Rights, inclusion and citizenship: a good news story about learning in the early years

ABSTRACT

Including all children is something many education settings aspire to, yet the outcome of children realising their right to an inclusive education remains elusive for far too many. In this article we present the narrative of an inclusive early childhood education setting. The first author undertook an ethnographic study of the experiences of an disabled child in a kindergarten¹ in Aotearoa New Zealand as part of her Master of Education degree. This was done with the express intention of relaying a narrative of active participation, inclusion and citizenship experienced by that child and their family within that community. The collective narrative that emerged highlights what is possible for the meaningful inclusion of disabled children, not just in New Zealand but internationally, when communities act with inclusive intent. In this article we identify the themes of learner identity, adopting a pedagogy for participation, establishing a culture of belonging and contribution, and lastly, using the environment as the third teacher, which emerged after analysing interviews with some of the participants. Together these themes combine to provide an evaluative framework to review inclusive curriculum and performance in early childhood settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood education
• inclusive education
• disability
• New Zealand
• ethnography
• curriculum
• pedagogy
• rights
• participation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Kate McAnelly http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2678-1621

Michael Gaffney http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7355-1028

Notes

1. In Aotearoa New Zealand the term kindergarten refers to an early childhood setting that in the main caters for 2–4 year olds who attend during school hours of approximately 9am-3pm.

2. Ataahua means beautiful in the indigenous Māori language of Aotearoa New Zealand. The name was chosen by the children as a result of a song they were learning to sing as part of the local Polyfest cultural festival. In other places where Māori terms are used, the English equivalent will be shown in brackets.

3. The term special rights does not appear to have been challenged or adopted in the literature in the same way that the term ‘special needs’ has.

4. Bush kindy is a patch of land covered in native bush and dedicated for the children's use, where children attending local kindergartens like Ataahua would visit for a half day each week.