Teacher education, InExclusion, and the implicit ideology of Separate but Equal: An invitation to a dialogue

Abstract

In this analytic essay, we initiate a dialogue about the place of disability in a multicultural education framework, and the role of inclusive education in a democracy. Problematizing the common omission of the topic of disability oppression from anti-oppression pedagogies and from social justice education generally, we invite teacher educators concerned with educational equity to position themselves on the persistent issue of the segregation of large numbers of students labeled with disabilities in schools, and to consider how we might engage in sustained dialogue toward pursuing an agenda that is opposed to the systematic deployment of educational segregation in all its forms. In addition to opening this broad conversation, we have specifically invited dialogic interchange with three of our teacher educator colleagues whose responses are embedded within this manuscript.

Social capital and trust for inclusion in school and society

“…There are even greater risks to students from being in schools that are devoid of trust. There is the risk of marginalisation and failure of individual students (Lalvani and Broderick, 2015) and their disconnection from a school community that has no investment in them or in their success. There is a particular risk that students with diagnoses of special needs miss out on their teachers’ and their peers’ belief in their capacity to succeed and their contribution to that success.…”

Disability Critical Race Theory: Exploring the Intersectional Lineage, Emergence, and Potential Futures of DisCrit in Education

“…Positioning DisCrit as an exemplary intersectional analysis (Cook & Williams, 2015; Garcia & Scott, 2016; Ulysse, Berry, & Jupp, 2016), scholars have begun to explore racism and ableism as interlocking oppressions (Kohli, 2016; Lalvani, Broderick, Fine, Jacobowitz, & Michelli, 2015) in fields such as counseling (Peters, 2017), higher education (Ledesma & Calderón, 2015), psychology (Wagner, 2016), and education policy (Ard & Knaus, 2013).…”

Introduction to the Special Issue: Antibias Curriculum and Critical Praxis to Advance Social Justice in Inclusive Early Childhood Education

“…Our EC/ECSE educators—the majority of whom are White, able-bodied, and English speaking—are navigating conversations with young children about identity, power, and fairness, despite having been socialized themselves to evade these topics in school spaces (Amos, 2016; Kale & Luke, 2017; Lalvani, Broderick, Fine, Jacobowitz, & Michelli, 2015). There is increasing awareness and concern with regard to the widening gap between EC/ECSE classrooms which are becoming more racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse than ever before (BUILD Initiative, 2008) and the mostly White, monolingual English-speaking workforce of teachers (Souto-Manning & Cheruvu, 2016).…”