Global education policies make a commitment to inclusive education, yet initial teacher education seems to struggle in preparing teachers for this task. We explore this matter in the present article. Life stories, participant observation and individual interviews over a period of two years with 28 preservice specialist teachers in an ongoing ethnographic study provide the data. The findings describe the presence of hegemonic ways of thinking, influenced by neoliberal principles, that have shaped conceptions of inclusive education. This hegemonic thinking is based on a deficit model of schooling that encourages the practice of exclusionary teaching methods rather than inclusive education. The article discusses the implications of this for initial teacher education and education for teaching in inclusive schools.