Exploring inclusive practices from the perspectives of children in an early years setting

Abstract

Inclusion is a term which has evaded precise definition. This has challenging implications for those working with children, and it is important to explore how notions of inclusion are enacted in practice. For young children in particular, there has been a lack of research regarding factors that contribute to the creation of an inclusive educational setting. In order to better understand inclusion within the Early Years, for children aged from birth to five, this thesis seeks to investigate the perspectives of families, staff and children.

This thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter one includes an introduction to the topic and rationale for the thesis. Chapter two presents a systematic literature review to explore factors which contribute to an inclusive Early Years environment, according to key stakeholders, such as children, families and staff. The review consists of eight papers and finds eight overall themes. Implications for a broad readership are discussed, such as families, Early Years staff and researchers. The third chapter presents the findings of a qualitative study exploring what can be discovered from the perspectives and voices of young children to enable a better understanding of what inclusion means for them, as well as investigating their views on what adults can do to support inclusion. Participants were eight children, aged two to three, who took part through the use of the Mosaic approach (Clark, 2007; Clark & Moss, 2017). Reflexive thematic analysis led to the generation of four themes, each consisting of several sub-themes. The discussion provides implications for adults who work with young children, as well as for future participatory research.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Sophie Brinsmead: orcid.org/0000-0001-8877-8164

ORCID for Kyriaki (Kiki) Messiou: orcid.org/0000-0003-3412-3108

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