Teacher’s knowledge experience in initial training: Reflections from an inclusive education course

Abstract

Focusing on teachers’ training is the key to project an inclusive school. This research aims to reflect on the incorporation of knowledge from experience in the initial teacher training, using the history of a teacher as a source that implements an inclusive didactic proposal. Monitoring was carried out during a semester in the course Theory and Practice of Inclusive Education from an Early Childhood Education degree at the University of Barcelona, in which 43 second-year students participated. This is a qualitative research design with a narrative inquiry approach, where 4 phases were designed to arrive at the final research text; phase 1, registration of field texts; phase 2, preparation of intermediate texts; phase 3, return to the field with the intermediate text for further reflections; phase 4, preparation of the final r esearch t exts t hat m ake u p t his s tudy. T he r esults s how t hat s tudents approach inclusive projects from a personal dimension when interacting with the knowledge that comes from experience and self-knowledge. On the other hand, some tension arose: difficulty dealing with the freedom granted in class; initially, difficulties sharing their experiences orally and in writing, looking for standardized answers. This study allowed us to analyze an educational practice that is being forged in the construction of spaces for coexistence, which invites new reflections on the knowledge of the experience thinking about the inclusive school.