Inclusive early childhood education

The importance of promoting children’s belonging

Abstract

Introduction: Inclusion is a central part of high-quality early childhood education, which can have a positive, long-term effect on children’s development. Teacher selfefficacy for inclusive practices has been found to be an important factor in their attitudes towards inclusion. Furthermore, positive attitudes towards inclusion are essential to the successful implementation of inclusive education since attitudes can predict later behaviour. However, implementing inclusive education has been difficult in Iceland as in other countries. One reason is a lack of support towards teachers and other staff working with children. Theoretical frame and aim of this research: Bandura’s social cognitive theory provided a theoretical frame for the research. Self-efficacy is a key concept. The social cognitive theory depicts the importance of examining all factors of the interactive relationships among cognitive factors, behaviour, and the environment. Therefore, in this research, we consider the personal factors of staff, school practices and work environment to analyse which factors are most important for staff self-efficacy towards inclusion. Method: Available data from kindergarten staff surveys conducted by Skólapúlsinn in 2020 and 2021 was analysed using a multilevel model. There were 1854 participants and the sample covered a third of all kindergartens in Iceland. A part of the data analysis involved explanatory- and confirmatory factor analysis, which yielded reliable measures (Ω > .75) used in the multilevel model. Results: The final multilevel analysis model had an R2 coefficient of determination of 51%. The results showed that the staff’s self-efficacy to support children’s belonging had the strongest relationship (β = .42) with the staff’s self-efficacy for inclusion, with an effect size almost twice that of the variable with the second strongest relationship. Staff’s self-efficacy to manage children’s challenging behaviours showed a moderate relationship (β = .23) with their self-efficacy for inclusion. However, examination of significant random factors revealed that the relationship differed between different kindergartens to a large extent (r = -.80). In other words, in work environments of those kindergartens where staff’s self-efficacy for inclusion was generally low, staff’s self-efficacy to manage children’s challenging behaviours was of considerable importance but became of less importance where staff’s self-efficacy for inclusion was measured to be higher. The importance of staff cooperation (β = .05) and self-efficacy regarding children with special needs (β = .09) were also highlighted. Furthermore, results showed a weak, negative relation with work experience (d = -.27). Discussion: The results provide evidence that a change in school practice that increases children’s belonging might be a key factor for inclusive early childhood education. Therefore, staff should focus on helping children form friendships with a diverse group of children and create common experiences among different children. For this, staff must support children in communication and help them enter play with other children. It is also necessary to emphasise the strength of diversity and reduce social categorisation. However, before emphasising strengthening the self-efficacy of school staff towards inclusion or supporting children’s belonging, it is necessary to define and improve understanding of the concepts. The diversity of kindergarten children keeps increasing in line with changes in our society. Therefore, it’s an urgent task to strengthen the staff’s self-efficacy for inclusion, which could also lead to more positive attitudes towards inclusion. This study’s theoretical overview and results can provide input into government policy changes and school administrators to support their staff in implementing inclusive education. Emphasis should be on fostering self-efficacy for inclusion and self-efficacy to support children’s belonging by providing guidance of more experienced teachers as well as increasing cooperation and learning environments among colleagues.

Keywords: belonging, early childhood education, inclusive education, teacher, self-efficacy