BETWEEN RIGHTS AND PRACTICE: THE CHALLENGES OF TEACHER EDUCATION FOR TRULY INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Abstract

The consolidation of inclusive education requires the right to schooling to be understood beyond formal access to mainstream classrooms. Permanence, participation, learning, belonging, and access to the curriculum are inseparable dimensions of this right and depend on pedagogical and institutional conditions that support teachers' work. This article analyzes how continuing teacher education, professional collaboration, and inclusive organization of teaching can help transform students' presence into effective participation in school life. This is a qualitative, analytical-interpretive bibliographic study based exclusively on the materials provided for analysis. The corpus includes the collection edited by Fávero, Ferreira, Ireland and Barreiros (2009), with emphasis on contributions by Ainscow and Fleuri, the study by Lockmann and Klein (2022) on inclusive education policies, and two articles by Velho and collaborators (2026) focusing on continuing education and collaborative teaching. The analysis was organized into three axes: inclusion as a right and the removal of barriers to participation; teacher education and professional development; and collaboration, planning, and curriculum access. The findings indicate that enrollment, although essential, does not in itself ensure an inclusive school experience. The realization of the right depends on the institutional capacity to identify barriers, build supports, organize planning time, promote shared professional responsibility, and sustain educational processes connected to real school problems. It is concluded that inclusion becomes stronger when it ceases to be the individual responsibility of one teacher or specialized service and begins to guide the culture, curriculum, and collective decisions of the institution.