Email: enquiries@woodlandsccc.com.au | Address: 219 Alexandra St, East Albury NSW, 2640
How We Introduce Inclusion In Our Childcare Centre
The benefits of creating and supporting an inclusive
childcare environment can’t be understated, and it’s something we truly pride ourselves on.
In the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), it explains that early childhood inclusion “takes into account all children’s social, cultural and linguistic diversity (including learning styles, abilities, disabilities, gender, family circumstances, and geographic location) in curriculum decision-making processes.”
The Benefits of Inclusive Childcare Settings
As mentioned, there are many benefits! Some of the key ones include:
- Supporting and encouraging children’s confidence, no matter their abilities.
- Building friendships and openness amongst the children and their parents.
- Individual needs are seen, understood, and supported in positive ways.
- Creating positive community connections and role-modelling the value of inclusion in the wider community.
According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, every child has the right to an education that allows them to develop to their full potential for life. The Convention states that this education should also respect their cultural identities, family background, languages, and other parts of their unique identity.
Regulation 155 of the National Regulations states: “An approved provider must take reasonable steps to ensure that the education and care service provides education and care to children in a way that maintains at all times the dignity and rights of each child.”
The Role of the Educator in Promoting Inclusion
Educators play a vital role in promoting and encouraging inclusion, not only with the children but across staff and parents.
Our educators are supported through regular training to help them understand what inclusion means and looks like across a wide range of individual groups that we support, including special needs, different cultures, languages, and Indigenous and First Nations children.
This training ensures that they know how to best support children and their unique needs and how the context of their cultural background influences how they learn, engage and play.
How We Promote Inclusion
We base a significant amount of our inclusion promotion practices on the guidance from the Guide to the NQF, which includes:
- Meeting with and discussing inclusion needs with families and providing families with our overall inclusion plan and what this looks like in practice.
- Inviting parents to provide input in our inclusion strategies ensures they work for them and their children.
- Maintaining a consistent practice of openness, sensitivity, respectfulness and confidentiality where appropriate and required.
- Demonstrating non-judgemental understanding of individual needs.
- Creating and maintaining individual children's learning and goal-setting plans that include their inclusion needs where appropriate.
We are an inclusive childcare practice that genuinely believes all children are unique and deserve supported access to learn, play and engage with the world in the ways that work for them.
