Redefining inclusive teacher education: All students means all students

Abstract

Traditionally, in U.S. K-12 schools, inclusive education has been used in the context of students with disabilities participating in the general content area or the mainstream classroom together with their peers. We redefine inclusive education (and subsequently inclusive teacher education) to refer to teaching all students, including multilingual learners. We argue, based on our conceptualization and practice, that training inclusive teachers requires 1) a carefully planned curriculum; 2) instructors who are inclusive educators themselves and know from experience and training the mainstream classroom, special education and/or English as a second language (ESL); and 3) collaboration with schools and districts.