ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Special Educational Needs
This article is part of the Research TopicCultural and Contextual Challenges in the Inclusion of Children with Developmental DisordersView all 9 articles
Available resources and inclusive practices for students with special educational needs: perceptions of Brazilian and Portuguese teachers
Provisionally accepted
Olga Maria Piazentin Rolim Rodrigues1*
Camila Elidia Messias Dos Santos1*
Susana Maria Veiga de Sousa Vieira2
Catarina Rodrigues Grande2
Diana Alves2- 1São Paulo State University, São Paulo, Brazil
- 2Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
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The study aimed to analyze the perception of Brazilian and Portuguese teachers who work with students with special educational needs regarding the inclusive resources available and their inclusive practices, correlating them with personal variables (age, gender) and professional variables (teaching experience, education cycle in which they work, and participation in Special and Inclusive Education courses). A total of 85 Brazilian and 94 Portuguese teachers from public basic education schools participated in the study. The majority were women, with a mean age of 43.6 years among Brazilian teachers and 54.5 years among Portuguese teachers. For most Brazilian teachers, teaching experience was under 20 years, whereas for Portuguese teachers, it was over 20 years. Brazilian teachers predominantly worked in Early Childhood Education and Elementary School I, while Portuguese teachers mainly worked in the third cycle of basic education. Regarding training, 70% of Brazilian teachers and 42% of Portuguese teachers had completed courses in Special and Inclusive Education or related areas. Data collection employed a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Resources and Practices for Inclusive Education instrument, composed of 24 items: nine to assess available resources and 15 to assess inclusive practices in the classroom. Data were collected online. Results indicated that 80% of Portuguese teachers and 34% of Brazilian teachers agreed that resources for inclusion were available. Regarding inclusive practices, 98% of teachers from both countries reported using them in the classroom. Among Brazilian teachers, those with more students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and those who had training in inclusive education perceived more available resources and reported better practices. Brazilian teachers with less experience and those teaching students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) alongside students with other conditions perceived fewer available inclusive resources. Among Portuguese teachers, those who perceived more resources available reported more inclusive practices, and teachers who used additional measures exhibited higher levels of inclusive practices.
Keywords: inclusive resources1, inclusive practices2, basic education3, children with special needs4, perception5, teachers6, school inclusion7
Received: 16 Sep 2025; Accepted: 28 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Rodrigues, Messias Dos Santos, Vieira, Grande and Alves. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Olga Maria Piazentin Rolim Rodrigues
Camila Elidia Messias Dos Santos
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