Elementary Inclusive Education
Welcome
The Elementary Inclusive Preservice Program prepares teachers to teach all children, particularly in urban contexts. The course of study emphasizes curriculum development for heterogeneous classrooms, critical multiculturalism, teaching for equity and social justice, and an inquiry approach to teaching and learning. The Preservice Program reflects the pluralism at Teachers College; students in the program study a wide variety of approaches to education rather than a single approach. In keeping with this philosophy, the emphasis is on leadership and decision making.
Our stance is that there is no single truth in education but there are many realities. Each of us has the right to choose our own (educated) platform, but we who are teacher educators have the obligation to introduce our students to the spectrum of alternatives and help them to look at the important differences among approaches. Because there is no one clearly superior way to engage in educating children, teachers must constantly set hypotheses and test them searching for the best way to teach each individual child and group of children. Such teaching lacks the safety and predictability of the ‘tried and true” approach, and requires individuals who understand the limitations of fixed formulas and who enjoy reaching out into the unpredictable world created by the diversity and the uniqueness of each child and each group of children.
Read Elementary Inclusive's Position Statement on Inclusive Schooling and Teacher Preparation here.
Our stance is that there is no single truth in education but there are many realities. Each of us has the right to choose our own (educated) platform, but we who are teacher educators have the obligation to introduce our students to the spectrum of alternatives and help them to look at the important differences among approaches. Because there is no one clearly superior way to engage in educating children, teachers must constantly set hypotheses and test them searching for the best way to teach each individual child and group of children. Such teaching lacks the safety and predictability of the ‘tried and true” approach, and requires individuals who understand the limitations of fixed formulas and who enjoy reaching out into the unpredictable world created by the diversity and the uniqueness of each child and each group of children.
Read Elementary Inclusive's Position Statement on Inclusive Schooling and Teacher Preparation here.