Systemic IE

The systemic view of IE proposes that systems or institutions must change to serve the needs of students, rather than emphasizing students’ disabilities. In this way, IE is not a program nor a placement “but an approach embodying particular values” (Ainscow, Booth, & Dyson, 2006, p. 301). Systemic views of IE support a transformative agenda in which school cultures are reconstructed to increase student access, participation, and achievement, as well as “enhanc[ing] school personnel’s and students’ acceptance of all students” (Artiles, Kozleski, Dorn, & Christensen, 2006, p. 67). Systemic IE pushes beyond what needs to happen to individual students, by focusing on what society and systems can do to address the physical and social stigmas and conditions that create the disabling status and experiences for the individual. As such, it is not the individual’s need or use of a wheelchair that creates the disability; instead, it is the lack of wheelchair accessible buildings and classrooms that impact the inclusivity of the environment. From this view, IE is a “process rather than a destination,” (Mittler, 2000, p. 12) mainly centered on the pedagogical stances that value diversity beyond specific disabilities. For instance, over the last decade, the discourse of IE is reflective of other emergent concerns and priorities, beyond individual learning differences. A systemic approach emphasizes the need to attend to systemic barriers that prevent youth and persons of all ages from their rights, protections, and access to an education regardless of their citizenship status, gender orientation, or other social markers without marginalization; education as a human right (Artiles, 2011). Basically, this perspective emphasizes the transformation of entire educational systems, including technical (e.g., curricula, pedagogy, assessment) and organizational dimensions (e.g., budgets, staffing, space allocation), with explicit attention to the sociocultural, historical, and ideological underpinnings of schooling in society.

Next, we turn to a brief historical overview of IE covering sociocultural and historical processes that have shaped and been shaped by inclusive agendas. Such sociocultural and historical factors, as we will exemplify, have, and continue to produce implications for ITE. We conclude with a discussion of the significant conceptual differences represented in the medical and systemic perspectives of IE, and how those varying inclusive perspectives continue to cause tensions. Besides, differences in conceptualization and implementation of IE have interfered with communications among communities of scholars, professionals, and policymakers around the globe investing in the enactment of ITE.

IE Policies and Definitions Beyond the United States

Within Europe, the New Labour party influenced government efforts for inclusion, placing IE at the “centre of its educational agenda,” shifting responsibility for meeting student needs to teachers in the “ordinary classroom” (Armstrong, 2005, p. 140). Just as US federal laws and education policy assumed a supervisory role over the integration of SWD and special education programs into general education classrooms in the latter half of the 20th century, so too did the central government in the United Kingdom in the 1970s and 1980s (Hodkinson, 2009; Trent, 1994). Terzi (2005) described this era of education policy as “watershed in the educational provision for disabled learners in the United Kingdom, whilst at the same time establishing a new fundamental framework for special education” (p. 443). Changes to education policy in the United Kingdom in this era were informed by the recommendations of the Warnock Committee, which published the Warnock Report in 1978 (Terzi, 2005; West, 2015).

The significance of the Warnock report comes from what it spurred in terms of IE policy reforms. In all, the Warnock report included an assembled list of over 200 recommendations for education policy reforms that affirmed the education goals for all children, including SWD. Central to the policy recommendations of the Warnock report were changes in the expectations for multiple stakeholder groups in education. Parents of SWD and handicaps formally attained an affirmation of the right of their children (SWD) to be enrolled and educated in mainstream classrooms (Buss, 1985). A second critical change in stakeholder expectations involved the expectations and responsibilities of mainstream classroom teachers to ensure the learning of all students in their classrooms, which now included SWD (Buss, 1985). With changes in the responsibility of teachers in mainstream classrooms, to teach classes integrated with students of all ability levels, the committee recognized the need to focus and strengthen teacher education programs to prepare teachers for such a change. Buss reported (1985) teacher preparation was named as one of three areas of top “priority” in the Warnock committee’s report (Buss, 1985, p. 123).

Due to the committee’s policy recommendations, structural changes in administration and monitoring of local school boards took place. One repercussion of the implementation of the committee’s recommendations was a bureaucratic shift in supervision and management between local and centralized control and oversight of policy implementation and students’ educational outcomes. The shift from local to centralized control was predominantly located in the changes felt by local school boards. Whereas school boards previously functioned with autonomy, and mostly controlled local district issues, the Warnock reforms decreased local school board power and simultaneously consolidated control in the centralized UK ministry office (Buss, 1985; Slee, 2001; Terzi, 2005; West, 2015). In addition to the shift from localized to centralized control, central education ministries sought to maintain influence over local school boards by funding stipulations and compliance measures (West, 2015) much like the US case. The Warnock report also influenced the educational policy discourse related to disability and inclusion.

