Teaching in the In-Between: Opportunities for and Resistance to Inclusive Change in Boundary Work

• In Event: Approaching the Vision: Disability Studies in Education Praxis

Abstract

This qualitative research study examines the experiences and outcomes of five general and special education teachers working toward inclusive education reform within one school district. Interviews, observations, and artifacts collected over a three-year time period are analyzed using the theoretical frameworks of Cultural Activity Theory and the boundary crossing literature. Findings are shared through layered narrative vignettes that capture the complexities and contradictions of inclusive reform. This study contributes to the wider literature offering a glimpse into the “realities” of inclusive reform through theoretical analyses of the complexities of multiple and intersecting boundaries of general and special education. Recommendations for how we, as educators, scholars, and researchers, can (re)imagine public education through inclusive educational reform are put forth.

Authors

• Amy J. Petersen, University of Northern Iowa

• Deborah J. Gallagher, University of Northern Iowa

• Danielle M. Cowley, University of Northern Iowa

• Shehreen Iqtadar, University of Northern Iowa