20 research outputs found
Inclusive early childhood education : an analysis of 32 European examples
This report is part of the three-year Inclusive Early Childhood Education (IECE)
project run by the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education (the
Agency) from 2015 to 2017. The project aims to identify, analyse and subsequently
promote the main characteristics of quality inclusive pre-primary education for all
children from three years of age to the start of primary education.
This report presents the results of a qualitative analysis of 32 descriptions of
examples of IECE provisions across Europe. The descriptions were submitted to the
project in August 2015. The findings represent European practitionersâ perceptions
of and practices for IECE.
An inductive thematic data analysis method was used, in that themes or issues were
initially derived from reading the descriptions. This inductive process was, however,
also intertwined with relevant theory, particularly the Agencyâs âultimate vision for
inclusive education systemsâ that:
... ensure that all learners of any age are provided with meaningful, highâquality
educational opportunities in their local community, alongside their friends and
peers(European Agency, 2015, p. 1).
In total, 25 subthemes were identified. These were organised into a new Ecosystem
Model of Inclusive Early Childhood Education, which is also presented in a
comprehensive diagram (Figure 1). Two major perspectives previously used in
describing the quality of ECE settings inspired this new model. These are the
Outcome-Process-Structure model and the Ecological Systems model. The
subthemes were subsequently grouped into five main themes:
âą Theme 1: The first main and central theme is âChild belongingness, engagement
and learningâ, often generally understood as active participation. This
participation is regarded as both the main outcome and process of IECE.
âą Theme 2: Five major processesinvolving the childâs direct experience in the IECE
setting enable this central outcome and process. These processes are:
â Positive interaction with adults and peers
â Involvement in play and other daily activities
â A child-centred approach
â Personalised assessment for learning
â Accommodations, adaptations and support.
âą Theme 3: These processes are in turn supported by structural factors, consisting
of the physical, social, cultural and educational environment. These factors may operate at different ecological levels. Some operate within the ECE setting and
include:
â A warm welcome for every child and family
â Family involvement within the ECE setting.
â A holistic curriculum designed for all childrenâs needs
â An environment designed for all children
â Staff who are appropriately qualified for IECE
â A culturally-responsive social and physical environment
â Inclusive leadership committed to respect and engagement for all
individuals
â Collaboration and shared responsibility among all stakeholders.
âą Theme 4: Inclusive processes experienced by the child are also influenced by
more distant structural factors in the community surrounding the ECE setting.
These include:
â Collaboration between the ECE setting and the childrenâs families
â Relevant in-service training for ECE staff
â Wider community commitment and support for serving all children
â Inter-disciplinary and inter-agency co-operation of services from outside
the ECE setting that serve the children in the pre-school
â Organising smooth transitions between home and the ECE setting.
âą Theme 5: Finally, the analysis found a number of structural factors operating at
the macro-system level. These factors were not in direct contact with the ECE
setting. However, they still influenced inclusive processes in the setting. They
are:
â A rights-based approach to ECE
â Provision of mainstream ECE access for all
â Setting up regional/national standards for a holistic IECE curriculum
â Availability of initial education for teachers and other staff for IECE
â Good governance and funding systems for IECE
â Procedures for regular monitoring and evaluation.
This overview of the ecosystem of outcomes, processes and structures for IECE is
presented in the Results chapter. Five evidence-based chapters, dedicated to each of the five main themes, follow this. Each chapter presents a brief description of
each of the outcome, process or structural factors within each main theme. These
are accompanied by one to five quotations from each of the 32 example
descriptions. The quotations illustrate and provide concrete evidence of what
constitutes quality outcomes, processes and structures that are prevalent across
Europe.
The quotations were chosen both to reflect the different types of IECE concepts and
practices, and to reflect the variety of countries and cultures where they occur. They
are intended to stimulate inclusive developments in research, policy and practice in
Europe and internationally.
Finally, the Conclusion highlights the added value that this analysis contributes to
IECE research, policy and practice. Four new insights are addressed:
1. The development of the new Ecosystem Model of IECE, inspired by two
previous major models, should clarify the understanding of the issues related
to quality ECE.
2. The analysis shows how, within an inclusive perspective, IECEâs primary goal is
best conceived as that of ensuring quality outcomes for all children in terms of
participation. This is described here as belongingness, engagement and
learning.
3. The analysis shines a new light on the major processes in which children are
directly involved and which mostinfluence each childâs participation and
learning. These need to be a major focus of any intervention to improve ECE
quality.
4. The analysis clarifies the structural factors needed to support the development
of more inclusive ECE settings. It also shows how these factors are related to
local and national policies and practices. Situating the structures at the ECE
setting, community and regional/national levels isimportant in levering them
to bring about the changes needed to enable each child to participate and
learn.peer-reviewe
Inclusive early childhood education new insights and tools â contributions from a European study
Quality in early childhood education is a prominent concern for policy-makers, and has
recently become a priority concern for many international and European organisations.
