Forging Teacher Agency for Inclusive Education: Exploring Teacher Education and Development

• In Event: Interrogating the Notion of Inclusive Education Through Research, Policy, and Teacher Preparation

Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, to illuminate the complex yet often overlooked experiences of special education teachers working to advance inclusive practices for students with extensive support needs (ESN). Second, to understand the impact of a master’s degree teacher education program designed to promote agentic action of inclusive practices through strategic instruction. We sought to understand teacher agency development by exploring the tensions surfaced when working to counter the dominant and enduring ways of enacting inclusion for students with ESN.

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical orientation of this work presupposes how schools are organized along ableist ideologies enforcing notions of normalcy and prioritizing interests of those with greater proximity to ‘normal’ in schools. Students with ESN (i.e., intellectual disability, multiple disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, and deaf blindness) are historically excluded from educational opportunities with peers without disabilities (Kurth et al., 2014). Thus, this study centers the experiences of educators addressing forces of exclusion specific to students with ESN. Furthermore, data organization was supported by the conceptual framework developed through a review of literature (Miller et al., 2020), yet influenced by inductive exploration of data to allow for the emergence of themes.

Methods

Participants were university teacher preparation scholars enrolled in a low-incidence disabilities special education master’s program. Each of the five scholars in this study participated five times in focus groups spanning their two-year degree program. Focus group questions centered on their experiences, understanding, advocating for, and enacting inclusive practices in unique school contexts. A multiple case study design (Stake, 2006) allowed for robust analysis of the phenomenon of interest, teacher agency for inclusive practices, within and across cases to account for the nuanced and intersectional scholar experiences (Bhattacharya, 2017).

Data Sources

Data sources consisted of transcripts from 15 focus groups in which the 5 participants participated, as well as additional program artifacts (e.g., application and exit surveys). Data analysis engaged a multi-phase process including unitizing, categorizing, defining, and applying codes (Rodwell, 1998; Saldaña, 2015). Inductive coding (i.e., ground-up emergence of categories and themes from the data; Strauss & Corbin, 1998) and axial coding (i.e., reorganizing and refocusing of initial categories; Saldaña, 2015) took place both within- and across-case analysis.

Results

Preliminary data analysis revealed (a) insights into program-specific impacts on agency in forging inclusive education, supports, and communities; (b) actions and strategies utilized across contexts; and (c) ideological orientations towards inclusion, disability, and barriers/forces suppressing teacher agency. Findings revealed that the impact of the teacher education program was mediated by teacher histories, ideologies, and positioning within schools, all of which contributed to shaping agency. Findings also illuminated the multidimensionality of teacher agency through time and scaffolded exposure via deliberate coursework/networks — a critical component of this study.

Significance

This study provides insight into the impact of a teacher preparation program focused on cultivating agents of change for inclusive practices. This was done by examining educator growth over time and illuminating structures, supports, and strategies that facilitated implementation of inclusive practices.

Authors

• Courtney L. Wilt, University of Wisconsin - Whitewater
  Presenting Author

• Samantha Gross Toews, California State University - Northridge
  Presenting Author