Social constructions of young children in ‘special’, ‘inclusive’ and home environments

Abstract

This paper tells of the social constructs surrounding young children with learning difficulties in their home, ‘special’ early education setting and ‘inclusive’ or mainstream early education setting in England. The exploratory study focused on how three four-year-old children made sense of their environments and how their identities were constructed by different parties in the different contexts. Ethnographic case studies were conducted using semi-structured and informal interviews with parents and practitioners, documentary analysis, field notes and live and video observations. Shared constructions across the contexts for each child were common, with constructions of them being happy and making progress pervasive across the children and settings. Differences in constructions across settings indicated some qualities could shine and some negative constructions could be tempered. The role of the environment and the culture of inclusion within the social basis for constructing children with special needs are discussed.

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ORCID for Melanie Nind: orcid.org/0000-0003-4070-7513

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