Within the committee’s suggestions to “integrate” (Buss, 1985, p. 122) mainstream classrooms, the committee introduced a shift in the language used to describe special education students. The committee recommended dismissal of the term handicapped and recommended the use of the phrase “students identified with special education needs (SEN)” (Buss, 1985, p. 123). The terminology change broadened the population of students considered part of the subgroup (Terzi, 2005). The term students with a disability was viewed in the United Kingdom as problematic because it suggested a permanence to disability or handicap that did not fit the educational experiences of all students. According to the Warnock committee, such a conceptualization implied that only a small subset of the population would need specialized help (West, 2015). Whereas the previous term handicapped could be understood to apply to a learner classified with an identifiable, documented disorder or permanent disability, the new term SEN could apply to any learner who might encounter the need for specialized learning needs at any period during their educational tenure (Slee, 2001; Terzi, 2005; West, 2015). Restructuring this distinction from handicapped, language used to refer to SWD or specialized learning needs became “central to the debate in special and inclusive education, where it is also referred to as the dilemma of difference” (Terzi, 2005, p. 443). The “dilemma of difference” represents the challenges of IE to acknowledge and support student’s individualized learning needs (Terzi, 2005, p. 443). The use of difference, in turn, is the process of highlighting dissimilarities while also “accentuating the sameness” (Terzi, 2005, p. 443), to create and promote commonalities while supporting children’s needs.

A crucial third provision from the policy reforms in the 1970s and 1980s in the United Kingdom addressed the types of training and experiences that teacher preparation programs included. In England, IE’s current character has also been traced back to the 1960s, when issues of segregation became highly debated (Hodkinson, 2009). Although IE became a truly global movement, at least in terms of nations embracing its basic tenets, the enactment of this laudable idea has been fraught with controversies and tensions, which have, in turn, spilled over into efforts to create and implement ITE programs.

Basic Conceptualizations

Publications classified as basic conceptualizations focused on the exploration of pre-service teachers’ attitudes and beliefs, mainly focused on disability as a single identity marker. We classified texts as basic conceptualizations if authors’ discussions of diversity as related to IE were limited in both substance and content. To illustrate, Orakci, Aktan, Toraman, and Çevik (2016) differentiated study participants by gender and examined teacher attitudes toward IE. Of 51 studies reviewed, Orakci and colleagues found gender and special education training did not affect teacher attitudes toward IE, but they found the focus of teacher training (i.e., preschool, special education) made a significant difference. Orakci and colleagues (2016) also included a minimal number of pre-service teachers (n = 7) and a much larger number of in-service teachers (n = 44). We emphasized Orakci and colleagues’ work since their work illustrates the need to focus on training, rather than seeking to attribute teacher preparation to teachers’ sociocultural characteristics (e.g., gender). In another review examining pre-service teacher beliefs and attitudes about IE, Hoffman and colleagues (2015) found pre-service teachers had limited opportunities to engage in critical discussions with their mentor teachers. The authors found that mentor teachers dominated speaking time, were more focused on technical aspects of teaching, rather than dispositions, and minimally engaged in thoughtful discussions (Hoffman, 2015) related to students’ intersectional differences (e.g., language and SEN).

In addition to the research included in these reviews on teacher candidates’ beliefs and attitudes, we identified other studies in this category that delved into discussions about IE and methodological considerations in this area of inquiry. Robinson’s (2017) action-research project conducted in the context of a university-school partnership intended to “promote positive discourse of diversity (celebration of the richness of human variety)” (p. 21). Including instructional assistants, experienced teachers, and student teachers, Robinson sought to determine which practices and beliefs could produce effective inclusive practices. Robinson explained, “the concept ‘inclusion’ would trigger diversity discourses (which celebrate diversity and uniqueness), but ‘SEN’ would trigger disparity discourses (where diversity is associated with pathologisation, differential treatment and different expectations)” (p. 31). Robinson’s study included four significant findings: (a) school personnel varied in their feeling of adequacy and disposition to teach [SEN] students (i.e., some feeling more positive, versus feeling amateur or panic); (b) contrasting discourses, which included school personnel operating alongside deficit discourses; (c) development of collaborative skills and a deeper understanding of the “value of teamwork” (p. 38); and (d) the value of including other school personnel, such as instructional assistants for the work of IE. We noted that, while topics of diversity were a crucial part of the study, discussions centered on attitudes and perceptions toward students’ disabilities and abilities, or they included limited discussions about what was meant by diversity.

In a study focused on preparing physical education teachers toward inclusion, Taliaferro, Hammond, and Wyant (2015) examined pre-service physical education teachers’ self-efficacy toward the integration of SWD in the general education classroom. Similarly, Taliaferro and colleagues mentioned the word diversity, but there was little discussion about what was meant by diversity. Likewise, Tangen and Bentel (2017) examined the perceptions of 46 pre-service educators enrolled in a graduate entry teacher education program in Australia. Tangen and Bentel investigated pre-service teachers’ theoretical understandings and perceptions of themselves toward IE. Tangen and Bentel found pre-service teachers failed to have a “sophisticated insight into the nuances in differentiating between the terms of diversity and inclusion” (p. 67) since pre-service teachers conceptualized inclusive practices in varying ways. For instance, some pre-service teachers found IE as not entirely possible, since often many other factors (ill-prepared teachers, large classroom sizes) contributed to student outcomes. Tangen and Bentel briefly commented, “during the semester . . . [pre-service teachers] recounted how they or students were marginalized if they were ‘different,’ such as if a student had a visible disability or had limited English proficiency” (p. 70), yet teachers failed to provide sophisticated understandings of what was meant by diversity. Again, since Tangen and Bentel maintained the focus on diversity (not explaining why this mattered), we categorized the study as basic. In sum, studies categorized as basic largely failed to acknowledge more “fluid and nuanced” (Harry & Lipsky, 2014, p. 446) notions of diversity (beyond one identity marker) or the social power structures that contribute to disparities within ITE. Next, we turn to studies categorized as encompassing more holistic conceptualizations of ITE.

