Preparing Preservice Special Education Graduate Students as Advocates: Centering Student Voice of Marginalized Learners

Special education should empower students with disabilities as active participants in their educational experiences, yet many students, particularly those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds (a population designated CALD in some international contexts), those with more significant disabilities such as high-support-needs autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDDs), and those experiencing socioeconomic and immigration-related challenges, continue to experience exclusion, segregation, and limited opportunities to express themselves in traditional educational settings. This theoretical position paper argues that special education graduate preparation must be reorganized to focus on advocacy, and it presents an integrated framework for preparing special education graduate students as advocates capable of amplifying and centering student voice for the most vulnerable and marginalized learners. Drawing on contemporary research in special education, professional development, and teacher preparation, this paper examines how graduate preparation programs can intentionally develop advocacy competencies, embed culturally responsive practices, and create conditions for system-level change. The paper provides specific recommendations for curriculum design, experiential learning, and professional development necessary to transform special education graduate preparation into a vehicle for advancing equity and inclusion through student-centered advocacy. By positioning special education teachers as advocates and student voice champions, this paper envisions education systems that respond authentically to the needs, aspirations, and experiences of all learners.