3.1 Profile and perception of managers regarding Special Education

Our sample, in the present study, was of 13 SEMED schools that have Multifunctional Resource Rooms, with 13 managers participating in the research. The profile of this sample consisted of 61.5% female and 38.5% male, aged 41 to 50 years old. About 61.5% of these work in the management of schools between four and ten years, with 53.8% of the managers in initial education in Pedagogy. This education of the predominant managers in Pedagogy is due to the fact that SEMED considers, for the exercise of the management,⁵ in schools of the educational network, teachers or pedagogues qualified in school administration, school inspection, educational guidance or school management.

Regarding the continuous education, 100% of the managers indicated that they have Graduate studies (latu sensu), some with more than one specialization, but none with Master’s or Doctorate. Among the areas of specialization, Educational Management (47.7%) stands out among the 11 most cited courses, and was performed by 76.92% of the managers. Only one manager has continuing education in the area of Special Education, which was a specialization in people with autism.

With this profile, it is observed that the education of managers present knowledge about school management that need to be intertwined with decentralized, shared and participative actions. ^{Lück (2009)}, when describing the role of the pedagogical manager incorporated into the school context, analyzes that:

Pedagogical management is the most important of all dimensions of school management, since it is more directly involved with the focus on the school, which is to promote students’ learning and education […]’. It is the dimension to which all the others converge, since it refers to the main focus of teaching, which is the systematic and intentional action of promoting the education and learning of students (^{Lück, 2009}, p. 95).

In order to identify the levels of knowledge of the managers with regard to specific knowledge of Special Education, some items that deal with the subject were listed. It was identified that 100% of the participants reported having read the PNEEPEI document. Of these, 84.6% in full form; and 15.4%, only partially. This shows that legal provisions and information on this area are being disseminated.

With regard to the institutionalization of Specialized Educational Service (SES) in the Pedagogical Master Plan of the school, 100% of the managers pointed out that the SES is contemplated in the Master Plan, but when questioned about how it is organized in the Master Plan of their school, 46.7% did not know how to inform. Those who were able to inform reported the characteristics of SES, such as their organization in the counterpart (20.0%), their partnership with the regular school teacher (6.7%), their organization at specific times according to the needs of the student (13.3%) and its basis in legal documents (13.3%). In this way, we highlight that the managers are unaware of the SES proposal. Consequently, this lack of information may limit the construction of an inclusive school, insofar as its institutionalization is permeated by information contained in legal documents, as well as the training of the school staff, whose actions need to be articulated to the Municipal Teaching System.

When the managers were questioned about the proposal of continuing education in the Pedagogical Master Plan of the school, 61.5% indicated that the school does not have this proposal. This fact was observed in the analysis of school Master Plans and, when mentioned, was linked to SEMED through the Municipal Center of Special Education; however, without much clarity as to how this education would take place.

Given this context, there is a need for a new vision regarding the organization of the school and the training of the professionals who work in it. In this sense, ^{Silva (2015)} affirms that there is an urgent need for the public school and its actors to recognize changes in the inclusive educational system, since the implementation of pedagogical actions is not limited to legal documents, but also to changes in pedagogical attitudes and practices.

Thus, to ^{Vieira, Effgen, Nogueira, & Almeida (2011)}, even with the breadth of research and knowledge built, there is a need for investments in the training of managers, conceived as a government policy in the perspective of inclusion. Thus, this training will enable practices that can concretize the school as an inclusive school institution.

3.2 SEMED education and pedagogical policy regarding specialized educational Service

The education and pedagogical policy of the public schools of the municipality of Manaus is articulated to ^{Resolution no. 038/2015}, which deals with the general regulations of the teaching units of the Municipal Public Network of Manaus regarding the organization of schools towards the care of students of the Special Education, as well as ^{Resolution no. 011/2016}, which defines Special Education, its target audience, enrollment and specialized educational service through MRR and teacher education.

^{Resolution no. 038/2015} deals with the General Regulations of the teaching units of the Municipal Public Network of Manaus, promulgated on March 18, 2016. It is a document that establishes regulatory norms for administrative and pedagogical organization, serving as a parameter for the elaboration of the School Rules of the Units of Education of SEMED. Table 1 contains a summary of this Resolution in relation to Subsection II of Special Education, which is found in Chapter I.

