Pre-school and primary school teachers for children with special needs evaluate their professional competences: a research in progress

The activation of special university courses devoted to pre-school and primary-school teachers, that still work in schools, for their qualification and specialization in special education was an occasion to inquire the knowledge possessed from teachers and a research opportunity to investigate the ideas of their professional figure. The scope of the research was twofold: to explore the formative needs of who attend the university course and to survey the perceptions about the real and ideal profile of professional competences. According to the aim of the research and to the literature a questionnaire articulated has been processed. The questionnaire, through an appropriate scale, surveys the opinion of the teachers presenting a list of competences that could considered relevant for the exercise of the profession of teaching and of teaching to children with especial needs.The research has been involved 299 teaching of the province of Piacenza, Parma, Reggio Emilia and Modena in Italy. The first analysis of the data is related, in particular, to the relevance of each competence in teacher’s evaluation according to the different professional identities and working experiences. The research is still in progress and the aim, beginning from this first exploratory surveying, is to improve the instrument of research through theoretical studies, focus group and interviews.