Barreras culturales para la inclusión: Políticas y prácticas de integración en Chile

The purpose of this study was to analyze conceptions and practices involving integration in Chilean compulsory education. A qualitative design involving was used, which involved a discourse analysis of the Chilean educational policy on integration, and an empirical study in three public municipal schools of one commune. Data were analyzed through pragmatic discourse analysis. Results. The Chilean educational policy is hybrid since it advocates for inclusion from within the logic of human rights, but prescribes a model of integration with a strong psycho-medical emphasis, which operates through individual diagnosis and pedagogical treatment on behalf of the special education teacher. Integration is presented as optional and complementary through the form of school integration projects (SIP) financed through individual vouchers. Local discursive practices translate this policy as a policy for the ‘SIP children’, that is, those who participate in these projects and, therefore, have a diagnosis and receive additional voucher. These children are labeled and segregated. Responsibility for learning outcomes falls mainly in the hands of the specialized teacher, whose work is encapsulated. Teachers believe that children s learning possibilities depends on the level of disability and family support, a belief that draws the schools away from its pedagogical function. Discussion. From the viewpoint of inclusion, these practices and conceptions create a cultural barrier, since they situate the possibilities of educational change outside the educational scope and outside the regular classroom. This places at risk the possibilities for constructing an educational system with equity.