O Plano Educacional Individualizado para o público da educação especial na Educação de Jovens e Adultos em João Pessoa – PB

Abstract

The present study has as its object of investigation the Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) of students who are part of the special education target in Youth and Adult Education (YAE) in the municipality of João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil, seeking to identify its advances and challenges. It emerges from concerns related to the researcher’s personal, academic, and professional trajectories, which have revealed gaps in the way professionals understand and operationalize the IEP. Associated with this is the context of YAE, in which this modality brings together a significant number of special education students who share trajectories of vulnerability and exclusion from political, educational, and economic perspectives, factors that motivate intervention in this reality. As a guiding thread, our initial reflections are structured around the following guiding question: how does the development and use of IEPs for special education students enrolled in YAE occur in the municipality of João Pessoa, Paraíba? In light of this context, the general objective consisted of analyzing the processes of development and implementation of IEPs for special education students in YAE in the municipality in question. The specific objectives were (a) to describe the main challenges faced by the selected schools in the process of developing and implementing IEPs for special education students in YAE; (b) to understand how interaction and responsive understanding among schools occur in the process of developing and implementing IEPs, based on formative and collaborative aspects; and (c) to analyze the impacts of the use of IEPs on the daily lives of special education students in YAE in the municipality of João Pessoa, Paraíba, considering their implications for the schooling process. This is an exploratory study with a qualitative approach, carried out with seven YAE teachers from three schools that, in 2024, concentrated the highest number of special education students enrolled in this modality. Semi-structured interviews were used as the data generation technique, and the statements produced were analyzed in light of Content Analysis as proposed by Bardin (2016). Additionally, a documentary analysis of four IEPs, covering the period from 2022 to 2025, was conducted with the aim of understanding the structure that guides the protocol of these documents. Based on this analytical process, it was observed that the structure of IEPs in João Pessoa has undergone transformations resulting from a reduction in their fields, mainly affecting the recording of students’ assessment aspects, as well as the spaces reserved for identifying the professionals involved in the preparation of the document. It is argued that this protocol should present a more detailed level of information in order to promote shared responsibility and decision-making. With regard to the interview results, it is evident that, although the IEP is recognized by most interviewees as a positive dynamic in YAE, its methodology in João Pessoa requires consistent investment, especially in the formative and collaborative aspects of professionals, so that it may shift from a bureaucratic action centralized on the general education teacher to a dialogical practice that contributes to the schooling process of special education students in YAE.