Transição para a vida adulta de alunos com Necessidades Educativas Especiais

: que perceções da escola?

Abstract

Introduction: A well structured transition plan for adult life, developed and designed for a specific individual must necessarily provide the youngster/pupil with Special Educational Needs (SEN) of a core fundamental skills to the practice of his/her everyday life, in order to foresee his/her full social inclusion. The success of these transition plans is only possible with the involvement and participation of all stakeholders in the process (students, parents, technicians, services, and community), highlighting the role of the teacher. Objective: Identify and analyze the teachers’ perception, of an area limited to the Agrupamento de Escolas de Castro Daire, regarding the development of the transition plan for adult life (TAL) of pupils with SEN, in order to develop a specific action plan to apply in the future. Methodology: In this study, we opted for a quantitative, transversal and descriptive research. The instrument used for data collection, adds three sections: Section A is intended to make a characterization of the participants; section B objectifies the teachers’ knowledge and beliefs, focusing on their practices regarding the process of TAL; and section C seeks to identify the opinions of teachers and the options for change regarding the development of the transition of the SEN pupils. The sample consisted of 48 teachers working in the school above referred. For the statistical treatment, it was used the Statistical Package Social Science (SPSS) program, version 19. Results: The sample is made up of mostly females, the average age is 41.52 years, all with degrees, including 25% with specialized training in the field of special education. TA is perceived as a continuous process throughout the pupil's school career, primarily intended for those who have a Specific Individual Curriculum (SIC), seeking to ensure, as a priority, the development of personal, social and working skills through the stages of development in a real working context. As partners in the TAL process intervention, emphasis is given, beyond the family and the community, to the Instituto de Emprego e Formação Profissional (IEFP). The monitoring is done formally or informally, while coordination is delegated to the special education teacher. The Individual Educational Plan (IEP) and Individual Transition Plan (ITP) are considered the main guiding documents. The most relevant difficulties in the operationalization that stand out are the job offer, the lack of companies to receive pupils, the scarce human resources and insufficient partnerships. Conclusion: This study confirms and reinforces the complexity that covers the TAL process. The perceptions presented reveal a local society that is not at all inclusive. A significant number of barriers to the development and operationalization of transition processes in the Agrupamento de Escolas de Castro Daire, call into question the proper development of valid knowledge and experiences that will allow, when the SEN pupils leave school, to meet the demands placed on them by society so that their personal, social and professional inclusion becomes effective successfully, thus increasing the likelihood of individuals with an adequate level of quality of life.

Date of Award	1 Jul 2013
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Rosa Martins (Supervisor) & Sofia Pires (Co-Supervisor)