In Portugal, the implementation of inclusive education has evolved over the last two decades and in 2018 was marked by the enactment of the Decree-Law No. 54/2018, which replaced the previous diploma – Decree-Law No. 3/2008, for whom specialized services and supports were mobilized after a process of eligibility and assessment by reference to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health – version for children and youth, ICF-CY.

The Decree-Law no. 54/2018 advocates for a multilevel approach to access the curriculum, as a way of providing a preventive pedagogical response to all students. The multilevel approach comprises the implementation of three levels of measures, selected accordingly to students’ support needs: universal measures, targeted to all students “to promote participation and improved learning” (Art. 8); selective measures, targeted to students whose learning supports were not addressed by universal measures (Art. 9), and; additional measures “to respond to intense and persistent communication, interaction, cognitive or learning difficulties that require specialized resources of support to learning and inclusion” (Art. 10). These measures are described in students’ educational documents, namely in the student Technical-Pedagogical Report (for students with selective and additional measures).

More than two years past on the DL 54/2018 implementation, this study intends to describe the way documents reflect legal determinations, namely the characterization of students to determine the adoption of measures and supports for learning and inclusion, under the multilevel model, to respond to children and youth’s needs, and the resources to assign. This study mainly aimed to answer the following research questions:

a)      How do the students’ support measures differ from the two decree-laws?

b)      Are there any differences concerning the resources allocated to the students?

In this sense, this study compared educational documents from 83 students that were developed under both legislations, to verify whether there were changes in the way students were evaluated and characterized, and its consequences in the allocation of students’ support measures.

For this purpose, an analysis of the current documents was carried out, collecting information in the Technical-Pedagogical Reports (DL 54/2018) for further comparison to the one on the previous Individualized Educational Plan (DL 3/2008). The participants in this study were 83 students for whom universal, selective or additional measures have been allocated, who attended two clusters of schools in the north region of the country, within the metropolitan area of Porto. It totalized 166 analyzed documents. The time-lapse difference between both documents varied from one to five years. Most students were male students and almost half the cases were diagnosed with intellectual disability, followed by syndromes and learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder and multi-disabilities. Fewer students were diagnosed with language disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Down syndrome and other varied diagnoses. Most students were in primary school. A coding book was developed to extract data from each educational document (developed under the DL 3/2008 and the DL 54/2018), including the functioning dimensions used to describe the performance/functioning of each student; the selected educational measures. For analyzing the functioning dimensions included in students’ descriptions an inductive content analysis was carried out using the ICF-CY as a reference framework. In this sense, the information contained in students’ descriptions were coded in relation to Body Functions, Activities and Participation and Environmental Factors.

This study compared the legal documents from the new and the previous decree-laws that regulate special and inclusive education in Portugal, shedding light on the consequences legal changes have on the students’ characterizations and, most importantly, on the resources allocated to each student. The findings highlight the loss of information in terms of understanding the students in face of a holistic perspective, especially within dimensions such as Body Functions and Activity and Participation. Current descriptions of students include less information regarding these dimensions of functioning. They also reveal the increase of more restrictive measures as students progressed to the subsequent levels of education, inversely with the number of staffing resources. The results also suggest that parents have a low level of engagement in developing legal documents. In conclusion, this study makes an important reflection concerning the introduction and implementation of new educational policies, which can be a dynamic and controversial process. It underlines the importance of listening to the professionals that assist students, as well as developing these documents in a more open manner, by involving more actively parents and students, in adapting and changing support measures whenever appropriate.

Decreto-Lei n.o 3/2008 de 7de janeiro. Diário da República n.o 4/2008 - Série I. Lisboa: Ministério da Educação Decreto-Lei n.o 54/2018 de 6 de julho. Diário da República n.o 129/2018 - Série I. Lisboa: Ministério da Educação