Gerardo Echeita Sarrionandia

El principio del 'Universal Design' : concepto y desarrollos en la enseñanza superior

Universal design is one of the basic principles in national and international legislation in favour of people with disabilities. It is therefore included in recent Spanish legislation on higher education. This paper gives a broad review of sources and analyses the topic. Different perspectives on universal design are commented upon, and the implications for education are spelled out. Interestingly, it is precisely in higher education where there are more developments in universal design. It is concluded that universal design affords a more promising perspective for the promotion of inclusive education than curriculum adaptations do, but further research is necessary into the conditions and barriers that foster or prevent the implementation of universal design and the important results in terms of learning and participation for all students, not only those with disabilities.

A critical review of education support practices in Spain

The objective of this study is to analyse different models of educational support that are used in schools with public funding from the perspective of support teachers, counsellors and members of m...ABSTRACT The objective of this study is to analyse different models of educational support that are used in schools with public funding from the perspective of support teachers, counsellors and members of management teams. Participants were 79 professionals from the three areas mentioned above. The methodological approach was a phenomenological qualitative one using focus groups and subsequent qualitative analysis of the data. The systems of categories and subcategories underwent a progressive process of triangulation. The results show that professionals identify support practices that can be divided into two differentiated models: a traditional model linked to a medical perspective of providing personal support to the most vulnerable students and a support model consistent with inclusive education. There are also discrepancies among professionals, especially about the need for support to be provided within the reference classroom. The discussion focuses on identifying essential aspects, to more effectively support students and teachers in an ordinary school context. In addition, professionals question the regulations for their disconnection from the reality they experience in schools. All this requires a rethinking of the functions of support teachers supported by careful initial and ongoing training.

Análisis y valoración crítica de las funciones del profesorado de apoyo desde la educación inclusiva

In one educational system that aspires to become more inclusive, all its elements must be articulated for getting it. This text invites to readers to reflect about a central and multifaceted element in the complex and dilemmatic inclusive process .We based our analysis on a broad perspective of the concept of support, which involves articulating different resources within and outside the classroom for boosting policy, cultural and school practice changes. The question arises to what extent support policies that develop in our country, contribute to the systemic transformation and improvement of curriculum and school organization for all students. Also, it is analyzed the rules on the special educational needs support teachers in all autonomous communities in Spain. The results reflect a great variation among Communities and inequalities among the support teacher´ duties and way of working. Finally, we propose the need to rethink these functions from an inclusive education framework.