An alternative model of special education teacher education socialization

The process of organizational socialization sheds light on the difficulty of a university program to effectively socialize its specialeducationteacher candidates into believing and acting on theories of inclusion for students with disabilities in public schools. In general, people are socialized by prior experiences, then the university, then the workplace. In this case, the workplace socialization exists prior to participation in the university setting and in conjunction with it potentially complicating traditional university socialization. This study explores how prospective specialeducationteachers in a moderate/severe specialeducationteacher credential program adopt, adapt, and redefine the concept of inclusion. An analysis of their use of the term “inclusion” in semi-structured interviews draws attention to the degree to which they have or have not been socialized into believing and acting on inclusion at their schools.