Preparing Teacher Candidates to Foster Inclusive Practices: A Case Study of One Exemplary Dual Licensure Teacher Education Program

This case study examines one exemplary dual certification program that took deliberate steps to develop a comprehensive approach to teacher education for inclusion. Analysis through a Multidimensional Framework for Inclusive Teacher Education indicated that the faculty in this program participated in intentional, collaborative efforts to consider how they might develop course and clinical experiences that provided opportunities for teacher candidates to (a) design curriculum that centers students’ intersecting social identities, (b) critically engage with theoretical understandings of inclusion in schools through deliberately scaffolded clinical experiences, and (c) examine the role of inquiry in their teacher identity development. Importantly, practices reflected high degrees of multiple drivers of transformative inclusive education designed to work in tandem to allow the faculty in the program to execute critical, ongoing work to further refine learning experiences for teacher candidates. These findings shed light on ways for teacher educators to further the work of transformative inclusive education.