PURPOSE: To compare the participation ratings between children with special educational needs and their primary caregivers and investigate the activities children desire to change and their participation-based goals.

METHODS: Twenty children with special educational needs aged 8 to 12 years were interviewed using the Functioning Scale of the Disability Evaluation System-Child to measure participation frequency and independence and select desire-to-change activities. The International Classification of Functioning, Disabilities, and Health-based Collaborative Problem Solving was used to form participation-based goals.

RESULTS: Children reported participation differently from their primary caregivers. Nineteen children identified desire-to-change activities mostly related to the home and community settings and indicated a desire to change participation frequency. Children's participation-based goals reflected their desires to do their preferred activities more often.

CONCLUSIONS: Children with special educational needs had unique perspectives different from those of their caregivers, and they could identify desired activities and set participation goals with semi-structured methods.

This project, an Erasmus+-KA3 between 2021 and 2023, aimed at developing and implementing innovative methods and practices to foster and facilitate inclusion in education and promote common values. It is based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) as a framework to build bridges between countries with different policies between different professions and theoretical backgrounds. We examined the perception of inclusive education and the impact of using an Inclusive Assessment App, “I AM,” in the classroom, focusing on participation rather than deficiency. Based on an inclusive mindset, the project created a tool that supports teachers in inclusive practices using participatory action research when designing the tool. The tool will be practical for key actors in the field of education and have implications for policy and research.

Inclusive educative systems are characterised by including all students in the sense that students are present, participate and learn in school with other students. The ICF framework of I AM focuses on improving and facilitating inclusion by assessing the school environment, emphasising functioning and participation rather than individual deficiencies. The aim is to address the common challenges most countries face concerning inclusion in a school welcoming all students. A shared challenge is that many students needing additional support often also participate in school activities to a lower degree than others. Another challenge is that teachers face problems attending to individual students and groups simultaneously. Focusing on participation and environmental factors presents a new way to address such issues. Facilitating inclusion through the relationship between participation and the environment relates to Availability, Accessibility, Affordability, Accommodability and Acceptability as different aspects of the environment. These 5 A:s were used to analyse inclusiveness.

In collaboration with teachers, this study aimed to create and evaluate a tool, an app called I AM, that was based on the ICF to examine if it could support teachers in their work. The teacher training consisted of two workshops. The first was related to the ICF framework, participation, and environmental factors. The second workshop focused specifically on using the app, identifying important issues related to usability and discussing applications in the classroom. The intention was to include thirty teachers from four countries each in this pilot study (Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Portugal.) Those teachers, the I AM group, should receive training in using the app based on the ICF, focusing on participation activities rather than individuals’ need for compensatory support. The data collection also included focus group discussions with teachers about the tool’s usability during field trials and questionnaires on their perception of inclusive education before and after piloting the tool. The questionnaires were also administered to a comparison group of teachers. Questionnaires about the tool’s usability were also administered to the I AM group.

There was a challenge in recruiting the number of respondents as planned. Instead of 120 teachers responding twice in the I AM group, we received about 60 teachers in the I AM group and only 40 in the comparison group. At the first measure point, we received 87% of the expected responses in the pilot group and 67% of the comparison groups’ responses on the questionnaires. Teachers did rate their perception of inclusive education relatively high.

No significant differences were found between the initial and subsequent measures, but a detailed breakdown reveals nuanced patterns. The study employs the 5A:s framework (Availability, Accessibility, Affordability, Accommodability, and Acceptability) to assess perceptions of participation and environmental factors supporting inclusive education. While teachers agree upon the Acceptability of all students, the levels of Accessibility and, perhaps even more, the Affordability of working with inclusiveness seem to be lower. Teachers need time to use the tool and fully grasp the ICF mindset. Teachers already acquainted with the ICF framework, with a more inclusive mindset, found it comprehensive and saw the relevance of the I AM and how to use it efficiently as a tool for planning and communicating. The most salient critique concerned aspects relating to suggested interventions offered in the app, which added to complexity by demanding reading scientific literature in English.

Lessons learned from the project highlight the complexity of introducing inclusive education concepts across different countries and the importance of involving teachers, school boards, and administrators. Currently available in English, German, and Portuguese, the I AM tool seeks to maximise accessibility and applicability across countries. The tool encourages a shift in assessment methods to a focus on functioning in everyday life, fostering a more individualised and inclusive approach to education. The project envisions the I AM tool as a sustainable link between theory, policy, and practice, contributing to a more inclusive European education system and, indirectly, increased economic productivity and social participation.

Introduction: In 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 2015–2017, 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. Methods: Twelve preschool teachers participated in semi-structured interviews about their experiences of applying the tool. The interviews were analyzed with a thematic analysis. Results: The 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. Discussion: Based 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.

This book resulted from the Work Package 1 (WP1) of the Inclusive Assessment Map project – so-called I AM project. I AM is an Erasmus+ funded project (Agreement No. 621435-EPP-1-2020-1-AT- EPPKA3-IPI-SOC-IN) that aims to develop – based on the Internacional Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth (ICF-CY) – an innovative assessment tool that provides teachers with guidance on how to create school environments in order to be inclusive places. The partner countries are: Austria, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Belgium and Portugal. By identifying the common trends on inclusive education policies of the 4 involved countries and by revising evidence-based supports linked with students’ participation, this book presents a good practices analysis of inclusive-oriented assessment and supports implementation within educational contexts.