These include the OECD, UNESCO, UNICEF, the European Commission, Eurydice and the
European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, among others.
Over the past three years (2015â2017), the European Agency for Special Needs and
Inclusive Education (the Agency) has examined the latest policy documents and relevant
research in this field. This has been a springboard for exploring the main characteristics of
quality inclusive early childhood education (IECE) for all children from three years of age to
the start of primary education.
The project data from across Europe has provided an opportunity to closely examine how,
within the inclusion perspective, early childhood education provisions are addressing the
quality principles set out by the European Commission and the OECD.
Sixty-four inclusive early childhood education experts from across Europe contributed to
the project. They participated in data collection and analysis through descriptions of
example provisions, as well as observations and discussions during field work and case
study visits.
This report first sets out the main policy and practice developments towards inclusive
early childhood education, with particular reference to European policy issues
(Chapters 2â3).
It then presents the projectâs three new contributions towards improving quality inclusive
early childhood education (Chapters 4â6). These are:
1. A clear rationale for and an analysis of the implications of adopting an inclusive
vision and goals as the main standards of inclusive early childhood policy and
provision. The project found that high-quality services that benefited all children
were guided by an inclusive vision and worked towards inclusive goals. As their
primary outcome, they sought to ensure each childâs belongingness, engagement
and learning. This reflects the changes in early childhood intervention in recent decades. The focus has shifted from âworking with the childâ towards a holistic
approach that creates an inclusive environment for all childrenâs engagement and
learning. The report thus refers to quality early childhood education (ECE) as
âinclusive early childhood educationâ (IECE). It only uses the terms âearly childhood
educationâ (ECE) or âearly childhood education and careâ (ECEC) when referring to
the literature.
2. A new Self-Reflection Tool for improving inclusive early childhood education
settings. This enables practitioners to review their serviceâs quality in terms of the
inclusiveness of the physical, social and other learning environments it offers to
children and families. The tool has been validated by project experts and additional
ecological studies. It is ready for use by practitioners in inclusive early childhood
education settings in different education systems and countries across Europe and
beyond.
3. A new Ecosystem Model of Inclusive Early Childhood Education for policy-makers
and other stakeholders wishing to collaborate towards effective action in this field.
This model can support policy-makers and practitioners to collaborate in planning,
reviewing and improving quality IECE services. The model is founded on the project
data. It is inspired by three major frameworks for quality IECE, namely:
(1) The structure-process-outcome framework used by European and international
policy-makers (European Commission, 2014; OECD, 2015; European Agency,
2009)
(2) The ecological systems framework (Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2006)
(3) The inclusive education perspective (European Agency, 2015).
It incorporates all the principles of the EU and OECD frameworks for quality early
childhood education. However, it enhances their applicability by locating them at
different ecological levels (inclusive early childhood education setting,
home/community and regional/national levels).
Finally, the report gives an account of the lessons learned during the three-year project
and the resulting recommendations (Chapter 7). These are presented within the
framework of the new Ecosystem Model of IECE. They are mainly directed at policy-
makers, but they also point to the implications for practitioners. Indeed, they are
formulated in terms of how policy-makers can support practitioners to ensure quality
provisions.peer-reviewe
Exploring Swedish preschool teachers' perspectives on applying a self-reflection tool for improving inclusion in early childhood education and care
IntroductionIn order to provide opportunities for high-quality early childhood education and care for each child, inclusive settings need to develop and sustain their potential to enable participation in terms of attendance and involvement for diverse groups of children. In 2015â2017, the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education completed a project on inclusive early childhood education, focusing on structures, processes, and outcomes that ensure a systemic approach to high-quality inclusive early childhood education. Within the project, a self-reflection tool for improving inclusion, the Inclusive Early Childhood Education Environment Self-Reflection Tool (ISRT), was developed. For purposes of future implementation of the ISRT, the present study focused on the teachers' perspective regarding the ISRT's potential to contribute to enabling all children's participation, defined as attending and being actively engaged in the activities in early childhood education and care. The specific aim was to explore Swedish preschool teachers' perceptions of the ISRT based on their experiences of applying the tool.MethodsTwelve preschool teachers participated in semi-structured interviews about their experiences of applying the tool. The interviews were analyzed with a thematic analysis.ResultsThe thematic analysis resulted in three main themes concerning the teachers' perception of (1) the construction of the ISRT, (2) the time required for using the tool, and (3) the tool's immediate relevance for practice. Each of these themes contained both negative and positive perceptions of the tool.DiscussionBased on the negative and positive perceptions identified in the three main themes, future research and development of the ISRT in Swedish preschools are discussed. On a general level, the results are discussed in relation to the implementation of the ISRT in terms of acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility
