Beyond the binary: rethinking teachers’ understandings of and engagement with inclusion

ABSTRACT

This article presents research into Canadian elementary and secondary teachers’ understandings of inclusion. The research investigates how a sample of 120 teachers in the southern part of Ontario defined inclusion, and the extent to which they believed an inclusive classroom is an effective way to teach all students. The article draws upon literature into how inclusion is currently defined followed by research into the politics of diversity in inclusive education; the latter signals the socio-political aporia which attends many understandings of inclusion. The study employs Nancy Fraser’s conception of justice as requiring redistribution, recognition, and representation; Fraser’s approach also demands attention to issues of recognition as intimately connected with concerns about social status. The findings reveal teachers’ relative lack of attention to issues of resourcing, but considerable emphasis upon issues of representation. While issues of recognition are largely valued, there is a tendency to reify categories of student identity, rather than challenging concerns about the lack of social status attending such foci. The research reveals a push ‘beyond the binary’ of considering teachers’ practices as either inclusive or exclusive, and how teachers’ engagement with resource provision, recognition of learners, and representation of student needs exists along contingent and intersecting spectra.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusion
• inclusive classrooms
• special education
• social justice
• Nancy Fraser

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Stuart Woodcock is Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University. Dr Woodcock's research focuses on inclusive education and classroom management, and the systemic support that is in place for teachers to manage and teach inclusively.

Dr Ian Hardy is Senior Lecturer and Australian Research Council Future Fellow at the School of Education, The University of Queensland. Dr Hardy's research focuses on the politics of educational policy and practice, with a considerable focus upon the nature of teachers' learning. He is author of The politics of teacher professional development: Policy, research and practice (Routledge, 2012).

Notes

1. Teachers were asked to indicate the number of years they had been teaching: less than 3 years; 3–5 years; 6–10 years; 11–20 years; and greater than 20 years. We described teachers with up to 5 years’ experience as ‘early career’, 6–10 years as ‘established’, 11–20 years as ‘mid-career’, and more than 20 years as ‘experienced’.

2. ‘S’ refers to secondary teachers; ‘E’ refers to elementary teachers. EC = early career/up to 5 years’ experience; Est = established/6–10 years’ experience; Mid = mid-career/11–20 years’ experience; Exp = experienced/more than 20 years’ experience. The numbers are individual teacher codes allocated to each teacher in the full data set. For example, the first quote/indicative comment was from the 35th secondary teacher listed in the original data set.

3. Direct quotes have been presented verbatim; punctuation and other grammatical errors/inconsistencies have been retained, rather than corrected.

4. Participant did not identify as either an elementary or secondary teacher.