Disrupting Neoliberal Pathologies: What Teacher Candidates Believe Students With Disabilities Should Learn

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 3:05 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Disruptions: Perspectives on Teacher Preparation Informed by Disability Studies in Education (Table 1)

Abstract

This study examines teacher candidates’ beliefs about what students should learn. Specifically, it examines the beliefs of teacher candidates who were enrolled in a course on teaching students with disabilities. Education Journey Maps and interviews were conducted with 24 preservice teachers. Analyzed through a conceptual framework of Disability Critical Race Theory and neoliberalism, results indicate that preservice teachers possess an economic habitus that seeks standardized and commodifiable skills. Teacher candidates implicitly understand that human capacity and diversity are multifaceted but believe that holding the same standards for everyone will rid our education system of discrimination against people with disabilities. This work has implications for wider debates on the impacts of neoliberalism on the education of students with diverse abilities.

Author

• Marie Wagner, University of Kansas