"Outside of This, I Really Have No Space": Space and Teacher Collaboration in Bilingual Inclusion

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 19
  In Roundtable Session: Engaging and Reimagining Racialized Spatialities Within and Across Bilingual Educational Settings

Abstract

Objective: This paper focuses on co-teaching and collaboration in a bilingual special education context. Studies on co-teaching often address collaborations between general education teachers and either a special education or an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, as opposed to the dynamics that occur when all three are present (e.g., Honigsfeld & Dove, 2010; Friend, Cook, Hurley-Chamberlain, & Shamberger, 2010). Furthermore, co-teaching in dual language contexts have focused on the relationships between teachers of different languages, novice and veteran teacher pairings, or between a bilingual teacher and a special education teacher (e.g., Hock, 2018; Pontier & Gort, 2016; Schwarz & Gorgatt, 2018). Through the perspective of teacher collaboration, this paper examines how physical and imagined spaces in the classroom and school building are related to racialization and special education.

Theoretical Framework: This paper uses critical race spatial analysis (Morrison, Annamma, & Jackson, 2017) and language policy (Menken & García, 2010; Ricento & Hornberger, 1996) to examine how teachers make sense of space through their differing roles on the fourth grade team, and how this relates to language, race, and disability.

Methods/Data Sources: This presentation draws from a year-long ethnographic study with the fourth grade team at Dual Language Charter School, racially-segregated inclusive bilingual charter school in Philadelphia, which contrasts with the typical populations described within dual language education. Participants included five focal teachers: bilingual, Spanish, English, special education, and ESL. Methods included participant observation, interviews with teachers and administrators, document collection, and map creation. This paper focuses on the experiences of the ESL and special education teachers, the service delivery model, and the spaces in the classroom and within the school that these teachers navigate.

Results: The study shows that service delivery teachers navigate spaces very differently from classroom teachers. The special education and ESL teachers both express a lack of ownership within mainstream classroom spaces, which impacts both their collaboration and co-teaching relationships and how students who receive those services are included. While the ESL teacher reported feeling like an aide inside the mainstream English classroom, the special education teacher felt disconnected from both English and Spanish the mainstream classrooms, because of her pull-out groups. The inclusion of teachers in spaces has implications for the service delivery model of ESL and special education, particularly within dual language programs.

Scholarly Significance: This study asks researchers and practitioners to question the efficacy of the service delivery model for inclusion and to consider how the (lack of) inclusion of ESL and special education teachers impacts the (lack of) inclusion of students with disabilities, ELs, and ELs with disabilities in the classroom, particularly in racially segregated settings. The consideration of how teachers navigate space in the classroom and in the school building can help to create more inclusive classrooms, both physically and pedagogically. Furthermore, when evaluating and examining co-teaching relationships, schooling and service delivery structures and logistical hurdles must also be considered. This paper has implications for how different stakeholders and types of educators collaborate to improve student learning.

Author

• Jennifer Phuong, Swarthmore College