From Diversity to the Construction of Educational Needs in Primary Schools. An Intersectional Analysis from Spain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-73782017000100003Keywords:
Special needs education, Cultural diversity, Spain, Educational needsAbstract
Using their teaching experiences with children identified as having special education needs of linguistically, culturally and socioeconomically diverse families, this paper describes the ambiguities teachers face when understanding the needs of these students. To this extent, the informal conversations and interviews with teachers carried out during the observation of three classrooms are used to analyze the way in which ‘cultural’ and ‘biological’ explanations are intertwined and underpin their narratives. The paper discusses how an intersectional analysis allows to describe the constituent character of needs that are seen as objective –special education, diversity–, and how these variables are mixed and produce new forms to understand the diversity in their classrooms. In conclusion, it is argued that special education may be understood as a system that derives meaning from all axes of difference, which are in turn reaffirmed, and which hides the way in which students’ needs are constructed away from school’s responsibility.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2017 Revista Latinoamericana de Educación Inclusiva
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Creative Commons Reconocimiento (by)
Esta licencia permite la explotación de la obra, así como la creación de obras derivadas, la distribución de las cuales también está permitida con la condición de que se haga referencia expresa al autor/a, es decir, que aparezca su nombre en cualquier uso o acto de explotación que se haga de la obra.