Valuing student teachers' perspectives: researching inclusively in inclusive education?

Abstract

This paper considers how engaging with the principles of inclusive research can enhance research studies that set out to understand the experiences of student teachers on initial teacher education programmes. It does so by describing the methodological development of an on-going study of student teachers' perspectives on working with diverse groups of learners in classrooms. This study, involving 340 student teachers at two universities (in Germany and England), has two broad aims: first, to build authentic learning opportunities that encourage student teachers to articulate, share and reflect on their developing professionalization regarding inclusive classroom practices; and second, to gather evidence from their emerging insights that can usefully inform the future work of teacher educators. Although the study does not ‘fit’ conventional views of inclusive research (not least because its participants are student teachers rather than people with learning disabilities) the paper explores how, and why, drawing on more participatory approaches has supported its overall aims. The benefits and difficulties of placing the perspectives, needs and interests of the student teachers at the centre of the research are examined, and the ethical challenges of aligning the values associated with inclusive education with those underpinning inclusive research are also discussed.

Keywords:

• inclusive research
• participatory methods
• metaphor elicitation
• teacher education
• inclusive education