Teacher agency for inclusive education: an international scoping review

ABSTRACT

Inclusive education is contextualised within local systems and represents a continuous struggle to ensure access to meaningful and equitable education. The purpose of this scoping review was to examine international empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals from 1999 to 2019 focused on teacher agency for inclusive education for students with disabilities in grades K-12. The conceptual framework used for this research identified teacher agency for inclusive schooling as requiring a disruption of traditional special educator identities, particularly pertaining to segregated schooling practices and deficit notions of disability. Eleven articles met the inclusion criteria. The results revealed varied conceptualizations of how teacher agency promotes inclusive education. We identified the following themes related to teachers’ agentic actions towards inclusive education: (a) instructional strategies, (b) collaboration, (c) family-school-community connections, and (d) other agentic moves. Implications for future research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher agency
• inclusive education
• inclusive schooling practices
• students with disabilities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amanda L. Miller

Dr. Amanda Miller’s research focuses on how schooling mechanisms afford or constrain opportunities for girls of color with moderate to significant support needs. She also studies teacher preparation for culturally sustaining inclusive education and family-school-community partnerships with and for families from diverse backgrounds. Her research is grounded in critical and participatory paradigms.

Courtney Lane Wilt

Courtney Lane Wilt is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Kansas in the Department of Special Education. Courtney’s research examines how historically marginalized disabled youth of color, and their families, experience and counter interacting oppressions, such as racism and ableism, particularly during the transition to adult life. She is concerned with building frameworks and practices that disrupt inequities for disabled youth during transition planning that lead to desired and sustained outcomes.

Heather C. Allcock

Heather C. Allcock, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at Providence College where she works to prepare pre-service teacher candidates in a merged dual certification elementary and special education program. Areas of research include preparing teachers to include students with significant disabilities and identifying barriers that prohibit access to the general curriculum for students with significant disabilities.

Jennifer A. Kurth

Dr. Jennifer Kurth’s research centers on inclusive education for students with extensive and pervasive support needs. This includes examining outcomes of inclusion in terms of skill development and quality of life indicators for students with disabilities, as well as how educators develop skills and dispositions for inclusive practices.

Mary E. Morningstar

Mary E. Morningstar is a professor in the Department of Special Education at Portland State University. Her work focuses on teacher education, secondary and transition services, and college and career readiness.

Andrea L. Ruppar

Andrea L. Ruppar is an Associate Professor of Special Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her scholarship focuses on individual and social factors influencing teachers’ decisions about students with extensive support needs.