Enhancing inclusive education through active student teacher participation: A case study of a university in Cape Town

Abstract

Addressing the needs of a diverse learner population remains one of the most pressing education concerns of the 21st century. One of the issues debated is whether a responsive teacher education curriculum caters for the needs of student teachers, and how effective it is in preparing student teachers for teaching in diverse situations. It is essential to locate this issue within teacher education given the expectations on graduate teachers to deliver socially just pedagogies in school terrains that are often marked by deep inequalities. The Covid-19 pandemic has illuminated these inequalities, which have become the subject of all educational discourses. This study foregrounds student teacher voices regarding how they experienced curriculum reforms towards inclusive education in the Bachelor of Education (BEd) programme at a university in Cape Town, South Africa. Specifically, the study engages with how different modes of curriculum delivery position student teachers as both recipients and co-creators of the intended knowledge and skills—and who can engage in critical interaction with the learning material, and provoke self-scrutiny among student teachers and lecturers. This qualitative interpretivist study was framed around constructs of cognitive apprenticeship, guided participation, participatory appropriation, and border crossing. Data were collected through focus group interviews. It was found that an approach to learning in which student teachers are positioned as knowledge collaborators leads to the meaningful appropriation of some aspects of a curriculum on inclusive education.