Occupational therapy in Basic Education in Brazil: a panoramic overview and some of its voices

Abstract

Guided by dialectical and historical materialism, we present research that focused on understanding the professional field of occupational therapy in education in Brazil. Following the study’s methodological path, the text provides an initial overview that addresses the relationship between this field and Brazilian Basic Education, as well as our understanding of the specific professional practice of occupational therapists hired by the education sector, both public and private, to work in schools across the country. The data were obtained through: (1) an online form distributed nationwide with the support of professional networks and entities representing the category; and (2) interviews with occupational therapists from the education sector. This professional field has mainly been taking shape since the 2000s, assuming porous contours and a broad but not very dense scope, with an irregular conceptual framework and dispersion regarding the references that inform these practices. These practices, in turn, arise from a certain spontaneity, combined with the incorporation of what is familiar from a theoretical-methodological standpoint, and, to some extent, are subject to what external actors to the field believe the role of these professionals should be. Often, the motivation for hiring occupational therapists stems from knowledge of their work in rehabilitation institutions, either in clinical practice or in rehabilitative practice within special education institutions. Considering this, we propose that the horizon to be pursued is one of possibilities for occupational therapists’ actions aimed at a quality, public, diverse, radically inclusive, and thus democratic formal basic education, equipping everyone with the necessary tools for well-being.