Using Oral History to Tell the Story of Teacher Education in the 1970s and 1980s

Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

2026

Abstract

Much of the legislation which protected the educational rights of children with disabilities in the United States was passed in the 1970s and 1980s; therefore, it is reasonable to assume that teacher education programs changed as well to ensure educators were properly trained to accommodate children with disabilities in their classrooms. While my capstone project focuses on information that can be obtained through more impersonal sources such as records, articles, and books, my capstone enhancement captures the more personal aspect of the topic by interviewing relevant figures, such as people who were education students, teachers, and education professors during that time. This project looks at what actual people working in the field of education at that time thought about their experiences— for example, what they were being taught about special education and students with disabilities, what wasn’t included that they thought should have been, or how their training (or lack thereof) affected the quality of their teaching. The information gathered from these interviews has been compiled into an easily navigable website, giving viewers a window into a small piece of the evolution of the teaching profession.

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