Abstract
Inclusion is complex, exciting, and deeply political! Such a declaration is not new but has been signalled by intellectual activists who emerged within the disabilities movement in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Barton, in particular, championed the need for critical discourse on disability, inclusion, and inclusive education, thereby spearheading vibrant debate within a sociology of education, promoting a diversity of theoretical and methodological approaches, and recognizing the need to allow new paradigms and new voices to come through. We aim in this chapter to resuscitate some of the arguments advanced by these foundational advocates of inclusion and locate these core arguments within the context of postcoloniality. In identifying the conceptual, epistemological, historical, and practical challenges associated with discourses on inclusion, particular consideration is given to postcolonial, post-independence education in Trinidad and Tobago, where colonizing practices persist and continue to influence policymaking, practice, and change with regard to teacher development. As teacher educators involved in pre-service teacher development, in this chapter we argue for an understanding of transformative practice that is inclusive, decolonizing, and hinged on a pedagogy of hope. Reflection and reflexivity undergird an architecture for the development of communities of practice that draw on the lived experiences of teaching and learning.
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Ibrahim-Joseph, L., Lavia, J. (2019). Inclusion, Critical Professionalism, and Transformative Practice. In: Blackman, S., Conrad, D., Brown, L. (eds) Achieving Inclusive Education in the Caribbean and Beyond. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15769-2_13
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