Secondary School, teachers training and inclusive education: a field research

Abstract

Italian research on inclusion topics has produced a model of school integration of disabled students appreciated at international level, which is documented by a significant scientific literature mainly
concerning the primary school.
The aim of this article is to contribute to the exploration of a less known and studied reality: inclusive education in middle school and secondary school.
The research helps to bridge a deficit of investigation and focuses on classroom teachers. It investigates the levels of education, knowledge/competence and professional experiences of classroom
teachers in relation to the topics of inclusion, educational and didactic processes that they are called to activate in alliance with specialist teachers for integration. Teachers that attended a university course answered a questionnaire. Among the most interesting results of the research show that: the inclusion processes improve qualitatively only if it improves the quality of training of all teachers; the study of Pedagogy and Special Didactics is fundamental to the training of all teachers, not only those specialized; pedagogical and special-didactic methodologies are transferable in the ordinary Didactic improving it; the distances of initial formation and continuously of the classroom teachers on the topics of the inclusion must be rethought.