Let’s Talk: Examining the Short and Long term Effect of Inclusion Literature on Early Childhood Pre-Service Educators

ABSTRACT

Pre-service teacher education programmes should systematically plan to increase the PST’s understanding of how to meet the needs of the 13% of the children with disabilities in the general education classroom and develop skills and strategies to support children with disabilities and their families. Reading inclusion literature, non-fiction literature written either by an individual with a disability or their families, may offer PSTs a deeper understanding, augment the information they learn in the textbooks, and make clearer the complexity of the lives of students with disabilities and their family’s experience. The participants were 22 pre-service early childhood education teachers enrolled in a senior-level Family, School, and Community course at a university in a southern state during their semester prior to student teaching. After reading a non-fiction inclusion literature book, participants reflected on what they learned from the book and how the book might impact their teaching in the future. Coding of all reflections revealed the following emergent themes: Understanding Parent Perspectives, Deeper Understanding of the Student and their Disability, and Advocacy. Results indicate a strong impact on how pre-service early childhood educators will support and interact with children with disabilities and their families in their future classrooms.

KEYWORDS:

• Children with disabilities
• early childhood education
• families
• inclusion literature
• pre-service teachers
• qualitative methods
• reflection
• teacher preparation

Acknowledgments

The researcher acknowledges the support of the College within which the research occurred, which provided funding for the inclusion literature library to be purchased. The researcher also acknowledges the early childhood education PSTs who agreed to contribute their reflections for this research. Their insightful reflections add much to the body of research regarding the impact of inclusion literature on pre-service educators.

Disclosure statement

The author declares that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any financial interest such as stock ownership or other equity interest or non-financial interest such as personal or professional relationships with any of the authors listed in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.