From frustration to joy or from joy to frustration? Meanings about educational inclusion constructed by teachers based on their emotional experience ¿De la Frustración a la Alegría o de la Alegría a la Frustración? Significados sobre inclusión educativa c

Abstract

This study was aimed at analyzing, based on the participating teachers' emotional experience, the meanings constructed by them regarding the task of responding to diversity. To do this, the researchers analyzed 12 interviews with a purposive sample of teacher duos composed of a regular teacher and a special education teacher working together within the framework of the School Integration Program in 4 schools of the Metropolitan Region, Chile. In the interviews, teachers were asked to narrate incidents experienced as part of the task of providing an educational response to diversity and in which they had also experienced emotion. Content analysis was performed based on the grounded theory. Results show that teachers report a variety of emotions, with frustration and joy being the most frequent. The meanings generated mainly allude to pedagogical achievement and to the adjustment of behavior to the school context. The conflict between the results obtained and the guiding principles of inclusive education is discussed, along with the possibilities arising from considering emotions as a resource for understanding and tackling the challenge of achieving a more inclusive education.