Cripistemologies of Teacher Education: Centering Disabled Ways of Knowing in Learning to Teach

Abstract

Extant research demonstrates the deeply embedded intersections of racism and ableism in school systems. In response, researchers have proposed DisCrit Classroom Ecology as a framework for teaching and learning that rejects the deficit positioning of multiply-marginalized students and reimagines schooling to amplify their assets. However, little is known about the enactment of these pedagogies by disabled and multiply-marginalized teacher candidates (TCs). This study used DisCrit Classroom Ecology and cripistemology as a conceptual frame to examine how four disabled TCs engaged in culture circles to implement anti-ableist and antiracist pedagogy. Our findings show that disabled and multiply-marginalized TCs offered significant insight into the process of learning to teach but also highlighted the ways in which ableism gets normalized as a standard for teaching proficiency, thus creating unique challenges for disabled TCs to navigate. Implications for teacher education and future research are explored.