Accompanying Programme to Secondary Education

Trial of an inclusive education

Abstract

In the debate about creating devices (dispositifs) to provide answers to the problems related to the ending of high school studies, we consider the analysis of “Accompanying Programme to Secondary Education” (PACES for its acronym in Spanish), developed in Cordoba between 2015 and 2019. We consider that PACES constitutes a unique study case. It is unique because it lasted a short period of time; and because of its articulated development to another device, still in force, “Programme of Inclusion and Completion of Secondary Education for youngsters between the ages of 14 and 17” (PIT 14-17 for its acronym in Spanish) that aims to aid students whose secondary education continuity is at risk. PACES put to work a syllabus and pedagogical organization to tackle the accreditation of subjects and courses in regular secondary school by means of a “different repetition experience”. This was created to avoid school dropout with the purpose of entering PIT 14-17.

This investigation was carried out from a socio-anthropological point of view and from an interpretative approach. This exposition focuses on three main topics: a) origins, functioning and organization of PACES as an inclusive education policy; b) programme design: organizational, pedagogical, didactic and course contents aspects; c) school practices, classroom dynamics and feelings of the people involved in the programme.