An Examination of Inclusion in Early Childhood Settings Essay

This essay delves into the concept of inclusion in early childhood settings, highlighting its significance and various approaches. It emphasizes the benefits of inclusive education for all children, irrespective of their abilities or backgrounds, and explores how it fosters a sense of belonging and community. The essay examines the strength-based approach, which focuses on identifying and building upon children's strengths rather than dwelling on their perceived deficiencies. It also discusses the importance of team inclusion, where educators, families, and the community collaborate to create a supportive and inclusive environment. The essay underscores the value of play, active engagement, and a diverse learning environment in promoting children's social, emotional, and cognitive development. The essay also highlights the crucial role of inclusive education in shaping children's expectations, fostering respect, and preparing them for active participation in society, ultimately contributing to a more sustainable and equitable community life.

Running head: INCLUSION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD SETTINGS
Inclusion in early childhood settings
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INCLUSION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD SETTINGS
Inclusive education refers to the acceptance of all types of students are allowed to study
in their neighbourhood school for regular classes and to contribute and take part in all the
different aspects of school life. Inclusive education is all about the development and design of
the school in such a way that the programs and activities in the schools helps all the students to
learn and participate with each. Inclusive education ensures the quality of the education is
accessible to every student by solving their problems in understanding as well as meeting the
diverse requirements of each students by the following the processes of supportive, acceptance,
and being respectful (Macartney & Morton,2013). When diverse students participate in the
education environment it will help in diminishing the barriers and the obstacles which leads to
exclusion from a learning program. Carrying out the common education environment in an
inclusive education is to bring students from different abilities and backgrounds under a single
platform. Common learning platforms are being widely used in the world and are used for bulk
of the students for fixed instructed hours which includes classrooms, gym, performance theatres,
music rooms, libraries, cafeterias, local community and playgrounds (Allen & Cowdery,2014). A
common education place is where the students with intelligent disabilities along with other
special needs will be participating with others equally and will not be excluded from their peers.
The concept of inclusion in early childhood among students is not a new concept rather it
is as old as 40 years old concept which has seen different benefits among the children
irrespective of their health conditions, both children with and without disabilities (Lee et
al.,2015). Limiting the experiences for any children will result in hampering their future
development and will be demoting the quality of their life throughout the rest of their life. The
experience a child gets during the early stages of education in their life will be determining the
extent of their feel to be connected to the natural community. This is easily understandable by

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the term “degree of belongingness” which is the period in which the children establishes the
prospects of a relationship of different forms which will be needed beyond their initial childhood
years (Justice et al.,2014). When a family spends a good time of belongingness with their
children in their early years it leads to the effect of lifelong belongings among the children for
the rest of their lives. The society is also benefited from the inclusion in a child in the early
years. The inclusion in a children in all aspects from family to education leads to shape the
expectation of the children as they grow up. Students who attend inclusive education
environment irrespective if their abilities are equipped with better skills towards learning, living
and working in the communities which follow inclusion (Nutbrown,Clough & Atherton,2013).
Inclusive education provides a better education for all the children and the process is considered
to be very helpful in changing the biased attitudes. The schools help in providing the atmosphere
of a different relationship outside their family for a children for a first time which enables them
in developing new social communication as well as association. The respect and understanding
among a student grows when they gather the various abilities as well as backgrounds play and
socializing and learning together. The education which excludes and separates by discriminating
traditional marginalized groups are never able to provide the proper education to the student.
When the education is more inclusive in quality then the concepts of social participation,
employment and the community life becomes sustainable. Inclusive education is not for some
children only as being included is not something for which a child must be ready for at all times
(Kemp et al.,2013). All children at one point of their time are ready for attending regular schools
and the classrooms. The participation of the students need not to be earned. Inclusive education
among the children is a way for the teachers to think in a more creative way and make the
schools a place where all the students will be able to participate in different creative activities.

