The Educational Counselor as one of the inclusive action facilitators in the school

Abstract

The Educational Counselor is one of the professionals in the school management team. His role is to be the relationship mediator in every situation in school (student-student, student-teachers, teachers-families, and school-families). This research aimed at discussing the Educational Counselor as one of the facilitating agents for the articulation of inclusive actions in a school environment through an interdisciplinary perspective. To achieve this target a qualitative study was chosen. Nine Educational Counselor have been interviewed, and the generated data were evaluated through content analysis. The results have shown that although the research participants have difficulty conceptualizing school inclusion, they understand the idea of school inclusion as necessary to develop the subjects’ potential. They also have shown that there is no effective inclusion of students with disabilities, and they have pointed out that, although the institution can offer the necessary resources for inclusive practice, and even continuing education, there is still a long way to go before school inclusion happens. Regarding health issues, the Educational Counselor’ statements have shown a belief in the importance of training in a school environment, but they often seem to forget that the school is a space for education and not for health. We have been taught that professionals who are willing to work with inclusion need continued training to improve their practices, which, despite being recent, are significant and produce paradigm shifts about what they have believed to be inclusive practice.