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This article examines policy change in special education in Brazil, with regard to educational provision for learners with special needs. There has been a far-reaching policy shift from educational provision for such learners in special schools to provision in mainstream schools. The focus of the research reported here was on particular educational settings, schools and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Brazil. The research provided insights into the different discourses about inclusion that circulated in these settings and into the limited nature of capacity-building for teachers. It also showed that some teachers and educational practitioners (e.g. peripatetic support staff) were devising inclusive pedagogic practice by drawing on different textual and multimodal resources, thereby demonstrating individual agency and reflexivity. At the same time, they were constrained by the paperwork demands associated with the management and monitoring of policy change. These managerial constraints are illustrated here, with reference to the institutional practices, the particular literacy events, and the power asymmetries involved in the production of student evaluations. The article highlights the value of taking account of situated literacy practices and the uses of particular kinds of texts and genres in ethnographic research into educational policy processes, as well as analyzing policy discourses.
