History of the PEI

Planning what, how and when to teach a student is nothing new, on the contrary, it was born alongside the history of schooling worldwide. When the subject relates to special education, though, there are some particularities.

The main particularities are: why and where to teach.

For many years students with disabilities had little or no chance of accessing school. At that time, the view of disability was that these people should be held in the custody of society and the State. The few students who did have access to school, however, showed that teaching and learning were possible.

The movement for school inclusion therefore began to grow. In the 1960s, legislation started providing the legal backing for the schooling of students with disabilities, global developmental disorders or giftedness in mainstream schools.

The Individualized Education Plan (PEI) follows a path similar to the movements around special education and the ways disability has been understood.

Students with no gap, no disadvantage and no need for curriculum enrichment were served by the school curriculum as it was. For the other students, though, the movement was:

If there is no intention of schooling the student, neither is there a PEI.
If there is an intention of schooling in a separate or segregated setting, we will have a PEI oriented to the service or the professional.

If, however, there is an intention of schooling within the view of school inclusion and the social approach to disability, we will have a PEI addressing that student's school path with goals set by the school's educators and by the professionals of the services that back their schooling. That is, a PEI centered on the individual.

References:
TANNÚS-V, Gabriela.; MENDES, Enicéia G. . Inclusão escolar e o planejamento educacional individualizado: estudo comparativo sobre práticas de planejamento em diferentes países. REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE EDUCAÇÃO, v. 23, p. 1-18, 2018.