Discrimination and segregation: Effects of school desegregation on life projects for municipal schools graduate students who participated in school integration projects

Abstract

The international literature depicts harmful effects of school integration policies for the inclusion of students with disabilities. However, little is known about the effects of these policies over time. This study looked into the life stories and narrative of four students diagnosed with mild intellectual disabilities who participated in projects of school integration in two municipal schools in the Region of Valparaíso, Chile, after they had finished or dropped out of elementary school. The design was a qualitative multiple case study. Content analysis showed that from the students´perspective, the education they received through the integration program was of lower quality than expected. They expressed feelings of discrimination both by teachers and regular classroom peers, and narrated decreasing expectations in terms of their future academic achievement. Education gradually became less important for their life projects, as they sought to fulfill other expectations such as economic independence. These findings are discussed in relation to inclusive education from a human rights perspective.