Diversity, inclusion, and education: challenges in perspective

Schools in various parts of the world still have in their agendas the improvement of the quality of school processes and students’ learning. Inclusion is one of the main schools’ concern as inclusive education remains as one of the important goals of political agendas and educational reforms internationally. At present, Portugal is working on important changes in the educational system, enacting an explicit legal framework for the inclusion of all students, attending diversity. These important political changes challenge teachers, schools, and communities to change. Previous research highlights the central role of teachers perspectives about diversity, inclusion, and education on school improvements related to inclusive education. The general objective of the research presented here was to explore the perspective of Portuguese teachers about the challenges of inclusive education. This study adopted a methodology of a qualitative nature. The instrument used to collect the data was an open-ended questionnaire focus on schools’ strengths and weaknesses related to inclusive education. The questionnaire was administered to 450 teachers, which allowed knowledge of strengths and weaknesses perceived by teachers when attending to diversity and making schools more inclusive. Teachers reported the acceptance and respect to the differences, the provision of support for students and the teachers and students cooperation as the most valuable strengths of Portuguese schools. Teachers also reported the limited resources and insufficient professional development opportunities related to inclusion as weaknesses of the Portuguese schools. Therefore, the conclusions pointed to the need to continue working for the development of more inclusive conditions and practices in schools.