David Rodrigues receives the “International Leader 2017” Award from the Council for Exceptional Children – Division of International Special Education & Services DISES.
Professor of Special Education, he joined as a professor at the Technical University of Lisbon in 1980. He obtained his PhD in 1987 with a thesis on children with Cerebral Palsy and earned the title of “Aggregate” at the same University in 1999. In 2016 he ceased teaching career as a Full Professor (UPt).
Coordinated the Minerva Project Center of the Technical University (1987/1993) – Digital Technologies for students with disabilities. At the same University, he coordinated the Master’s Degree in Special Education (1991-2009) and the Expressive Therapies Course – Music Therapy and Dance Therapy (1999), the first courses on this subject in Portuguese universities.
He held various positions at the University, including Department Director, member of the Strategic Planning Group, Chairman of the Pedagogical Council, Chairman of the Assembly of Representatives.
He has lectured as a Guest Professor at several Portuguese (Porto, Coimbra, Azores) and foreign (KUL-Belgium, UNICAMP, UEDESC, UNESP and UFES-Brazil and USJ – China) universities, among others. He has a postdoctoral degree at Virginia State University (USA). Supervised several PhD theses and Master dissertations. He has invited, by invitation, conferences at foreign universities and international congresses, namely in Spain, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Bulgaria, Russia, Lithuania, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Cape Verde, Pakistan, UAE (Dubai and Abu Dhabi ) and Macau.
He is a guest lecturer at the École Supérieure de l’Éducation Nationale (France). He has collaborated on initiatives by UNESCO, UNICEF and Handicap International and has represented Portugal in several European Projects, including Helios II and Tempus (in Ukraine, Lithuania and Russia). He was a member of the Expert Group on Social Inclusion at the Council of Europe and Vice-President for Europe of the International Society for Child Studies.
He is the author / organizer of 36 books published in Portugal, Brazil, Spain and Germany and has published about 100 articles in journals. He belongs to the Editorial Board of 8 scientific journals from Portugal, Brazil, Spain, France and the United Kingdom.
He was Paralympic Ambassador (Beijing, 2008) and received the International Research Prize “Latin Union” (2007).
In 2017 he was awarded the “Distinguished International Leader Award” by the Council for Exceptional Children – DISES (United States) and for this he received a unanimous Congratulation Vote of the Plenary of the Assembly of the Republic (205 / XIII).
He is President of Pro – Inclusion – National Association of Special Education Teachers (member of the European Network on Inclusive Education and Disability), director of the magazine “Inclusive Education”, member of the Advisory Board of the Portuguese Society of Educational Sciences and the Research Center in Education, Institute of Education and University of Lisbon.
He is National Counsellor of Education since June 2015.
He is a poet. He has 9 Haiku poetry books, with poetry published in Portuguese, English, Japanese, Croatian, Slovenian, German, Spanish, Russian and other languages.
He is the pianist of the “Dixie Gang“ – the oldest Portuguese traditional jazz band in performance.
Author / Editor Books:
1. Special Education – Motor Disability – Text Anthology (1981), ISEF, Lisbon
2. Disability and Therapeutic Motricity (1984), ISEF, Lisbon
3. New Technologies in Special Education (1987), ISEF, Lisbon
4. Methods and Strategies in Special Education – Text Anthology (1986), ISEF, Lisbon.
5. Innovation in Special Education (1995), SPCE, Lisbon.
6. Minutes of the Iberomerican Congress on Informatics in Education (1994), DPGF, Ministry of Education, Lisbon. (3 vols.)
7. School and Integration in Europe – Values and Practices (1997), SPCE, Lisbon.
8. School and Integration in Europe – values and practices (1997), SPCE, Lisbon.
9. School and Integration in Europe: values and practices (1997), SPCE, Lisbon.
10. The Role of Resource Centers in Supporting Integration in Education, Helios II, Lisbon.
11. Body Space and Movement: the spatial representation of the body in children with cerebral palsy (1999), INIC, Lisbon.
12. Education and Difference: values and practices for an Inclusive Education (2001), Porto Editora, Porto.
13. Theories of Social Exclusion (2003), Peter Lang, Berlin.
14. The places of Social Exclusion – a device of pedagogical differentiation (2004), Cortês, S. Paulo.
15. Perspectives on Inclusion: From Education to Society (2004), Porto Editora, Porto.
16. Inclusive Education and Special Educational Needs (2005), UFSM Publisher, Santa Maria
17. Inclusion and Education: Twelve Views on Inclusive Education (2006), Summus, S. Paulo.
18. Adapted Motor Activity: The Joy of the Body (2006), Medical Arts, S. Paulo.
19. Inclusive Education. Are we making progress? (Org.) (2006), FEEI, Lisbon.
20. Research in Inclusive Education, Vol. 1, (Org.) (2006), FEEI, Lisbon.
21. Learning Together to Learn Better, (Org.) (2007), FEEI, Lisbon.
22. Research in Inclusive Education, Vol. 2, (Org.) (2007), FEEI, Lisbon.
23. Inclusive Education Pathways in Portugal: Ten Case Studies (2008), FEEI, Lisbon.
24. Body values and activities, (Org.) (2008), Summus, S. Paulo
25. The Body We (Un) Know, (Org.) (2008), FMH, Lisbon.
26. Fundamentals of Inclusive Education (2008), SESI, Florianópolis.
27. Inclusive Education – People with Physical and Motor Disabilities (2008), SESI, Florianópolis.
28. Magazine “The Psychomotricity” – (Special Tribute Number to Vitor da Fonseca), (2009), nº 12.
29. Inclusive Education: from concepts to Training Practices (Org.) (2012), Piaget Institute, Lisbon.
30. Equity and Inclusive Education (2013), Professions, Porto (2nd Ed., 2015)
31. Information and Communication Technologies – ICT – in Special Education (2014), UAH – University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares.
32. Inclusion in Schools (2014), Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, Lisbon.
33. Inclusion and Human Rights (2016), Professions, Porto.
34. Essays on Inclusive Education: Rehearsing to Debut (2018). Pro-Inclusion Issues.
35. Teacher Training, Pedagogical Practices and School Inclusion (2017) EDUFES, Espírito Santo, Brazil.
36. Essays on Inclusive Education (2018), Pro – Inclusion Editions, Lisbon.
Contact: [email protected]