UNIT-3

Children and ECE Professional

An early childhood professional is anyone who directly works with
young children from infancy to age 8. Most often referred to as an early childhood teacher.
These professionals include:

 Teachers
 Daycare workers

 Social workers

 Educational assistants

 Parent coordinators

 Early childhood consultants

 School administrators

 Regional administrators

 Coaches

Recent social changes have challenged traditional views of childhood and child rearing:
 the changing socio-economic role of women,
 growing ethnic diversity of develop-d countries, and
 changing views on (early) education and the purpose of (early) education.
The last two changes have important consequences for what is expected of those who work with
young children.

As pointed out by the OECD teachers’ review (OECD, 2005), education systems need to invest
in intensive teacher education and training if teachers are to deliver high-quality outcomes. This
also refers to the ECEC sector (OECD, 2006). Specific knowledge, skills and competencies are
expected of ECEC practitioners. There is a general consensus, supported by research, that well
educated, well-trained professionals are the key factor in providing high-quality ECEC with the
most favourable cognitive and social outcomes for children. Research shows that the behaviour
of those who work in ECEC matters and that this is related to their education and training. The
qualifications, education and training of ECEC staff are, therefore, an important policy issue
(OECD, 2006).

The main importance of staff lies in their effect on the process and content quality of ECEC
(Sheridan, 2009; Pramling and Pramling Samuelsson, in press 2011). The training and education

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of ECEC staff affects the quality of services and outcomes primarily through the knowledge,
skills and competencies that are transmitted and encouraged by practitioners. It is also considered
important that staff believe in their ability to organise and execute the courses of action
necessary to bring about desired results (Fives, 2003). Qualifications can matter in terms of
which skill sets and what knowledge are recognised as important for working with young
children. The skills and staff traits that research identifies as important in facilitating high-quality
services and outcomes are:
 Good understanding of child development and learning;
 Ability to develop children’s perspectives;
 Ability to praise, comfort, question and be responsive to children;
 Leadership skills, problem solving and development of targeted lesson plans; and
 Good vocabulary and ability to elicit children’s ideas.

However, it is not the qualification per se that has an impact on child outcomes but the
ability of better qualified staff members to create a high-quality pedagogic environment that
makes the difference (Elliott, 2006; Sheridan et al., 2009).There is strong evidence that enri
ched stimulating environments and high-quality pedagogy are fostered by better qualified
staff; and better quality pedagogy leads to better learning outcomes (Litjens and Taguma,
2010). Key elements of high staff quality are the way staff involve children and stimulate
interaction with and between children as well as staff’s scaffolding strategies, such as
guiding, modelling and questioning.

More specialised staff education and training on ECEC are strongly associated with stable,
sensitive and stimulating interactions (Shonkoff and Philips, 2000). Other elements of high
staff quality include staff’s content (curriculum) knowledge and their ability to create a
multidisciplinary learning environment (Pramling and Pramling Samuelsson, in press 2011).

Teacher as a facilitator for child participation and guidance as well as setting routines,
rhythms and variations in classroom interactions:-
Planning Appropriate Learning Experiences for Children
Planning appropriate learning experiences for children involves preparing a course of action to
achieve specific learning goals. In planning, teachers need to think about the desired learning
goals to be achieved, how to go about achieving them and how they would know if children have
learnt. Some questions that teachers should consider are:
• What are children expected to learn?
• How are children going to achieve the learning goals?
• What classroom environment and strategies will support the achievement of the goals?

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• What resources (e.g. people, places, audio-visual and Information and Communication
Technology resources, printed materials, music, art, etc.) will be needed to facilitate the learning
process?
• How do children and teachers know if they have learnt?
The NEL(nurturing early learners) Framework recommends a possible planning process to aid teachers in
using an integrated approach that nurtures holistic development. They are:-

1. Determining learning goals

The teacher determines what the children are expected to learn for the year,
term and week based on the learning goals spelt out in the curriculum.
2. Setting the context
The teacher sets the context for learning. The context could be a pre-determined theme or a topic
based on children’s prevailing interests as observed by the teacher. It could also be based on a
specific story, rhyme or song. In setting the context, the teacher considers the following:

• Learning objectives that are appropriate for the group of children

• Children’s interests and abilities
• Children’s prior knowledge and experience
3. Brainstorming for ideas
The teacher brainstorms with the children and/or other teachers to generate
ideas that are related to the context.
4. Generating possible activities
Based on the ideas gathered, the teacher:
• Determines the knowledge, skills and dispositions that will help children meet the identified
goals
• Selects a few ideas to generate possible learning activities which will engage children in active
learning 21
5. Selecting activities
When selecting activities for implementation, the teacher needs to consider if
the activities:
• Take into account children’s prior knowledge, interests and abilities
• Make provision for holistic development of children

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• Are varied and serve to introduce, reinforce or revisit identified knowledge, skills and
dispositions
• Employ a variety of strategies that allow:
- Children to talk about their experiences, express their thoughts and opinions, and explain how
they solve problems that occur during play.
- Children to work in pairs/groups and interact with objects and the environment - children to ask
questions and find out their own answers
• Provide opportunities for children to make connections with their previous learning to
understand new knowledge and skills
6. Sequencing activities and developing activity plans
After selecting the activities, the teacher decides on the duration and order of activities with the
following considerations:
• Complexity of the activity
• Progression for developing knowledge, skills and dispositions
• Availability of resources
The teacher then develops activity plans which include learning objectives, materials needed,
activity development, extension activities and ways to gather information about children’s
development and learning.
7. Tracking Learning Goals
To ensure the holistic development of children, the teacher should keep a record of the
knowledge, skills and dispositions that have been introduced, reinforced and revisited throughout
the year. Termly records could also help monitor how children have progressed in their
achievement of the learning goals.
Organising the Learning Environment
An effective learning environment is purposefully designed to provide engaging, stimulating and
challenging learning experiences to promote children’s holistic development. The three key
aspects that teachers need to consider include:
• The physical environment
• The interactional environment
• The temporal environment
The Physical Environment

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The physical environment can be set up to provide opportunities for children to engage in
purposeful play and learn at their own pace. The physical environment can also be organised to
allow children to explore and develop their creativity and imagination.
The Interactional Environment
The interactional environment can be designed to allow children to interact with
objects, peers and adults and engage in shared and sustained conversations.

The Temporal Environment

The temporal environment refers to the time and space for activities such as routines
and transitions between activities.
Planning for Routines and Transitions
What are Routines?
Routines are activities that are repeated day after day and enable children to anticipate what
happens next. This predictability gives children a sense of control over what they can/cannot do
during each part of the day. Routines help children to feel more comfortable within the pre-
school centre. In the classroom, routines are developed into a daily schedule.
What are Transitions?
Transitions happen in between the scheduled routines of the day. They indicate a change, either
of activities, location or teachers, which should be seamless.
Why are Routines and Transitions Important?
Routines and transitions are good opportunities for teachers to observe and enhance children’s
learning in an authentic way. Many teachable moments may arise during routines and transitions
and provide opportunities for teachers to guide children in their social and emotional
development.
Examples
• Arrival and dismissal routines are opportunities for children to show care and concern for
others by exchanging greetings with peers and adults
• Cleaning up after an activity will teach children to take responsibility for their learning
environment.

• Putting on their own shoes, for example after music and movement activities, will help children
to develop positive feelings about their abilities.
• Snack time is a good opportunity to instill good dining habits.