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Creativity refers to the different process of imparting knowledge among the student by different
ways which will be done by designing the lessons to be interesting and also in such a way which
will be easily perceivable for all kinds of children. When all children are taught in the same
classroom it creates a social environment which helps the children to grow a diverse
characteristic in them (Davis,2014).
A strength based approach for inclusion in early childhood education is used for focusing
on the identification of the approaches which works for the children rather than focusing on what
is wrong for the children and their supposed deficiencies. A strength based approach to a
children helps in viewing realistic situation and looks for the opportunities in complimenting and
supporting strengths which exists and the opposed capacities for focussing on the problem of
concern (Barton & Smith,2015). The problem and the children suffering from the problem are
treated separately but the problem is never neglected. Strength based approach follows a
paradigm shift from the deficit based method which lists a lot of points which are termed to be
bad for the children and can lead to be harmful for the learning and development of the child.
The deficit based process becomes a failure when it comes to providing sufficient amount of
information about the different strengths and the followed strategies for supporting a child’s
development and education. The strength based approach of inclusion in early childhood
encourages the educators to understand that the learning of a child is dynamic and complex,
understanding a child’s demonstration of the learning outcomes varies from each other (Ishimine
& Tayler,2014). The approach starts with analysing what is present rather than pointing out what
is absent in children and point out the things that works out for the child. The strength based
approach has strategies by which it can be easily found out what things work for the child and
how it works so that the strategies can be followed for the continued development of the child

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and match the abilities of the child. The strength based approach helps the educator in building a
bigger picture for the education and the development of the children for the future (Somerville &
Williams,2015). The principles of strength based approach of the inclusion in the children is that
all children have their individual strengths and abilities, the children grown up with the help of
their inbuilt strengths and abilities, the child is never the problem as the problem is treated and
not the children facing the problem, if the child is encouraged and appreciated for their strengths
then the child begins to gain confidence and becomes able to develop themselves. The strengths
of a child can be identified as the child’s intelligence, physicality, impersonal skills, the capacity
of the child, dispositions of the child, various interests, and motivations for the child. When the
educators are readily engaged with the children then there is not only a way of having the
opportunity of immediate learning but also the continuing assessments will lead to the
opportunities for getting more meaningful comprehensive outcomes. The engagement of the
children is expected to be compulsory during learning process since it is an active process. Play
is essential for stimulating and integrating the wide range of the intellectual of the children, the
different physical and creative social abilities (Pugh & Duffy,2013). An active engagement with
the children in their play will facilitate their learnings.
A knowledgeable and an inclusive approach to educators helps in actively planning the learning
and the development of the children by supporting them to be in contact with their peers as an
associate of the community. An inclusive team approach helps in developing secured
relationships which will help in encouraging the children to learn as well as contribute to the
group. A friendly and supportive relationship of a child with the staffs help in encouraging the
child to develop a sense of trust as well as be friends with others who are present in the group.
This helps in building a sense of stability in the children of belonging to the group and which

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will turn help in the sustainability of the children in a broader community (Cook,Klein &
Chen,2015). An inclusive program in a kindergarten helps all the children who are present there.
As the children gradually grows the strong sense of self they soon start to learn how to work in
collaboration with others who are present in the group and offer their empathy and respect to
others. A whole team effort for the inclusion helps in fostering gratefulness of variety in the
kindergarten community. In the process of team effort in an inclusion the children gain
advantage by the recognizing that disability is not the sole element when it comes to diversity,
the children starts to respect all the different kinds of diversity which includes differences among
the children and even their differences in the cultures, the children start developing to appreciate
the similarities between them as well as they start respecting the differences
(Heikka,Waniganayake & Hujala,2013). Kindergarten managements which actively supports the
team approach to inclusion includes the philosophies through their policies and procedures in
their premises which is followed by everyone comprising the kindergarten. This helps the
kindergarten to implement team effort in inclusion in their day to day activities. In the team
effort of inclusion the inclusive teams implements process to include everyone who are
supporting the child and the family, the team members work in collaboration to deliver the
program which will help all the children by focussing on the abilities and interests of each
individual child separately. The team inclusion helps in demonstrating the best expected outcome
from a child involved in the program. All the children in the team is provided the chances in all
the different aspects for participating in the different activities of the program (Palmer et
al.,2013). Team inclusion forms a strong relationship between the staff members of the
kindergarten as well as the families by the help of strong productive communication. The
children involved in the program shares their information and expresses their ideas and will be

