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(Re)-Defining ‘Teacher’: Preservice Teachers with Disabilities in Canadian Teacher Education Programs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 April 2018

Alina Wilson ,
Laura Sokal  and
Deb Woloshyn
Alina Wilson*
Affiliation:
University of Winnipeg, Canada
Laura Sokal
Affiliation:
University of Winnipeg, Canada
Deb Woloshyn
Affiliation:
University of Winnipeg, Canada
*
Correspondence: Alina Wilson, 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R3B 2E9. Email: alinaw@mts.net
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Abstract

Directors of Student Teaching from the Western Canadian provinces participated in focus groups about the realities and decision-making processes around practicum for preservice teachers with disabilities. Results showed current standards, when applied rigidly, served to reify a static, homogenous, and unrealistic definition of ‘teacher’ that marginalises preservice teachers with disabilities. However, the effort of directors to challenge this notion of ‘teacher’, framed within the constructionist model of disability, gives hope for a more inclusive future teaching force.

Keywords

teacher educationinclusionpreservice teacherpracticum

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Footnotes

*This manuscript was accepted under the Editorship of Umesh Sharma.

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