Inclusive early childhood education environment self-reflection tool
This Self-Reflection Tool was developed as part of the Inclusive Early Childhood Education
(IECE) project, conducted by the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive
Education from 2015 to 2017 (www.european-agency.org/agency-projects/inclusive-early-
childhood-education). The projectâs overall goal was to identify, analyse and subsequently
promote the main characteristics of quality IECE for all children. To that end, a need was
detected for a tool that all professionals and staff could use to reflect on their settingâs
inclusiveness, focusing on the social, learning and physical environment. This tool is
intended to help improve settingsâ inclusiveness.peer-reviewe
Towards a Holocene tephrochronology for the Faroe Islands, North Atlantic
The Faroe Islands hold a key position in the North Atlantic region for tephra studies due to their relative proximity to Iceland. Several tephras have been described over the last 50 years in peat and lake sediment sequences, including the type sites for the Saksunarvatn and MjĂĄuvĂžtn tephras. Here we present a comprehensive overview of Holocene tephras found on the Faroe Island. In total 23 tephra layers are described including visible macrotephras such as the Saksunarvatn and Hekla 4 tephras and several cryptotephras. The importance of tephras originally described from the Faroe Islands is highlighted and previously unpublished results are included. In addition, full datasets for several sites are published here for the first time. The Saksunarvatn Ash, now considered to be the result of several eruptions rather than one major eruption, can be separated into two phases on the Faroe Islands; one early phase with two precursor eruptions with lower MgO concentrations (4.5â5.0 wt%) than the main eruption and a later phase with higher MgO concentrations (5.5â6.0 wt%), including the visible Saksunarvatn Ash. The TjĂžrnuvĂk Tephra, previously considered to be a primary deposit, is now interpreted as a reworked tephra with material from at least two middle Holocene eruptions of Hekla. Several of the tephras identified on the Faroe Islands provide useful isochrons for climate events during the Holocene
Hereditary spastic paraplegia 3A associated with axonal neuropathy
OBJECTIVE: To study the frequency and distribution of mutations in SPG3A in a large cohort of patients with hereditary spastic paraplegia. DESIGN: We screened a large cohort of 182 families and isolated cases with pure or complex hereditary spastic paraplegia phenotypes, which were negative for mutations in SPG4. RESULTS: In 12 probands (6.6%), we identified 12 different SPG3A mutations (11 missense and 1 insertion/frameshift) of which 7 were novel and 3 were de novo. We found incomplete penetrance in 1 family (G482V). In most cases, SPG3A mutations were associated with an early age at onset (mean, 3 y); however, in 1 family (R495W mutation), symptoms started later (mean, 14 y) with clear intrafamilial variability (8-28 y). Six patients with an SPG3A mutation (F151S, Q191R, M408T, G469A, R495W) originating from 5 unrelated families presented with a complex form of hereditary spastic paraplegia associated with a neuropathy (17%). Our electrophysiological and pathological findings confirmed an axonal sensory-motor neuropathy. There was no correlation between the genotype and the presence of a neuropathy. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that mutations in SPG3A represent an important cause of patients in the overall hereditary spastic paraplegia population. SPG3A is more often associated with a neuropathy than previously assumed. Therefore, patients with a bipyramidal syndrome and a neuropathy should be screened for mutations in SPG3A.status: publishe
Dietary carbohydrates, glycemic index, glycemic load, and endometrial cancer risk within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition Cohort
The associations of dietary total carbohydrates, overall glycemic index, total dietary glycemic load, total sugars, total starch, and total fiber with endometrial cancer risk were analyzed among 288,428 women in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort (1992-2004), including 710 incident cases diagnosed during a mean 6.4 years of follow-up. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate relative risks and 95% confidence intervals. There were no statistically significant associations with endometrial cancer risk for increasing quartile intakes of any of the exposure variables. However, in continuous models calibrated by using 24-hour recall values, the multivariable relative risks were 1.61 (95% confidence interval: 1.06, 2.45) per 100 g/day of total carbohydrates, 1.40 (95% confidence interval: 0.99, 1.99) per 50 units/day of total dietary glycemic load, and 1.36 (95% confidence interval: 1.05, 1.76) per 50 g/day of total sugars. These associations were stronger among women who had never used postmenopausal hormone therapy compared with ever users (total carbohydrates P-heterogeneity = 0.04). Data suggest no association of overall glycemic index, total starch, and total fiber with risk, and a possible modest positive association of total carbohydrates, total dietary glycemic load, and total sugars with risk, particularly among never users of hormone replacement therapy