AS9 ECE 8 INCLUSIVE ED

• Inclusive learning environment


  A space and curriculum that welcomes and supports learners from diverse backgrounds, abilities, and identities
• Inclusive learning environment


  • Promotes equity, respect, and belonging for all students
• Key components of preparing an inclusive learning environment

  • Diversity and Representation
  • Accessibility
  • Differentiated Instruction
  • Culturally Responsive Teaching
  • Inclusive Language and Communication
  • Supportive Classroom Environment
  • Professional Development and Training
• Inclusive education


  Aims to ensure that all students, including those with diverse learning needs, have access to quality education in a supportive and inclusive environment
• Aspects of the learning environment to consider for inclusion

  • Physical Environment
  • Social Environment
  • Temporal Environment
• Physical Environment


  • Physical Accessibility: Ensure the physical environment is accessible to all students, including those with disabilities
• Social Environment


  • Positive Relationships: Foster positive relationships among students, teachers, and staff to create a supportive and inclusive social environment
• Temporal Environment

  • Flexible Scheduling: Provide flexible scheduling options to accommodate the diverse learning needs of students
• Quality Area 3 of the NQS promotes the creation of inclusive service environments
• Element 3.2.1: Inclusive environment


  Outdoor and indoor spaces are organised and adapted to support every child's participation and to engage every child in quality experiences in both built and natural environments
• All children's needs should be considered when designing an inclusive environment, including those of differing ages, interests, backgrounds, cultures and abilities
• It may be beneficial to work with third party organisations that specialise in supporting services to be inclusive
• Educators can make adjustments to promote inclusion once the environment is in place
• Examples of educator adjustments to promote inclusion

  • Adjusting the height of equipment
  • Allocating a space for children to relax and have down time
  • Moving items to provide for accessibility
  • Providing a balance of structured and unstructured experiences
• Universal design for learning (UDL)


  An educational framework that prioritises access, participation and support for all children in the physical environment
• Principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

  • Equitable
  • Flexibility in use
  • Simple and intuitive
  • Perceptible information
  • Low tolerance for error
  • Low physical effort
  • Size and space for approach and use
• Considerations for service design to enable inclusion

  • Accessibility
  • Adequate space
  • Play
  • Outdoors
• Play facilities should provide opportunities for all abilities and offer consideration should be given to accommodating shared, multigenerational and complementary play experiences
• Equipment, resources and materials should allow for multiple uses, promoting flexible thinking and investigation
• Activities of daily living

  Everyday tasks that young children engage in so they can actively participate in life activities, such as handwashing, bathing, dressing, brushing teeth, feeding, and drinking
• Self-care skills


  • Develop gross and fine motor skills, executive functions, and even language skills in young children
  • Learning such skills is also precursor to developing independence in young children as they slowly learn to do things on their own, with adult assistance gradually being withdrawn in the process
• Developing children learn self-care skills within a given time period and at a faster pace as compared with children who are at risk for developmental delays
• All children can learn self-care skills when teachers and adults use developmentally appropriate practices, including modeling and scaffolding of learning experiences
• Scaffolding


  Adult demonstrates how a self-care skill, and subsequently provides guidance as the child perform a task
• For children with challenges, the process of scaffolding may take longer than typically developing as more support may be necessary as well as more opportunities needed to practice the skill before achieving mastery
• Task Analysis


  Breaking a skill down into smaller, more manageable components
• Forward Chaining


  Adult teach children the task step by step, by starting with the first step down to the last step
• Backward Chaining


  Adult teach children the task step by step, by starting with the last step down to the first step
• How to teach self-care to young children


  • Use audio and visual support (storybooks, pictures, visual schedules)
  • Embed learning opportunities in naturally occurring incidents, such as routines and even during play
• Through observation and developmental checklists, adults can monitor the frequency and level of proficiency children can perform self-care skills
• Adults can also note how much assistance the child needs in doing the skill and note what is developmentally appropriate based on their chronological age for typically developing children and their mental age for children with developmental delays or additional needs
• Self-care Skills Checklist


  • Removes pants (does not include unfastening)
  • Puts on pants (does not include fastening)
  • Puts on a pullover shirt
  • Puts on a front opening shirt
  • Fastens buttons on shirt
  • Starts a zipper
  • Puts on socks
• Self-care skills are everyday tasks that young children engage in to actively participate in life activities
• Backward Chaining is an example of teaching self-care skills to children which includes breaking a skill down to smaller components
• It is important to allow children at a young age to practice self-care skills
• While doing the self-care activities it is important for adults to do all the steps and let the children watch you
• The adult performs the first step with the child, and the adult does the rest of the steps
• Children sing along to songs on handwashing, playing games, and creates their own story book about self-care skills
• Teacher Anne is teaching her learners on how to brush teeth, she then demonstrates to the class the proper way of brushing their teeth and provides guidance while the learners are brushing their teeth
• The adult performs all the steps and leaves the last step to do with the children