The contributions of action-research to the development of continuing education policies from the school inclusion perspective

Abstract

This paper analyzes the movement of a group of special-education managers from the Espírito Santo’s mountain region, either as regards the perspective of the collective dialogue, the reflections and the accountability of those involved in the process, or as regards the proposal and development of a project pertaining both to the Regional Superintendency and the municipalities. It takes the critical and collaborative action-research as a theoretical and methodological benchmark, supported by postulates of the theory of communicative action. The study unfolded in three parts: in the first, it was employed a focus-group strategy; in the second, a studyreflection group was created; and, in the third, the conception of a proposal for a continuing-education public policy was monitored. Data analysis shows that special-education managers act directly on the context of the writing and employment of continuing-education public policies, as they aim to develop, via action-research, other policy-making processes for education, through communicative rationality. Within the group’s movement, their intention and willingness to develop a continuing-education public policy is clear. Such intention, that is a key element of the theory of communicative action, presents itself as the identity of this group of managers.