Mentoring for Inclusive Reform: Understanding the Situated Agency of Special Education Induction Mentors

• In Event: Special and Inclusive Education Teacher Leadership and Preparation

Abstract

Induction mentoring can be crucial in supporting beginning special education teachers (SETs) with either adopting or resisting dominant approaches to special education and inclusion that often reify ableism. This qualitative study explored the identity and agency of mentors of beginning SETs through the use of phenomenological interviewing, identity mapping, concept mapping, and artifact analysis. The findings suggest that mentors perceived their agency to advance inclusion as limited. Some mentors discussed using their agency to support beginning SETs with challenging marginalizing practices and narratives in their contexts. However, these examples were isolated and reliant on several individual and contextual factors. This paper presents a subset of the findings from the study and discusses the scholarly significance of this research.

Authors

• Erin M. Stewart, Puget Sound Educational Service District

• Carly A. Roberts, University of Washington