teachers' imaginary is permeated by anchorages that attribute to the second teacher conditions of control, surveillance, assistance and care for students with disabilities.