Reimagining Teacher Education's Response to Disability: From Summer Courses in Auxiliary Education to Disability Studies

Teacher education programs have a responsibility to prepare teachers to support the diverse learning needs of students. However, this rarely includes critical examination of constructions of disability and how these constructions may create barriers to the establishment of inclusive classrooms. This dissertation examines the intersecting histories of special education and teacher education in Ontario in order to understand how current practices developed and to consider the impact that factors like compulsory schooling, immigration, eugenics, intelligence testing, and models of disability had on this development. This dissertation explores the influence of changes in special education and attitudes towards disability on teacher education programs in Ontario, beginning with an examination of the establishment of two special education classes (called Auxiliary classes at the time) in Ontario in 1910. I have identified critical shifts in the education of students with disabilities and whether or not there were corresponding shifts in teacher education. Historical and archival research methods were used to collect data within the framework of a case study approach. Teacher education in Ontario began with the establishment of normal schools that were subsequently renamed teachers colleges and ultimately merged with universities to become faculties of education. This dissertation focuses on the teacher education programs at the University of Toronto, University of Ottawa, University of Western Ontario, and Nipissing University. These four were chosen because their histories can be traced back to normal schools thus providing historical depth. While vestiges of the past are still apparent in current approaches to teacher education, there is some evidence that teacher education programs utilizing a disability studies approach can provide a starting place for engaging teacher candidates in developing the critical consciousness necessary to create inclusive classrooms. Although a disability studies approach has the potential to positively influence teacher practice, it is also important to recognize that teacher education programs should prepare teacher candidates to navigate the cognitive dissonance that they may experience when working in schools that are firmly entrenched in traditional special education practices. The critical analysis provided in this dissertation could provoke new ways of thinking about disability in teacher education.

Teacher education programs have a responsibility to prepare teachers to support the diverse learning needs of students. However, this rarely includes critical examination of constructions of disability and how these constructions may create barriers to the establishment of inclusive classrooms. This dissertation examines the intersecting histories of special education and teacher education in Ontario in order to understand how current practices developed and to consider the impact that factors like compulsory schooling, immigration, eugenics, intelligence testing, and models of disability had on this development. This dissertation explores the influence of changes in special education and attitudes towards disability on teacher education programs in Ontario, beginning with an examination of the establishment of two special education classes (called Auxiliary classes at the time) in Ontario in 1910. I have identified critical shifts in the education of students with disabilities and whether or not there were corresponding shifts in teacher education. Historical and archival research methods were used to collect data within the framework of a case study approach. Teacher education in Ontario began with the establishment of normal schools that were subsequently renamed teachers colleges and ultimately merged with universities to become faculties of education. This dissertation focuses on the teacher education programs at the University of Toronto, University of Ottawa, University of Western Ontario, and Nipissing University. These four were chosen because their histories can be traced back to normal schools thus providing historical depth. While vestiges of the past are still apparent in current approaches to teacher education, there is some evidence that teacher education programs utilizing a disability studies approach can provide a starting place for engaging teacher candidates in developing the critical consciousness necessary to create inclusive classrooms. Although a disability studies approach has the potential to positively influence teacher practice, it is also important to recognize that teacher education programs should prepare teacher candidates to navigate the cognitive dissonance that they may experience when working in schools that are firmly entrenched in traditional special education practices. The critical analysis provided in this dissertation could provoke new ways of thinking about disability in teacher education.