From Willingness to Governance: A cross-border mixed-methods study of reasonable accommodation for disabled student teachers on placement settings

School placement is a key site where commitments to disability-inclusive initial teacher education (ITE) are tested in practice. This article examines how stakeholders understand and enact reasonable accommodation (RA) for disabled student teachers on placement, and why inclusive policies do not reliably translate into consistent practice. The study forms part of the cross-border EKARA project (‘Exploring Knowledge and Awareness of Reasonable Accommodation/Adjustments for ITE Students with Disabilities on the Island of Ireland’). A sequential mixed-methods design combined an online survey of staff involved in placement with two focus groups. Survey items were interpreted through the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB); qualitative analysis drew on EKARA themes, read through TPB, governmentality and doxa. Quantitatively, a minority of respondents reported having requested or provided RA, in a context of limited training, uneven knowledge and mid-range confidence and exploratory bivariate tests did not yield statistically robust predictors of RA practice. Qualitatively, seven themes showed how RA decisions are shaped by eligibility and recognition regimes, informal and relational practices, structural constraints, placement vulnerabilities, trust-based collaboration and staff uncertainty about roles and risk. The study reframes RA on placement as a governed practice, with implications for partnership protocols, staff development and disclosure-safe cultures.