ABSTRACT
Teacher education has become the well-worn response to research that reveals the challenges of implementing inclusive education. This chapter takes a new direction, arguing that simply acquiring knowledge and skills for inclusive teaching misses the need for shifts in teacher identity and agency. This argument is based on findings from a three-year study in an inclusive school in South Africa, which investigated teachers’ interactions within professional learning communities (PLCs). The PLCs provided an environment where teachers could share experiences, challenge perceptions, and discuss their engagement with inclusive practices. The opportunity to discuss their practice through stories indicated an engagement with, and possible re-authoring of, their identities as they grappled with what it means to be an inclusive teacher in the South African context. Drawing on Wenger’s (1998) theory of learning as social practice and Sfard and Prussak’s (2005) “narrative as identity”, this chapter argues that teacher talk in PLCs reveals the importance of focusing on professional identity and agency as necessary markers for learning inclusive practices in complex contexts. This study contributes a conceptual understanding of the interplay between teachers’ professional identity and the sociocultural contexts of PLCs, and how teacher talk can mediate teacher learning for inclusive education.