It is verified that Resolution no. 038/2015 brings with it measures for the organization of Special Education in the schools of the network, so it is guided in the construction of inclusive educational systems, considering the Special Education as support and provision of resources for the promotion of learning of the student. Regarding access in schools and SES, it does not indicate a mandatory medical report when enrolling, in order to comply with Technical Note No. 4, dated January 23, 2014, of the Ministry of Education & Secretariat for Continuing Education, Literacy, Diversity and Inclusion. However, the school points out its need to complement SES planning.

Subsequent to the approval of ^{Resolution no. 038/2015}, the Education Council of the Municipality of Manaus (CME) approved Resolution no. 011/CME, dated June 2, 2016, in which the guidelines and procedures for Special Education in the perspective of Inclusive Education in the Municipal Teaching System of Manaus.

This new Resolution is composed of 31 articles. Chapter IV contains Section I - Specialized Educational Service. As a result of its recent approval, it incorporated the principles addressed in the Brazilian Inclusion Law of 2015 (^{Law no. 13,146, dated July 6, 2015}), as well as the 2014/2024 National Education Plan (^{Law no. 13,005, dated June 5, 2014}). Regarding the definition of Special Education, it corroborates with PNEEPEI, in which it is transversal and perpasses all stages and modalities of teaching.

Considering that Resolution No. 011/CME is based on the PNEEPEI document, there is a need for schools to adapt to receive these students, since, to ^{Baptista (2013, p. 47)}, “the challenges of the education system are numerous and the quest to qualify them to offer quality teaching with different pedagogical action plans ensure the inclusion process”. It is observed that the |Resolution introduces the principle of inclusion with recognition of differences and potentialities of the student and equality of conditions for permanence and success in school. However, in order for the inclusion principle to be effective and the school to become inclusive, it is necessary to provide conditions for the full development of the students.

Regarding the target population of Special Education, Resolution No. 011/CME defines students according to PNEEPEI; however, it modifies the term students with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and justifies this change based on current legislation. Thus, the Resolution explicitly states in its Article 8, on ASD:

VII - Autistic Spectrum Disorder (TEA) - a person with autism spectrum disorder is considered to be the carrier of a clinical syndrome with the following characteristics:

a) persistent and clinically significant disability of social communication and interaction manifested by marked impairment of verbal and non-verbal communication used for social interaction; absence of social reciprocity; failure to develop and maintain relationships appropriate to their level of development;

b) restrictive and repetitive patterns of behaviors, interests, and activities manifested by stereotyped motor or verbal behaviors or by unusual sensory behaviors; excessive adherence to ritualized routines and patterns of behavior; restricted and fixed interests (^{Resolution no. 011/CME, 2016}).

With regard to enrollment, Resolution no. 011 establishes the early call for Special Education students. According to information obtained from the Special Education Management of SEMED, the early call of this modality of teaching occurs so that schools can organize themselves regarding the formation of classes, teaching staff, accessibility, pedagogical resources, as well as the SES and its physical structure. However, we believe that this should be clarified before the entire school community so that there is no room for doubt as to its effectiveness and intention.

Regarding the objective of the SES, the analysis of the document shows the same definition as the PNEEPEI when being defined as complementary and supplementary, not substitutive to schooling, so that it needs to be part of the Pedagogical Master Plan of the school, articulated with the health sector and the involvement of the family. Concerning the locus of this service, it indicates that it is held in the Resource Room (RR) and/or Multifunctional Resource Room (MRR) of the schools of the network, as well as in the André Vidal de Araújo Municipal Education Center. However, its operationalization is similar to that of the Special Education Policy of 1994, already repealed, thus, it is not clear what policy is actually adopted by the education network investigated.

When we sought to know the Pedagogical Master Plan of the researched schools, in search to identify its interface with the SES, we observed that this happens in an incipient form. In its Article 6, the Resolution no. 011 says that the Municipal Education System must guarantee Special Education students conditions of access, permanence, ensuring that the SES is institutionalized in the Pedagogical Master Plan, as well as the services and adaptations necessary to meet the specificities of the students. In Article 20, the SES is also signaled, its integration into the Pedagogical Master Plan, which corroborates with Resolution no. 4 of October 2, 2009, which says that the school’s pedagogical plan should institutionalize the SES, as well as its organization. In this sense, Resolution no. 011 is in accordance with the legal provisions presented, however, as mentioned previously, the schools do not present planning of the actions directed to this service.