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• Toileting routines such as flushing after use and hand-washing provide
opportunities for children to perform basic life skills. Through proper planning of routines and
transitions, children can gain self confidence and develop social skills.
Planning for Field Trips:
Field trips provide authentic learning experiences that increase children’s understanding of the
world around them. Carefully planned, field trips can also provide valuable lessons to inculcate
respect, appreciation, cooperation, listening, courtesy, communication and a sense of wonder.
Field trips also inspire activities in art, music, story-writing, drama, movement and show-and-tell
time.
Unlike an excursion which is usually planned as a recreational activity to a place of interest at
the end of a school term, a field trip is planned with teaching and learning objective in mind and
involves children’s active involvement and participation before, during and after the trip. For a
field trip to achieve its objectives, it needs to be carefully planned, like any other activity in the
pre-school centre.
Planning Learning Activities for a Field Trip
When planning a field trip, teachers need to consider the following three levels of
activities:
Pre-field trip activities: Children should be made aware of the purpose of the field trip. A class
discussion can be conducted based on the theme/topic related to the field trip to excite the
children and establish their existing knowledge. They can talk about what they want
to find out from the trip and think of questions to ask the people working at the
places that they are visiting, if applicable.
On-site activities: There should be hands-on activities that allow children to make observations
of the exhibits and displays, where appropriate. This will make their learning more concrete and
meaningful. Teachers are strongly encouraged to take photographs for postfield trip activities.
Post-field trip activities: It is important to plan follow-up activities after the field trip to
encourage the children to reflect on what they have learnt.
Examples
• Ask the children to take turns to describe something they had seen, heard or learnt from the
outing.
• Help the class create a display board, poster or scrapbook to document the
things observed during the outing.
• Ask the class to make and send a “Thank you” card to the host or guide.
Follow-up activities like class projects or artwork that children can do in the classroom
or with their families will reinforce the learning acquired during the field trip.
Strategies to Facilitate Learning:

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An effective pedagogical approach that teachers can use to nurture holistic development is to
motivate and extend children’s learning by building on their interest and curiosity. This can be
facilitated by:
• Engaging children in learning through purposeful play
• Providing opportunities for authentic learning through quality interactions
When selecting strategies to facilitate learning, teachers need to be mindful of the process
through which children construct knowledge and acquire concepts and skills (refer to the
learning cycle). Facilitation of learning should take place at each phase of the learning cycle
(awareness, exploration, acquisition and application) and strategies selected should enable
children to move on to the next phase of learning.
Four of such strategies are:
• Using purposeful play
• Using authentic learning contexts
• Using cooperative learning strategies
• Using questions
Using Purposeful Play:
The concept of purposeful play seeks to ensure that teachers purposefully plan for learning and
interact with children in their play with the intent of achieving desired learning goals. It is also
about being sensitive to children’s interests and always seeking to find out ‘what they know’,
‘what they are paying attention to’ and ‘what might engage them to learn in fun and meaningful
ways’. At the same time, teachers are consciously considering the goals and objectives they wish
to work towards through the children’s play.
Purposeful play forms part of the continuum of play which ranges from childdirected play
(unstructured with free choice by children and with no/little support from teachers) to teacher-
directed play (highly structured with only teacherled instructions and directions).
Successful learning through purposeful play is evident when the following four
characteristics are observed:
• Children enjoy the learning experience.
• Children are actively involved in exploring, developing and applying knowledge and skills.
• Teachers have carefully thought through the learning objectives and considered children’s
interests and abilities.
• Teachers observe children at play to discover what they have learnt and then facilitate/shape
their activities to reinforce or extend their learning towards intended objectives.
Teachers’ roles in facilitating purposeful play include:
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• Intentionally planning learning experiences that are fun, enjoyable and allow children to be
actively involved in exploring, developing and applying knowledge and skills
• Organising the environment to support active learning
• Observing children at play to find out what they have learnt
• Guiding and extending children’s learning to achieve the desired learning goals
Using Authentic Learning Contexts:
Authentic learning contexts are important as they help children make sense of the new
information that they have learnt and relate it to what they already know or have experienced.
Learning experiences are authentic if they are situated in meaningful contexts and reflect how
knowledge/skills can be applied in children’s everyday lives. When children engage in authentic
learning, they learn first-hand how to apply their knowledge and skills in actual settings and
experience what they, or other people, might do or respond in real-life contexts. Real-life
problems and challenges can be presented to children through group games, small group
investigations and in learning centres set up in the classrooms. Field trips also provide children
with opportunities to learn in contexts that are authentic.
Examples of authentic learning experiences include having children:
• Reuse items in the classroom
• List ways to be good neighbours
• Investigate the relationships between people and other living things
• Find out why rules/safety measures are important, for example, why they need to put on the
seatbelt when travelling in a vehicle and wear a helmet when cycling on a bicycle. It is the
teachers’ role to create authentic learning contexts and engage children in quality interactions in
order to help them develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to real-life situations.
Using Cooperative Learning Strategies:
In cooperative learning, small groups of children learn together to maximise their
own and each other’s learning. Each group member is responsible not only for
learning what is taught but also for helping teammates learn, thus building an active and
interactive learning community in the classroom and an atmosphere of achievement and success.
Teachers can promote cooperative learning in the classroom by:
• Providing children with a safe and challenging learning environment
• Encouraging group work so that everyone can contribute
• Setting clear tasks for the children to work on
Children in a cooperative learningbased classroom are often engaged in productive conversations
and interactions and may forget to be mindful of their environment. Thus, teachers

