Different Traditions and Practices: Preparing Teachers for Inclusive Classrooms

In writing this chapter I cannot abandon my professional identity as a special educator with a commitment to a scientific approach to education. This has created some dissonance, as I would not regard self-study as a scientific approach to the problems of teacher education. However, the questions that are addressed by a scientific approach must emerge from observations and experience. I have become comfortable with the idea of self-study and other qualitative and descriptive approaches as a source of observation and problems that could be addressed through a more rigorous approach. Certainly, before entering academia, detailed consideration of the impact of my teaching on students with disabilities grounded in the frequent collection of detailed data on student progress towards learning outcomes was an important element of my professional practice. Like many other aspects of special education practice this has elements in common with other approaches to education. I would link self-study to this special education practice, but again I note the difference in the role of hard data. In this chapter I have tried to give an overview of a special educator’s approach to teacher education from the perspective of a representative of this professional field as well as from a personal perspective. I think both are important for people coming from other teaching traditions to gain an appreciation of the dilemmas we face as a minority group in education.