You Are Not Like Us: On Teacher Exclusion, Imagination and Disrupting Perception

Abstract

Debates on educational exclusion are almost exclusively focused on the experiences of learners as they navigate their way through barriers of race, culture, gender, sexuality, class, disability and language. Similar attention has not been afforded to the experiences of teachers, creating the impression that, unlike learners, teachers do not struggle with matters of inclusion, participation and belonging. Adding to the complexity of teacher inclusion is that it is often reduced to a pre‐occupation with external practices of inclusion, discounting the experiences and complex challenges encountered by minority group teachers as they attempt to assert their pedagogical identities. Focused on a post‐apartheid South African context, this paper has two concerns. Firstly, it brings into question the dichotomy of inclusion/exclusion in relation to teacher exclusion, and suggests, instead, that exclusion exists in a dyadic relation to inclusion. In this regard, attention is given to the various experiences of teachers in relation to a language of ‘standards’ and ‘competence’, even when they are included. Secondly, by calling into question the uncontested constructions of norms and perceptions, a case is made for teacher inclusion, not only for the sake of including diverse narratives and lived experiences, but for the purpose of offering symbolic points of reference for learners and learner inclusion. In other words, inasmuch as the focus is on learner exclusion, deeper consideration and reflection on the experiences of teacher exclusion might be useful in understanding learner inclusion.