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need to have quick and simple ways of getting their attention and maintaining a reasonable noise
level in the classroom. Some management strategies include:
• Quiet Signal: Raise one hand or hold up a picture cue and slowly count to 3. Children stop
talking and raise one hand to pass the quiet signal to others. Room must be quiet by the count of
3.
• Six Inch Voices: Use a length of string to demonstrate how softly a child must speak to be
heard only 6 inches away. Remind children to use their 6 inch voices when working in their
groups.
Why is cooperative learning important?
• Promotes active participation in learning activities
• Promotes self-esteem by valuing all contributions
• Develops oral communication skills
• Develops social skills (e.g. listening, turn-taking, helping, praising)
• Develops thinking skills
• Makes learning enjoyable and meaningful
Using Questions:
Quality interactions involve teachers and children engaging in extended conversations to build
on ideas and concepts. Teachers need to be skilful in asking questions and using prompts to
engage in conversations and discussions with children.
Research has shown that higher-level thinking skills develop when children are encouraged to
reflect, predict, question and hypothesise. As such, teachers need to find ways to facilitate
children’s thinking beyond what they already know.
Teachers seek to understand children’s thinking and learning process by encouraging
them to put into words their thoughts or what they have seen, heard, experienced and learnt.
Through conversations and by listening respectfully to what children have to say, teachers
reinforce and extend children’s learning and develop their thinking skills.
The discourse between teachers and children builds trust and reinforces the close personal
relationship between them. This caring and nurturing relationship also enables children to be
confident in asking questions and extends their natural sense of curiosity to seek answers to their
questions.
Teachers formulate questions to arouse and sustain children’s interest and motivate
them to think and develop inquiring attitudes. Asking relevant questions also helps
scaffold children’s learning, challenging them to a new level of understanding and
acquisition of skills.
Higher-level thinking skills that can be infused in the curriculum include:
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• Organising skills – to arrange information so it can be understood or presented more
effectively (e.g. by matching similarities, noting differences or indicating sequence)
• Analysing skills – to clarify existing information by examining parts and relationships
• Generating skills – to add information beyond what is given and make connections between
new and old information so as to elaborate on an idea, draw generalisations, make predictions
and explore alternatives
• Metacognitive skills (“thinking about thinking”) – to help children be aware of their own
thinking processes and have active control over these processes. A good question has focus,
clarity and appropriate intonation to support discovery and critical thinking.

Developmental needs and classroom processes for group and individual dynamics
Summary of the Developmental Needs of Children
1. The Need for Physical Activity. Children need to exercise and develop their growing bodies
through physical activities that develop both large and small muscles. Psychologist Abraham
Maslow says our physical needs are our most basic ones.

2. The Need for Competence and Achievement. It is common for many children and
especially young adolescents to feel self conscious and unsure of their abilities. They need
lots of opportunities to explore a wide variety of experiences, careers and interests to acquire
some level of mastery and success. They need opportunities to demonstrate to themselves
and others that they can do things well. Psychologist Eric Erickson states that the
achievement of mastery is the primary developmental task for 6- 12 year olds.

3. The Need for Self-Definition. Rapidly growing children need lots of opportunities to
explore who and what they are becoming and how they relate to the world around them as a
member of their sex, race, family culture, community, etc. Self-definition or identity is the
primary challenge of adolescence. Exploring possible careers and roles is one way
adolescents can begin to look at what the future might hold for them.

4. The Need for Creative Expression. As children’s bodies and minds rapidly grow and
change, and as they become more involved in the world beyond home and family,
opportunities for creative expression are essential to their development. These opportunities
help children develop an understanding and acceptance of themselves as they use speaking,
writing, singing, dancing, drama and the visual arts to express their emerging feelings,
interests, thoughts, talents and abilities.

