Emotions and teaching practices in school inclusion from the cultural-historical view

Abstract

This article is a qualitative research that aims to understand the process of the development of emotions and its transformation in inclusive teachers’ practices based on cultural-historical psychology assumptions. We used structured and semi-structured interviews, as well as the methodology of self-confrontation. We interpreted the data according to a Vigotskian micro-genetic analysis. Two teachers of inclusive classes from the first years of Elementary School at a Brazilian public school participated in the research. We identified the teachers’ difficulty in expressing emotions and the large presence of uncomfortable emotions, with an emphasis on the teachers’ illness, as well as the lack of support for school inclusion. The teachers’ difficulty in expressing themselves and referring to their own emotions was evident, which reflects the Cartesian model that relegates emotions to the detriment of cognition. Although emotions such as love/liking, and hope were mentioned, the results showed that uncomfortable emotions (anguish; helplessness, distress, impotence; frustration; incapacity, insecurity; incompleteness; feeling bad; and sadness) were largely present. With this research, the teachers were able to recognize and understand their emotions/inclusive practices, which merge during the school’s daily life, as well as think about them and give new meanings to their experiences. We conclude that the self-confrontation interview allowed the participants to think about their emotions and inclusive practices, contributing to their awareness and the transformation of the teachers’ work by increasing their power of acting over their own activity.