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What is Inclusive Practice?

Inclusive practice is a commitment to valuing and respecting the diversity of individuals, families and communities and must sit at the heart of early years practice. It ensures that every child has an opportunity to learn and grow, ensuring that children are treated as individuals and supported no matter their background or who they are.

“Inclusion: involves taking 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 intent is to ensure that all children's experiences are recognised and valued. The intent is also to ensure that all children have equitable access to resources and participation, and opportunities to demonstrate their learning and to value difference.” – 'Belonging, Being & Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia'.

The early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework seeks to provide equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice, ensuring that every child is included and supported. One of the overarching principles is that every child is a unique child who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident, and self-assured.

“Inclusion: involves taking 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 intent is to ensure that all children's experiences are recognised and valued. The intent is also to ensure that all children have equitable access to resources and participation, and opportunities to demonstrate their learning and to value difference.” – Belonging, Being & Becoming. Acecqa.gov.au.

Inclusion and equalities apply to all children and families.

These characteristics of identity apply to all people, not just those in minoritised groups, so equality means considering practices in relation to all individuals and groups. Each child and family bring their own identity, values and unique funds of knowledge that are built over time by taking part in the practices of their community.

Supporting inclusion and positive behaviours within settings is important because it creates an environment where all children can develop and practice the skills and attitudes they need to be engaged and successful learners. The early years inspection handbook states that leaders have a clear and ambitious vision for providing high-quality, inclusive care and education to all. This is realised through strong shared values, policies and practice.

Different organisations will have their own definition of what inclusion means for them. Examples of this within the education sector include:

Inclusive practice does not mean that all children will take part in all activities. There will be some instances where individual children cannot or do not want to participate in certain activities, and trying to do so could result in a narrowed curriculum for all. Inclusion for every child is the delivery of a curriculum which can be differentiated to ensure that it meets the needs of the unique child, offering varying opportunities to ensure that they are able to learn and develop at their own pace, to their own abilities, and achieve their own full potential.

The provision of inclusivity relies on the acknowledgement and understanding of the difference between equality and equity. Equality provides the same resources for every child, equity is offering different resources based on the unique child’s individual need and developmental stage, allowing them to access the same level of high-quality learning as every other child within the provision. Practitioners need to be able to recognise children’s barriers to learning, and address these by making reasonable adjustments to the provision to ensure that every child has equal opportunity to access the learning and development opportunities.

There are several statutory duties related to inclusion in the early years. These include:

Legislation places a statutory responsibility on providers and practitioners to be aware of and implement the requirements of these documents into practice. Providers and practitioners who fail to do this can face consequences, such as the closure of a setting, disqualification from working with children, and potentially criminal action. You may find this document helpful in understanding how the Equality Act 2010 applies to early years settings: Equality Act Guide for EY - FINAL2_0.pdf Size: 26.5MB File format: pdf

Some key points to consider around inclusive practice can be found in the table below. Think about your setting as a whole, and using the headings, consider how your setting meets these requirements:

1. Create a positive and supportive environment for all children, without exception.

An inclusive early year setting removes barriers to learning and participation, provides care and education appropriate to children's levels of development and has aspirational standards for all children.

Inclusive early years settings are built on the overarching principles of the EYFS:

  • The unique child.
  • Positive relationships.
  • An enabling environment.
  • Learning and development.

Inclusive early years settings adopt a positive and therapeutic approach to supporting children's behaviours.
2. Build an ongoing, holistic understanding of your children and families and their needs.

Early Years settings and schools should aim to understand the unique child's needs using the graduated approach of the ‘Assess, Plan, Do, Review’ approach.

Assessment should be regular and purposeful rather than a one-off event, and should be carried out in partnership with parents and carers and professionals working with the child, and should include the child's voice.

Practitioners are empowered and trusted to use the information they collect to decide about next steps for the child.
3. All children have access to high quality learning and development.

An inclusive early years setting understands that good practice for children with SEND is good practice for all children.

Inclusive early years settings have a range of strategies ordinarily available to children that they use effectively to provide support where needed.

Inclusive early years settings.

Group flexibly.

Use cognitive and metacognitive strategies to support children.

Adapt routines to support children's needs.

Scaffold children's learning.

Use visual strategies, including technology.
4. Complement high-quality practice with carefully selected small-group and one-to-one interventions.

Small group and one-to-one interventions can be a powerful tool, but must be used carefully. Ineffective interventions can create a barrier to the inclusion of children with SEND.

High-quality provision may reduce the need for extra support, but some children will require high-quality, structured, targeted interventions to make progress.

The intensity of intervention, from universal to specialist, should increase with need.

Interventions should be carefully targeted through the identification and assessment of need.
5. Practitioners are effectively deployed. Leaders and managers need to pay careful attention to the roles of all staff and ensure they have the skills and training to enable them to support all children, especially those with SEND.

In schools, TAs should supplement, not replace, teaching from the classroom teacher.

All staff should be able to use a wide range of strategies to support children.

All staff support children to develop independence skills and prioritise children taking ownership of tasks over task completion.

