EDUCATIONAL INCLUSION, COGNITIVE DIVERSITY, AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES: PEDAGOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

The growing presence of digital technologies in educational contexts has reshaped pedagogical practices, the organization of teaching work, and conceptions of learning. Within the field of inclusive education, this process acquires specific contours as it affects the schooling of students with diverse cognitive profiles, demanding critical reflection on the meanings attributed to technology in promoting inclusion. This chapter aims to discuss the relationship between educational inclusion, cognitive diversity, and digital technologies from a pedagogical perspective that understands technology as mediation rather than an automatic solution to historically complex educational challenges. Grounded in critical pedagogy, sociology of education, and contemporary studies on educational technologies, the analysis problematizes dominant discourses of innovation, personalization, and efficiency often associated with digital technologies, highlighting their pedagogical limits and implications in contexts of cognitive diversity. Engaging with authors such as Freire, Biesta, Selwyn, and Holmes and Tuomi, the chapter argues that the integration of digital technologies into inclusive education requires pedagogical intentionality, teacher mediation, and ethical commitment to human formation. It is argued that inclusive practices mediated by technology should prioritize participation, recognition of cognitive singularities, and educational justice, avoiding processes of algorithmic standardization, control, and medicalization. The chapter concludes that digital technologies can contribute to expanding pedagogical possibilities in inclusive education when subordinated to educational projects committed to diversity, intellectual autonomy, and the centrality of human relationships in the educational process.