With respect to teacher education for SES, Resolution no. 011, item III of Article 6, says that they need adequate training to act in this service, as well as teachers of regular teaching trained to include Special Education students in regular education. The Resolution complements, in Article 23, that the minimum training to act in the regular education and MRR follows what is disposed in Art. 62 of ^{Law no. 9,394, of December 20, 1996 6}, complementing that it must be offered by the Teaching Municipal System the opportunity of continuous education of teachers for the SES in the inclusive perspective, as well as training of managers and other professionals of the school.

As we found in the Pedagogical Master Plan of the schools, in relation to the teachers that work in the MRR and RR, their education was not identified for this activity and, according to these Plans, their training is given by the SEMED of Manaus, through the André Vidal de Araújo Municipal Education Center. This points to the need for SEMED to develop actions that orient educational institutions in the structuring process of the SES since its conception, as well as continuing education for the teacher to assume this function.

3.3 Manaus Municipal Educational Network structure for Special Education Students

SEMED is organized in seven district zones (Table 1), including municipal schools, nursery school, Municipal Center for Early Childhood Education (known as CMEI) and Municipal Center for Young and Adult Education (known as CEMEJA). The data in Table 1 were provided by the Special Education Management and the Statistics and Information Division of SEMED in 2017.

Of the 491 schools, it was identified that 409 schools have enrollments of Special Education students, a total of 4,384 students. Of these, 1,129 are enrolled in Special Classes. Of the total number of schools, 304 attend Elementary School and Youth and Adult Education, 100 are Early Childhood Education Centers and there are five nursery schools (Table 3).

The Pedagogical Assemblage was also created in the Municipal Network, which is a Curricular Proposal of the initial grades that is part of the National Pact for Literacy in the Right Age (known as PNAIC), signed by SEMED and The Ministry of Education in 2012, whose objective is to organize the Elementary School (1st, 2nd and 3rd grades) in order to guarantee literacy of students with a maximum of eight years of age. Thus, the Pedagogical Assemblage comprises students in the 1st grade (6 and 7 years old completed until March 31); in the 2^nd grade (7 and 8 years old completed until March 31); in the 3^rd grade (8 and 9 years old completed until March 31 with a certified school life).

A fact that was observed in the data provided by the Special Education Management and the Information and Statistics Division of SEMED is that, in addition to having students with some kind of special educational need in the regular rooms of Elementary School and Youth and Adult Education (known as EJA), there are specific rooms for Special Education students. This information can be observed in Chart 1 below.

Chart 1 Distribution of enrollment in the modalities and stages of teaching by special educational needs. Source: Elaborated by the authors based on data from SEMED/DEPLAN/SIGEAM/DIE, 2017. 

Regarding the Youth and Adult Education - Elementary 1st Special Segment, ^{Resolution no. 011/2016} specifies that these classes will be composed of a maximum of 15 students during the day, in order to provide for the inclusion of Special Education target students aged over 15 years. However, there is, in the aforementioned Resolution, the outline of the pedagogical work and the perspectives of academic progress for these students.

Special Class students are those referred by the regular class teacher by observing in the student some special educational needs and are therefore referred to the Municipal Education Center for special class enrollment. We were informed by the Special Education Management that their stay in this class is temporary - until the development of the skills necessary to return to the regular class is reached. In this sense, the Municipal Education Center has not explained whether these students are referred to the Special Class because of a learning disability or they have any special educational need because of a disability or disorder.

Based on the information presented, we noted that the right to such students is denied, such as enrollment in regular education and to be accompanied by the SES in the Multifunctional Resource Room. This demonstrates its divergence with PNEEPEI, which seeks to break the parallel teaching model and which, historically, segregated students, focusing on disability. This contributes to the exclusion process of the students and, from the information presented, the education network still contemplates the Special Education Policy of 1994 with a model of integration and not of inclusion, according to the legal documents, such as the Salamanca Statement (^{UNESCO, 1994}), Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (^{UN, 2006}), ^{PNEEPEI (2008)} and Brazilian Inclusion Law (^{Law no.13,146, of July 6, 2015}).

3.4 Actions of the Special Education management for continuing teacher education

The Special Education Management is a sector of the public education network of Manaus that works in the Municipal Center of Special Education André Vidal de Araújo, organ linked to SEMED. This management has as its purpose the planning for the continuing education of the teachers, being realized through the Municipal Center of Special Education, who are responsible for this training are professionals with academic education strictu sensu, with Master’s or PhD; however, the educational area of these professionals was not detailed.

