The Mediating Role of Exclusionary School Organizations in Pre-service Teachers’ Constructions of Inclusion

In this article, we build on the extant literature documenting efforts to reform teacher education for inclusive education in the United States to demonstrate the complexity of preparing teachers to enact inclusive education given their own educational trajectories. We draw on qualitative data from a larger study on the nature and impact of an undergraduate course in inclusive education, providing an empirical analysis of the mediating role of general education pre-service teachers’ educational experiences in their constructions of inclusive education and its feasibility. Our data reveal how pre-service teachers’ educational experiences within school organisations configured by professionalisation and specialisation, worked to perpetuate and legitimate the separation of general and special education. We conclude by suggesting possible efforts to prepare educators for inclusive education.