ABSTRACT
Case pedagogies1 are ideally suited to preparing teachers for inclusive education by helping them understand the needs and concerns of students and parents and by developing the understandings, attitudes, and experience in problem solving that teachers will need to work successfully and collaboratively in inclusive settings. As narrative descriptions of particular experiences, cases present realistic dilemmas and problems in richly detailed, contextualized situations that may be similar to ones teachers have experienced or expect to experience in their future practice. Despite a long and distinguished history in other professional schools such as business, medicine, and law, case pedagogies are relatively new in teacher education and represent a radically different approach (Carter, 1988; Harrington & Garrison, 1992; Merseth, 1991; L.Shulman, 1992; Sykes & Bird, 1992). Instead of beginning with abstract theories and generic prescriptions that students are expected to apply to practice, learning with cases involves “acting, reflecting, [and] deliberating on problematic situations with the
aid of various theories” (Sykes & Bird, 1992, p. 12). In other words, theory becomes a useful and meaningful tool for understanding practice, rather than an end in itself (Kessels & Korthagen, 1996).