5. The Need for Positive Social Interaction. Although the family is of primary importance to
children, they all need increasing opportunities to experience positive relationships with
peers outside the family. These positive relationships can provide comfort, support and
security as they are confronted with and experience new ideas, views, values and feelings.

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6. The Need for Structure and Clear Limits. As children grow in their need for independence
and freedom, they also need the security of structure and clear limits to help them develop
skills such as responsibility, resourcefulness and reliability.

7. The Need for Meaningful Participation. Children need opportunities to develop and use
new talents, skills and interests in the context of the real world. The Center for Early
Adolescence stress that children “need to participate in the activities that shape their own
lives”.

8. The Need for Strong Attachment with Positive Adults. All children need the skills to
establish a strong attachment to at least one positive adult in their life. Resilient children –
those who bounce back despite difficulties, are always ones who have strong attachments to
at least one positive, caring adult in their lives.

Belief about Children

When designing learning experiences to facilitate and scaffold the holistic development of
children, the primary concern is what goes on in the minds and hearts of children – how they
develop, how they learn, what their interests are, how they relate to their family, friends and
school, how they cope in the process of learning and what challenges they encounter along the
way.

The curriculum planning process begins with the belief that children are curious,
active and competent learners. This belief underscores the types of learning experiences that is
designed and the resources that are selected for the children. The understanding of who children
are and what they are capable of will influence the following:

• The pre-school centre’s mission, vision, philosophy and values

• The pre-school centre’s programme and daily schedule
• The way teachers view themselves as professionals
• The way teachers plan, facilitate, observe and assess for learning

How Children Develop and Learn

Understanding how children develop and learn will help teachers plan and facilitate more
meaningful learning experiences for children. The NEL Framework recognises that:
• Children develop holistically and learn as a whole.
• Children learn best when they are actively involved in the construction of
knowledge.
• Every child can learn and each child learns differently.
• Children develop knowledge, skills and dispositions by building on those already acquired.
• Children’s development is influenced by the different social and cultural contexts they live in.
• Children develop and learn best when they feel safe and valued.

Children develop holistically and learn as a whole

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Children learn across different learning areas which are connected and inter-related.
Children view whatever they learn as a meaningful whole rather than separated
into subjects or parts.

Children learn best when they are actively involved in the construction of
knowledge
Children learn by personally experiencing and doing things for themselves. Research
shows that children remember things better when they are actively involved in learning
experiences that appeal to their five senses.

Every child can learn and each child learns differently

Every child is a unique individual with different strengths and weaknesses. Each child
learns in different ways and at different pace. Therefore, it is important for teachers
to bear in mind that children develop at varying rates and some develop more
rapidly in one area than in another. Teachers can provide opportunities for children to learn by
using a variety of strategies and contexts.
Children develop knowledge, skills and dispositions by building on those already acquired
Children’s thinking and reasoning change over time as they build new knowledge
upon their existing knowledge and prior experiences. To foster optimal learning,
teachers need to provide learning experiences at children’s zone of proximal
development which is just beyond what they can do on their own but within what
they can do with the necessary assistance from either teachers or more capable
peers.

Children’s development is influenced by the different social and cultural contexts they live
in
Children have diverse social and cultural experiences as a result of the different families, cultures
and communities that they grow up in. Some families/cultures may focus on the importance of
developing a strong sense of independence while others may stress the needs of the community
and focus on how their children can contribute to the family, community and society. Such
cultural differences can lead to variations in children’s habits, interactions with others and the
way they respond to stimuli in their environment. These learning experiences affect and shape
their development.
Children develop and learn best when they feel safe and valued
Children feel secure and valued when they receive attention and affirmation. This support will
enable them to act spontaneously and confidently. Thus, it is important to organise a safe
environment where children:
• Are supported and appreciated throughout the learning experience
• Experience success and feel motivated during the learning process

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The Learning Cycle
Learning is a complex process that results from the interaction of children’s thinking and
experiences. Children learn best when they have opportunities to:
• Experience and be aware of an event, a situation or a problem
• Explore and discover answers for themselves
• Engage in carrying out tasks that are interesting and meaningful to them
• Apply new skills that they have acquired and new concepts that they have learnt
The learning cycle reflects the processes which children go through in constructing knowledge
and acquiring concepts and skills. It guides teachers in curriculum planning and reminds them to
provide opportunities for active learning when children encounter new situations or new
concepts that may be too abstract for them.