This continuing education provided to teachers by the Special Education Management is part of the program “Raising awareness” and is offered in a period of three days. This process of continuing education is organized at the beginning of the school year and three events are carried out during the year. The pedagogical advisors are teachers of this teaching network and are responsible for articulating actions of the Municipal Center of Special Education with the schools, as well as advising the MRR teachers, accompanying the students of the SES and conducting a survey with the MRR teachers on the themes to be worked on in these educational events. These professionals also work in teaching courses, lectures or workshops in the areas of visual impairment, autism, Brazilian Sign Language and production of adapted pedagogical material.

Thus, it is evident that, despite the above-mentioned educational network having professionals to carry out the training courses in schools, seeking to value the school as an important part in this educational context, they do not present (apparently) a deepening of the training of teachers working in MRR.

The teacher education for the SES and the support to the teacher of the regular education need to be articulated to the theoretical references recommended for this training, which comprise multiple areas of knowledge, such as personal, professional development, pedagogical and scientific knowledge, school as knowledge production space, the knowledge of experience and practice (^{Nóvoa, 1997}; ^{Freire, 1996}). This knowledge is necessary both in the education of the teacher of regular education and in the training of the teacher who works in the SES, always in a critical-reflective perspective.

This knowledge includes the deepening of the process of inclusion of students in their needs and specificities, as well as in didactic-pedagogical methodologies, being systematized and structured by actions involving all the school staff and managers of the educational system.

3.5 Multifunctional Resource Rooms/Resource Room: context of Manaus public education network

Regarding the SES, in Resource Rooms (RR) and Multifunctional Resource Rooms (MRR), we verified that the SEMED has 31 RRs, implemented by the municipality and 46 MRRs that received equipment from the Ministry of Education. RR and MRR are available in the District Zones, as shown in Chart 2.

Chart 2 RR and MRR number by District Zones. Source: Elaborated by the authors based on data from SEMED/DEPLAN/SIGEAM/DIE, 2017. 

According to the information obtained in the Special Education Management, these RRs are considered basic (with the minimum necessary) because they do not have all the necessary resources to attend the target population of Special Education and they work with few pieces of equipment and materials. The RR implanted by the municipality are concentrated in Elementary School due to the greater demand of these students for this kind of education.

Chart 2 shows a greater concentration of Resource Rooms in the Northern District Zone, with this Zone also having the largest number of inhabitants in Manaus. The Eastern District Area is expanding and, in the last decade, increased by 20.8% of the total population, according to the 2010 IBGE⁷ data. Despite this fact, the Eastern District Area has no RR.

MRRs deployed by the Ministry of Education receive equipment and resources aimed at the target population of Special Education, according to the ^{Manual de Orientação do Programa de Implantação de Salas de Recursos Multifuncionais (2010)} [Guidance of the Multifunctional Resource Room Implementation Program Handbook]. These rooms present specific materials and equipment for SES aimed at the target population of Special Education.

However, it is the education managers who need to indicate the school that needs their implementation and then inform SEMED about the need for MRR implementation. In this case, the school must indicate the enrollment number of special education students in common education to receive MRR Type 1 and, if the school has blind student enrollments, the MRR Type 2⁸.

MRRs are not implemented in all seven zones that make up the educational network, as shown in Chart 2; thus, there are few MRRs for Early Childhood Education. This service should be passed through early care, enabling access, participation and development of the learning of these students. The West Zone has the largest number of Multifunctional Resource Rooms, which is also notable for concentrating the largest number of schools in the school system - 83, according to Table 1.

However, if compared to the number of Special Education public school students enrolled in the Common Class (Chart 1), MRRs are insufficient to meet demand. Based on these data, it is necessary to follow the actions developed by the professionals who directly accompany the work carried out in the public education network of Manaus; thus, the work developed by coordinators, managers and teachers are important and constitute the link for the construction of an inclusive educational system.

Thus, we present the need for planning, monitoring and counseling of inclusion policies in the city of Manaus, since the demand of the students for the SES is increasing due to the increase of enrollments, and the MRRs implemented by the municipality are not enough to meet them. With this, the investments of the Federal Government in the municipalities and in the states are essential, as well as the monitoring and expansion of these services in order to attend all the students.