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INCLUSION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD SETTINGS
willing to learn from the varied experiences of each other (Dudley-Marling & Burns,2014).
Team inclusion helps in building the relationships in the team among the members included in
the team as well the families of the children for developing a warm trust among the children.
Team approach to inclusion among the children during their early stages will ensure all the
children can gain access and actively involved in all the different aspects of the program in
which they will be involved.
Education is a powerful instrument for the betterment of social curriculum by initiating the
growth in the social structure. Thus it helps in filling the gap between the social structures. The
evolution of education has come a long way by undergoing major changes in the implementation
and imparting knowledge to the children. It is believed that education starts from the very
beginning in a child. Increasing the literacy rate in a country has become a major issue in the
world as it adversely affects the improvement of the country. Major structural changes have been
brought in the education process which includes the addition of inclusive education among the
children from the very beginning of their education imparting process. For the improvement in a
system funding and provisions are required since for making a change from the very beginning
and adding different programs requires some additional price for the implementation. The
government of different countries has understood the need of the inclusive education in the
country and hence has been providing funds for the betterment of the educational system.
Children irrespective of their educational needs are given the equal importance like others so that
they can have the feeling of sustainability and don’t lose their hope and confidence and they
actively participate in the impartation of education. Initially the children who needed special
attention were sent to special schools for their education and were not allowed to study with the
children who are normal. This creates a barrier in the provision and later affects the society.

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INCLUSION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD SETTINGS
Children with special needs are not responsible for the things they have to go through and there
is no need for the other people to look at them differently. This happens mainly due to the
division which is created by the society hierarchy. But this needs to be avoided and must be
demolished from the society (Wood,2014). For following this process the government is
providing extra provision for the inclusion in the education system from the early childhood
settings. Education is a universal right and everyone in this world must be able acquire it.
Learning must be based on the equity and must be comprising of the decimation in every aspect
of the society (Faulkner & Coates,2013). Every child is born with different strength and
weaknesses but that must not be stopping them from education and everyone must be treated
equally. The government is trying their best to address the past imbalances in the access to
provision not to be applied on everyone but at present the inclusion in education is slowly
negating those past mistakes. Provision will make the society a better place where everyone will
be treated equally and given the same respect they deserve whether they are specially challenged
or not (Horm,Hyson & Winton,2013). The government has also implemented provisions for
preventing disabling condition which has been detected mong children.
Most of the schools in the present time has included inclusive education in their premises
which includes children from all kinds of problems. Schools have developed a wide systems and
different practices and have put their commitment in action. Though inclusive is inducted in
many schools yet nearly half of them are able to achieve the desirable outcomes. It is to be
notified in the schools that the quality of teaching and management has to be improved
particularly in the areas of understanding the students with special needs of education, different
strategies for effectively introducing inclusion, making some differences in the curriculum. Some
schools have to improve the ways of using their data about the different progresses and the

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outcomes of the achievement for finding out the most effective strategies and programmes.
These data needs to be shared with the staffs as well so that they can work towards achieving the
goals. Following these process will significantly improve the different outcomes for the children
who needs special attention for their education. The institutions also needs to make the
identification for the additional learning and the improvement of the relevant staffs of the
organization. Most of the institutions did not receive the detailed information for the inclusion of
education in early children so there is a limit in the understanding of the effective progression in
the implementation of the process to be followed for the inclusive education. The kindergarten
which are associated with the inclusive education needs to follow the norms specifically for
making progress in the inclusive education among the children.

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