The Learning Cycle:

Awareness

Exploration

Application

Acquisition

The learning cycle involves children moving from initial awareness to gaining new knowledge
and skills that they can apply in different situations on their own. Based on this learning cycle,
teachers design quality learning experiences to provide children with opportunities to:
• Explore concepts and skills
• Acquire a deeper understanding of the concepts/skills
• Apply these concepts and skills in authentic contexts
• Reflect on their learning

Reflecting on the Practice

How can teachers facilitate learning in each phase of the learning cycle?

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Learning
What children do
Phase
Awareness
observe and encounter a
variety of objects, people,
places and events
• Recall and talk about
experiences
• Show interest to want to
know or find out more
Exploration • Ask questions
• Touch, smell, hear and taste
• Observe in greater detail
• Form hypothesis
• Test predictions
• Collect more data
• Record information
• Make comparisons
• Make new discoveries
Acquisition
Construct personal
meaning
• Make links and connections
between new and prior
learning
• Begin to gain mastery
• Propose explanations
• Develop new
understandings
What teachers do
• Create interest and generate
curiosity
• Show interest in finding out
more
about something
• Provide opportunities for
children to
have direct contact with real
objects,
people, places and events
✎
• Provide resources and
organise
learning spaces to encourage
exploration and investigation
• Ask open-ended questions
• Use different teaching
strategies to
help children refine their
skills and
understanding of concepts
• Ask questions to help
children make
new connections
• Provide time, space and
materials for
children to revise concepts
and try
out skills to gain mastery

Application • Provide opportunities for

• Apply/adapt new concepts
children to
and skills in new and real
transfer their learning to a
life situations
different
• Propose alternatives
context
• Explore new situations
• Encourage and guide
• Extend understanding
children in self
• Gain new awareness
reflection and self-assessment
• Generate possibilities

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Modifying classroom interactions to address child rights and sensitivity towards social
cultural contexts as also effective use of resources

Learning takes place within a web of social relationships as teachers and pupils interact both
formally and informally. Schools are institutional spaces for communities of learners, including
both students and teachers. Play and scuffle with one’s friends on the school grounds, free time
to sit on the benches and chat with one’s friends during breaks, gathering together for morning
assembly and other festive and significant occasions in the school, studies carried out in the
classroom, anxious turning of pages before a class test, and trips made with one’s classmates and
teachers to places outside the school — all these are activities bringing the community together,
giving it the character of a learning community. Behind the scenes, but still significant in giving
the school its character, are the teachers and the headmaster, planning and carrying out daily
routines, examinations and special events that mark the school calendar. How can we organise
the environment in the school and classroom so that such interactions support and enhance both
teaching and learning? How can the space of the school be nurtured as a context where children
feel safe, happy and wanted, and which teachers find meaningful and professionally satisfying?
The physical and psychological dimensions of the environment are important and are
interrelated.

India has signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The three most important
principles of this Convention are the rights to participation, to association or the right to
organisation, and the right to information. These are essential rights if children and youth are to
realise all their other rights. CRC does not concern itself only with the protection of children and
the delivery or provision of services and programmes, but also ensures that children have the
right to determine the quality and nature of these services and programmes. Moreover, all the
articles of the CRC have to be seen within the overarching principle, that of upholding and
preserving the best interests of children.

Although CRC guarantees children the right to express their views freely in all matters affecting
them, and to exercise freedom of expression, children are frequently denied the opportunity to
participate in decision-making processes and activities that effect their lives and futures. The
right to participation also depends on the realisation of other primary rights such as access to
information, the freedom of association, and the right to formulate opinions free from influence
and coercion. The principle of participation should be integrated into all areas of concern for
children.

In reality, social, political and economic structures are still very much hierarchical; children and
youth are the most marginalised sections of society; their effective participation depends largely
on the extent to which they are given the opportunity to organise themselves. Coming together
gives them visibility, strength and a collective voice. The participation of individual, ‘hand-
picked’ children or youth is fraught with discrimination, and is ineffective because such
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‘representatives’ represent no one but themselves; it excludes the less vocal and less visible; and
it gives more room for manipulation.

