Inclusive Education: a journey between past and present. Looking into ourselves to transform the school.

Abstract

The following article gives a before and an after picture of the group of students who are part of the Inclusive School Module: Theory and Practice. Each one of us began this new learning period with a “backpack” full of different knowledge and personal experience of what the meaning of an inclusive/public school is, which was derived from everything we lived through in our personal, academic and professional lives. However, thanks to our discussions and our theoretical analysis, we shared a series of ideas, thoughts and opinions that constituted a turning point in our continuing education as teachers.

Throughout this text, two types of schools are considered. The first type is the one that all of us have experienced as students and teachers, a school that is based on the traditional and integrative educational model. The second type is the one that we desire: a school guided by a set of principles that, in our view, best serve the purposes of the education we are fighting for, which is inclusive and is available to everyone. The truth is that our past has been influenced by a paradigm that considers students as problems, but in the future we will try to focus on contexts and systems which ensure that exclusion can be avoided in all areas, including educational, social and professional.