School inclusion support professionals: who are and what are these new actors in the educational scenario?

ABSTRACT The study is a part of the dissertation published by the author, whose general objective was to describe and analyze the profile and performance of school inclusion support professionals in different municipal contexts, involving five municipalities, three in the state of Bahia and two in the state of São Paulo. Thirty school inclusion support professionals participated in the study, through focus groups. The objective of this article was to analyze administrative aspects and functions performed by these school inclusion support professionals in the school context. Despite gaps in the literature, the theoretical framework used was sufficient to support the research. The results showed: precariousness in the profile and performance of professionals, support service adopted indiscriminately, bad working conditions, function deviation, professional without an adequate profile, precariousness, and privatization of support for school inclusion. In addition to pointing out that school inclusion support professionals are, in some situations, the only professionals, when they should be part of a support network, the importance of this professional is pointed out for a portion of students from the special education target audience. However, there is a need for: definition of guidelines, improvement of working conditions, definition of job attributions, continuing education, and supervision.