Teaching children with special educational needs: satisfaction and difficulties referred by teachers

The modern teacher has to face complex situations requiring competence, thought and creative ability. From previous research (Cardarello et. al. 2009, 2011; Antonietti et. al. 2010), which aimed at looking into teachers’ professionalism and starting from the teachers’ vision of their own profession, it emerged how teaching and the relationship with children with special educational needs in inclusive school context represent a sizeable challenge for the teachers themselves. Such results are confirmed in the Italian literature in this particular field (Lava et al. 2004; Purdue et al. 2009; Ianes 2011). This study intends to carry out research into those aspects documented by teachers which refer to concrete episodes and professional practices giving both satisfaction and putting teachers on the spot. The study deals with the teachers’ awareness of their own teaching experience on a personal level and it will describe the area of the teaching profession (Perrenoud 1999; Barcellona Conference 2002; Coggi 2004) of those teachers involved in encounters with children with special needs.