Educators who want to implement inclusion practices in early childhood education are challenged by three main types of barriers: personal, attitudinal, and organisational.

Personal barriers revolve around the educators’ feelings of discomfort in interacting with diverse children. Teaching strategies could be inappropriate due to missing background knowledge. In addition, educators feel threatened by the demands of differentiated teaching and the additional time involved.

Educators holding attitudinal barriers feel that inclusion will negatively affect children without disabilities. They perceive children with disabilities or children from different races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds as a burden. This is often based on preconceived ideas about US and THEM with negative connotations associated with the OTHER.

Organisational barriers include lack of funding, resources, competent professionals, or commitment dedicated to inclusive practices.

Play is a developmentally appropriate medium to practise inclusion. It is a medium where all children can contribute when the activities are planned adequately.

Educators are advised to team up with families and other professionals in order to develop proficiency in practising inclusive education.

ALL children can succeed in a global world. To do so, they need to be given opportunities to build success starting in early childhood.

Reference:

National PSC Alliance. (n.d.). Inclusion fact sheet: Understanding inclusion. Retrieved from https://www.ecrh.edu.au/docs/default-source/resources/ipsp/understanding-inclusion.pdf?sfvrsn=6

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