Den här boken handlar om förskolan som lärmiljö för alla barn och i synnerhet för barn i behov av särskilt stöd. Syftet är att belysa vikten av att upptäcka barn som behöver stöd tidigt, och hur olika insatser kan planeras och organiseras för att gynna delaktighet, engagemang och lärande för alla barn i förskolan. Den bygger på svensk och internationell forskning och fyller ett tomrum avseende kunskap kring barn i behov av särskilt stöd i förskolan och deras aktiva engagemang i förskolans vardag. Boken är indelad i tre delar:

• Förutsättningar för barns delaktighet och engagemang i förskolan.

• Att skapa en inkluderande lärmiljö i förskolan.

• Tidig intervention och samverkan runt barn i behov av särskilt stöd.

Förskollärare och annan personal i förskolan, specialpedagoger och andra som arbetar med tidigt stöd till barn i förskolan har nytta av boken i sitt arbete liksom lärare och studenter i förskollärarutbildningen. Den är också av intresse för skoladministratörer, politiker och andra som är intresserade av förskolan som lärmiljö för alla barn.

The purpose of this scoping review was to explore operationalizations and related conceptualizations of young children's engagement in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. The literature search was conducted in March 2021 across ERIC, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science databases, with the aim of identifying studies where child engagement or involvement in ECEC settings was quantitatively assessed. The search resulted in 5965 articles, of which 286 were included in this review. Data were extracted about engagement conceptualization, theoretical frameworks, study population, study design, and engagement measurement tools and methods. Findings show variations in definitions and measurement of child engagement. Almost two-thirds of the studies lacked an explicit definition of child engagement. Young children's engagement was typically defined as behaviors and interactions with the social and material environment, while involvement was depicted as an internal experience. The most common method of measuring children's engagement in ECEC was observations by an external observer, followed by teacher surveys. Seventy-seven unique established measures of child engagement were identified. About one-third of the identified studies relied on unestablished measures of child engagement. Measures of general child engagement in ECEC had a focus on behavioral aspects of engagement, whereas most measures with a focus on engagement in academic activities also included cognitive and emotional aspects. To advance the research of child engagement in ECEC settings, more attention should be put into clarifying the concept of child engagement in terms of its generalizability, specificity, and temporality. Corresponding operationalizations should be precisely described. Our recommendations also include validating existing measures of child engagement and developing self-reports for young children.

Building on the Salamanca Statement from 1994, the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals 2030 embraces inclusion for children in early childhood education. The European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education in 2015–2017 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 (IECE). An ecosystem model of IECE was developed with a self-reflection tool for improving inclusion. This study's aim was to investigate practitioners' perspective on the inclusive processes and supportive structures defined in the ecosystem model, to contribute to a deeper understanding of how inclusive practice might be enabled and how barriers for inclusion can be removed. The self-reflection tool was administered in a heterogeneous municipality in Sweden, where inclusive settings are standard. Documentation from approximately 70 teachers on 27 teams was received. The documentation was analysed with qualitative content analysis based on the ecosystem model. The results showed a strong emphasis on group-related processes, whereas data on individual-related processes were scarce. This one-sided focus on the group level might endanger the inclusive processes and outcomes concerning the individual child. 

How preschool teachers and children spend their time in preschool sets the stage for child engagement and learning. To describe characteristics of environments and activities and to compare child engagement in indoor and outdoor free play, systematic observations of children and teachers were performed in 78 Swedish preschool units. Results showed that indoor and outdoor free play were the main activity settings. Children interacted as much with other children as with teachers. The content focus was dominated by non-pretend play, construction, art and music, followed by pretend play and academic contents. Child engagement was significantly higher in free play indoors compared to outdoors. Teachers engaged in varied tasks, but their central task was managing. Teachers were typically in proximity to small groups of children, or by themselves, and mostly talked to or listened to a single child. Findings are discussed in relation to the preschool curriculum and future research needs.

Early intervention for children vulnerable to exclusion is currently focused on the child?s effective inclusion in mainstream early childhood education. There is thus a search for developing a shared understanding of what constitutes quality inclusive preschool provision. This was the aim of a qualitative 3-year (2015?17) study of inclusive settings for children from 3 years to compulsory education across European countries, conducted by the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education. Data consisted of practitioner descriptions of 32 example inclusive preschools from 28 European countries, and more detailed data collected during short visits to eight of the example settings. Qualitative, thematic analysis identified 25 subthemes representing the perceived constituents of inclusive early childhood education provision. These were organised within a framework that intertwined the structure-process-outcome model with the ecological systems model. The resulting adapted ecosystem model for inclusive early childhood education comprises five dimensions: (1) the inclusive education outcomes, (2) processes, and (3) structural factors within the micro environment of the preschool; and the wider (4) inclusive structural factors at community, and (5) at national levels. The framework can be useful for practitioners as well as researchers and policy makers seeking to improve inclusive early childhood education provision.