Abstract

PALACIOS, Rosario; LARRAZABAL, Sofia  and  BERWART, Rocío. Special Educational Needs Students’ Inclusion in Chile: Tensions between Theory and Practice. Iztapalapa. Rev. cienc. soc. humanid. [online]. 2021, vol.42, n.91, pp.213-242.  Epub Nov 01, 2021. ISSN 2007-9176.  https://doi.org/10.28928/ri/912021/aot3/palaciosr/larrazabals/berwartr.

This article discusses how public policy understands the concept of inclusion in relation to students with special educational needs or disabilities and translates it into regulations, and how such regulations are implemented. Drawing on ethnographic observation we unpack the very varied forms of implementing inclusion within Chilean educational policy. Our main finding is that there is no single and fixed concept of inclusion when enacting public policy, but rather that inclusion materialises in practice, dynamically and in multiple ways, bringing together diverse actors, human and non-human, and their ongoing agencies. This situation makes the implementation of a univocal national policy difficult, but at the same time, it opens the way for territorialisation of situated practices and knowledge.

Keywords : educational policy; special educational needs; inclusion; ethnography; Santiago Chile.