Teacher education, InExclusion, and the implicit ideology of Separate but Equal: An invitation to a dialogue

Abstract

In this analytic essay, we initiate a dialogue about the place of disability in a multicultural education framework, and the role of inclusive education in a democracy. Problematizing the common omission of the topic of disability oppression from anti-oppression pedagogies and from social justice education generally, we invite teacher educators concerned with educational equity to position themselves on the persistent issue of the segregation of large numbers of students labeled with disabilities in schools, and to consider how we might engage in sustained dialogue toward pursuing an agenda that is opposed to the systematic deployment of educational segregation in all its forms. In addition to opening this broad conversation, we have specifically invited dialogic interchange with three of our teacher educator colleagues whose responses are embedded within this manuscript.