Dis/ability of teachers

Managing difference in Japanese schools

Abstract

This paper explores how schoolteachers with disability in Japan negotiate with the notion of competency at work. We conducted interviews with 16 current and former schoolteachers with varying types of disabilities and work experiences throughout the country. Our findings demonstrate that their disability is deeply entwined in their narratives regarding competence, most prominently seen in a role model discourse, because disability contests and confounds the meaning of competency attributed to schoolteachers as an occupation.