Inclusive Learning in Early Childhood Education: Perspectives, Legislation, and Developmental Theories

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Inclusive Learning
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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SOCIOLOGY
Table of Contents
Describe your perspective on inclusion and early intervention.................................................2
What Australian legislation and policies support inclusive early childhood practices?............3
How do developmental theories, but in particular Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory of
child development enhance your understanding of inclusive early childhood practice?...........6
Reference-..................................................................................................................................9

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SOCIOLOGY
Describe your perspective on inclusion and early intervention
According to Petriwskyj (2010), inclusion is a very important aspect in the early
childhood education. It refers to the criteria of involvement of every child during the process
of learning so that comprehensive development of the child can occur in the process of
interaction and participation in the program that also provides an insight on the capability,
and weakness of each child. This provides an opportunity to all children to contribute in the
program, irrespective of their abilities. Early intervention and inclusion can effect positively
on the cognitive and social development of the child. An appropriate curriculum can be
developed to ensure the active participation of each child. Inclusion emphasizes on three
factors- access, participation and outcome (Subban & Mahlo, 2017). Every child, irrespective
of its socio-economic background, ethnic origin, diversity, disability should be provided with
equal prospect to participate in the program. The Council of Australian Government (COAG)
aims at creating an inclusive environment to include every child in the process, by 2020, for
better prospect of learning at the very childhood, so that they can flourish in future
extensively, for betterment of the nation. Inclusion involves a very important criterion to
foster the minds of every child equally, and recognize and remove any barriers they face in
the process. Recognition and reception of the uniqueness and diversity forms a very
important step in the inclusion, where contribution of each child is observed and praised. It
will form the foundation of a child enacting positively in the diverse environment, and they
will feel comfortable to grow and prosper in the atmosphere with miscellaneous peers.
Norton (2018) informed that positive reactions are experienced from parents of the diverse
children group, who also shared concerns regarding the assistance and capability of the
teacher along with the probability of peer rejection. Mohay and Reid et al. (2006) suggested
several barriers in the process of inclusive learning that included insufficient staff: student
proportion, insufficient training of the staff, scarcity of funding, resources or accessibility of
them, and lack of experience among the staff. It was pointed out that abilities of children also
formed a valid point of inclusion in the program where children with higher cognitive
functioning tend to get easily adapted to the environment than others. Here, a teacher must
intrude properly to ensure the inclusion of the weak child, by giving more attention and
training to him. Cologan (2014) revealed that Australian Government have provided
prominence on inclusive learning for improving learning outcome and reforming the
educational system. It was proposed that for effective inclusive learning environment, the

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SOCIOLOGY
classroom could be spacious where adequate place for interaction and learning of children are
available, and easily accessible materials are present for teaching the children. The children
should be taught on becoming self-dependant and a routine is prepared for them to follow
effectively. A daily routine is prepared effectively where learning is balanced with outdoor
activities, and co-curricular activities. Students’ performances are tracked and daily
evaluation should be provided, and much importance is provided on the social skills of the
students. Australian Government Department of Education (2018) revealed that after the
inclusion policy, the developmentally vulnerable students have decreased from 21.7% from
22% in 2018. The gap of knowledge between Indigenous Australians and other sector of the
population has also become 41% from 47% in 2018. They have highlighted that factors like
emotional stability, physical well-being, social recognition, cognitive and communication
skills have great impact in the learning process (Early Childhood Australia, 2019). On
practice, I adapted some strategies drawing insight from the policies and schemes of the
inclusive learning. I encouraged open participation of students with each other without
creating any commotion, during the learning process. The students were allowed to ask
questions and present any doubts during the ongoing session. Perhaps, the non-interactive and
introvert children were the toughest to deal with. I faced problems when even on being asked
questions, they did not respond. Therefore, I arranged special sessions with such child, where
the child is encouraged to communicate by exposing them to their hobbies. For example, I
involved a child in his favorite relaxation painting, and asked him various questions regarding
that. He was reluctant at first, but gradually reverted to my initiatives. He became
progressively communicating with other children, when I encouraged others to communicate
with him, and include him. I asked questions to the students after each lesson and allowed
them to do the same regarding any doubts, for their proper comprehensive learning. I
implemented rotation of seats, once a week, to allow mingling of all students with each other,
and I provided the children with special needs all kinds of aids during the process, and
promoted participation of them equally, in each teaching session.
What Australian legislation and policies support inclusive early childhood practices?
Early Childhood Australia (2019) stated that various rules and regulations are
formulated regarding inclusive education of children. The Disability Discrimination Act
(1992) and Disability Standards for Education (2005) respectively, highlighted the
importance of providing equal rights to the disabled individuals regarding learning and access