Forging Teacher Agency for Inclusive Education in Teacher Preparation

This article examines the experiences of special education teachers working to advance inclusive services and supports for students with extensive support needs within systemically segregated schooling spaces and ideologies. Although evidence suggests that teacher agency promotes positive outcomes, few studies examine firsthand the experiences of teachers in training as they navigate unique work ecologies requiring localized solutions to exclusionary mechanisms. We present a multiple case study analysis of five students as they moved through a 2-year master’s degree program designed to prepare action-oriented inclusive educators. Findings describe overarching themes related to teacher agency: (a) influence of teacher preparation, (b) teacher agency in relational ecologies of exclusion, and (c) subversive actions and power dynamics. Results illuminate often-invisibilized challenges and hold implications for researchers, teacher educators, and administrators interested in preparing special educators of students with extensive support needs.