Comprehensive Conceptualizations of ITE

We categorized publications as comprehensive conceptualizations if authors defined students’ learning needs as not exclusive to disability. This approach recognizes students’ multiple needs, such as the intersections of language and disability. We highlight a few publications that illustrated the various ways that researchers conceptualized ITE beyond disability.

Our first example covered studies published between 1990 and 2003, based on Brownell and colleagues’ analysis of 64 publications and their discussion of the concept of diversity beyond students’ ability differences (Brownell, Ross, Colón, & McCallum, 2005, p. 245). Of interest was how Brownell and colleagues’ review defined diversity as related to cultural factors, beyond a student’s disability status. Brownell and the research team found that in 84% of the programs they analyzed, cultural diversity was mentioned as a topic, although the authors of those studies did not always elaborate on pedagogical training that could help pre-service teachers learn essential skills for ITE. Brownell and colleagues also found that in 28% of the articles reviewed, authors described methods intended to address cultural or linguistic needs of students. Brownell and associates also found that in 50% of the programs, authors addressed both inclusion and cultural diversity, “reflecting a broader focus on diversity that included children with disabilities as well as those with diverse cultural and linguistic needs” (p. 246). Brownell and colleagues’ review stands out because they specified what was meant by diversity, such as social or linguistic needs.

Similarly, Harry and Lipsky (2014) reviewed the empirical base to examine the relationship between research methods used and the types of inquiry projects on ITE. Harry and Lipsky identified 41 reports, of which 25 used qualitative or mixed methods, and 14 relied on quantitative methods. Interested in investigating the shift toward embracing constructivist approaches within ITE, Harry and Lipsky identified four categories, which illustrated understandings of ITE as “inclusion and collaboration; field experience; specialized competencies program philosophy; and conceptual change (where conceptual change is sometimes related to program philosophy and at other times related to multicultural diversity)” (p. 450). Harry and Lipsky identified two studies that focused on conceptual change regarding philosophical approaches in ITE programs, specifically, whether participants had positivist or constructivist orientations. Since Harry and Lipsky emphasized the need for conceptual change in the field of ITE, we identified their work aligned with comprehensive orientations. Harry and Lipsky found an overall pattern, “whereby the more constructivist the question, the greater the reliance on qualitative methods,” which were “more consistently used in studies on social process” (p. 458). Harry and Lipsky clarified these findings did not necessarily suggest the need for more qualitative methods, but, instead, future research should explore the use of direct observational methods (e.g., video, audio recording), rather than continuing to use more limited, self-reported data. We concluded this work highlights essential methodological and theoretical implications for ITE.

Pugach, Blanton, and Boveda (2014) reviewed research on teacher preparation intended to “foster inclusive educational practice” (p. 144) and focused on collaborative efforts across general and special education. Pugach and colleagues reviewed research published between 1997 to 2012 and included 30 studies examining pre-service teacher education program components and design, which focused on collaborative approaches. They discussed students’ intersectional needs (e.g., special education and second language needs), in addition to examining pre-service teacher identity development, program redesign, and evaluation. Pugach and colleagues noted overall trends:

program evaluations have not focused on student identity development as a result of program completion, or the relationships between various parts of the curriculum such as those between teaching English Language Learners and teaching students who have disabilities, or the specific ways that strands of content about disability have been integrated into the content. (p. 154)

Thus, these discussions pointed to authors’ recognition of students’ intersectional needs, something apparently limited in the research base. Further, Pugach and colleagues noted hopeful results related to observing teacher educators working in collaborative ways between general and special education teachers. They did warn, however: “In light of the willingness to engage in such joint inquiry . . . more complex designs could be developed and more complex issues problematized around this important pre-service program trend” (Pugach et al., 2014, p. 154). Further, the authors also remarked on a “gap in the way researchers addressed social identity markers in addition to disability” (Pugach et al., 2014, p. 154). Additionally, Pugach and colleagues’ observation noted researchers’ tendency to reference participant demographics inconsistently within studies included in their review. By highlighting collaboration and training in ITE, the authors stressed the importance of recognizing learning as a shared experience. Not only did researchers discuss the importance of students’ identity markers beyond SEN, but additionally, they expanded on how systems might address students’ needs beyond special education factors.

To summarize, it is vital that ITE programs recognize and prepare teacher candidates to understand that teaching must be designed to address students’ multiple needs, beyond their SEN. As such, broader conceptualizations of ITE can be very potent for the support of students who have SEN, due to a specific learning disability and who are identified as second language learners or have other learning needs.