Adapted from the Education Endowment Foundation Special Education Needs in Mainstream Schools guidance report | Education Endowment Foundation Size: 7065KB File format: pdf

An inclusive provision is somewhere that everyone shares a sense of belonging and can see themselves reflected within the provision, including the children, families, staff, and any other stakeholders involved in the provision or care of the children. Inclusive practice puts the unique child at the centre of practice. Recognising and valuing each child’s uniqueness is key, including ability, needs, background, culture, and lived experiences. When inclusivity is in place, children’s strengths and interests inform the provision and practice. This should include all aspects of the provision from the ethos and curriculum, through to the planning of the environment, resources, activities, deployment and skills of the staff.

Children’s development is not linear and can look very different across a cohort of children. Therefore, getting to know the children well is key when providing inclusive practice to support all children’s individual development and helping them to achieve their full potential. Having a deep knowledge of the children also allows providers to respond to children’s individual strengths and interests, ensuring that all children are supported to develop at their own pace. Using children’s strengths and interests allows practitioners to fully engage children in their learning. This will not only help to motivate and inspire children but will also demonstrate to them that they are valued as individuals.

To be able to plan for children’s unique learning journeys, practitioners will need to possess a sound knowledge of child development. Using this knowledge will allow practitioners to ensure a child is supported throughout their learning process to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge for the next stage of their educational journey. It will enable practitioners to plan opportunities to develop which are focused on how children prefer to learn, as well as ensuring there is adequate challenge, which can be achieved with or without support from adults.

It is important to understand what is and is not inclusive education:

  • Exclusion – students with disabilities are denied access to education in any form.
  • Segregation – education of students with disabilities is provided in separate environments designed for specific, and in isolation from students without disabilities.
  • Integration – placing students with disabilities in mainstream educational institutions without adaptation and requiring the student to fit in.
  • Inclusion – education environments that adapt the design and physical structures, teaching methods, and curriculum, as well as the culture, policy and practice of education environments, so that they are accessible to all students without discrimination. Placing students with disabilities within mainstream classes without these adaptations does not constitute inclusion.”

Inclusive Education - Understanding Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Size: 642KB File format: pdf

Playfulness
  • Providing a playful, fun, and light-hearted environment for children.
  • Use the same qualities when communicating and interacting with the children.
  • Promoting joy and positivity in all that is done within the provision.

Acceptance
  • Accepting and valuing children for who they are.
  • Removal of judgements.
  • Accepting children’s feelings, motivation, and intent.

Curiosity
  • Being curious about what is happening for the child.
  • Exploring the intent behind the behaviour.
  • Reflect on the child’s experiences and the impact of these.

Empathy
  • Strong and trusting bonds with the child.
  • Recognising and valuing the feelings of the child.
  • Listening to the child’s perspective, supporting them to express their feelings without fear.

The PACE Model was developed by Dr Dan Hughes and is a trauma-informed approach to supporting children and young people. It focuses on adult and child interactions through building strong attachments, trusting relationships, being emotionally connected, and containment. The intent of the framework is to encourage adults to consider how they are communicating with children, with an emphasis on the need to remain calm and tune into the children’s experiences. This role-modelling by adults will then enable children to be able to consider their own responses.

“Reasonable adjustments can mean alterations to buildings by providing lifts, wide doors, ramps and tactile signage, but may also mean changes to policies, procedures and staff training to ensure that services work equally well for people with learning disabilities.” – Reasonable adjustments: a legal duty - GOV.UK.

Reasonable adjustments are changes which are made to a provision to prevent a disability or personal barrier putting an individual child at a disadvantage compared to others within the setting. These reasonable adjustments can be something simple, such as making walkways wider for a child with dyspraxia, allowing a neurodivergent child the opportunity to stand or move around during activities or providing quiet spaces for children to reduce sensory over-stimulation.

Refer to the diagram and reflective questions below to assess the reasonable adjustments currently implemented in your setting and identify any additional considerations that may be needed.

Basic provision for all directional diagram (arrow pointing up)

Supportive, caring, and responsive relationships – Adults must understand how to build positive relationships with children and their families as this is fundamental to wellbeing, learning and development for all within the provision. Leaders should also encourage positive relationships. All children and their families need to feel safe both physically and emotionally within the provision. As do adults working in provision.

Inclusive and enabling environment – All individual children’s experiences and interests should be seen within the environment. All children should be able to choose resources that they are interested in and naturally want to play with, and this should be supported by adults where appropriate. Are individual children’s interests reflected within the environment? Is the environment accessible to children? Is there a challenge for children? Are the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning planned for?

Play-based curriculum – Children have a biological drive that leads them to play, a provider’s curriculum should reflect this. With the evidence from research suggesting that play is being lost, consider asking how your curriculum supports children’s opportunities for true play. Are you stopping and starting them frequently? Are children left to play alone for long periods without interaction? Or is there a lot of interference from adults during play? How does the planning cycle support children’s behaviour?

Supporting emotional development – Adults should prioritise supporting the development of children’s emotional development through positive interactions, and through routines and activities. This should be a priority for all.

Reflective practice – All staff should be aware of the importance of reflection and be given regular opportunities to reflect both individually and as part of the wider team. This should be important to all. The difference between a good practitioner and a bad one is the ability to reflect on practice and provision and make changes where it is needed.