On the other hand, the organised participation of children and youth, especially the more
disadvantaged children, gives children strength, access to more information, confidence, an
identity and ownership. Individual children or youth representing such groups voice the views
and aspirations of the collective. Their coming together also enables them to find collective ways
to solve problems. However, what needs to be ensured is that all children and youth have an
equal right to participate in the development of this collective voice.
Therefore to address child’s right schools Must understand the following:-
 Inclusive education is about embracing all.
 Disability is a social responsibility — accept it.
 No selection procedures to be adopted for denying admission to learners with disabilities.
 Children do not fail; they only indicate failure of the school.
 Accept difference… celebrate diversity.
 Inclusion is not confined to the disabled. It also means non-exclusion.
 Learn human rights … conquer human wrongs.
 Handicap is a social construct, deconstruct handicap.
 Make provisions — not restrictions; adjust to the needs of the child.
 Remove physical, social and attitudinal barriers.
 Partnership is our strength such as school – community; school – teachers; teachers –
teachers; teachers – children; children – children; teachers – parents; school systems and
outside systems.
 All good practices of teaching are practices of inclusion.
 Learning together is beneficial for every child.
 Support services are essential services.
 If you want to teach, learn from the child. Identify strengths not limitations.
 Inculcate mutual respect and inter-dependence.

A policy of inclusion needs to be implemented in all schools and throughout the education
system. The participation of all children needs to be ensured in all spheres of their life in and
outside the school. Schools need to become centres that prepare children for life and ensure that
all children, especially the differently abled, children from marginalised sections, and children in
difficult circumstances get the maximum benefit of this critical area of education. Opportunities
to display talents and share these with peers are powerful tools in nurturing motivation and
involvement among children. In our schools we tend to select some children over and over again.
While this small group benefits from these opportunities, becoming more self - confident and
visible in the school, other children experience repeated disappointment and progress through
school with a constant longing for recognition and peer approval. Excellence and ability may be

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singled out for appreciation, but at the same time opportunities need to be given to all children
and their specific abilities need to be recognised and appreciated.

This includes children with disabilities, who may need assistance or more time to complete their
assigned tasks. It would be even better if, while planning for such activities, the teacher discusses
them with all the children in the class, and ensures that each child is given an opportunity to
contribute. When planning, therefore, teachers must pay special attention to ensuring the
participation of all. This would become a marker of their effectiveness as teachers. .

Schools also undermine the diverse capabilities and talents of children by categorising them very
early, on narrow cognitive criteria. Instead of relating to each child as an individual, early in their
lives children are placed on cognitive berths in the classroom: the ‘stars’, the average, the below
- average, and the ‘failures’. Most often they never have a chance to get off their berth by
themselves. The demonising effect of such labelling is devastating on children. Schools go to
absurd lengths to make children internalise these labels, through verbal name calling such as
‘dullard’, segregating them in seating arrangements, and even creating markers that visually
divide children into achievers and those who are unable to perform. The fear of not having the
right answer keeps many children silent in the classroom, thus denying them an equal
opportunity to participate and learn. Equally paralysed by the fear of failure are the socalled
achievers, who lose their capacity to try out new things arising from the fear of failure, doing less
well in examinations, and of losing their ranks. It is important to allow making errors and
mistakes to remain an integral part of the learning process and remove the fear of not achieving
‘full marks’. The school needs to send out a strong signal to the community, parents who
pressurise children from an early age to be perfectionists. Instead of spending time in tuitions or
at home learning the ‘perfect answers’, parents need to encourage their children to spend their
time reading storybooks, playing and doing a reasonable amount of homework and revision.
Instead of looking for courses on stress management for their pupils, school heads and school
managements need to de-stress their curricula, and advise parents to de-stress children’s life
outside the school.

Schools that emphasise intense competitiveness must not be treated as examples by others,
including state-run schools. The ideal of common schooling advocated by the Kothari
Commission four decades ago continues to be valid as it reflects the values enshrined in our
Constitution. Schools will succeed in inculcating these values only if they create an ethos in
which every child feels happy and relaxed. This ideal is even more relevant now because
education has become a fundamental right, which implies that millions of first-generation
learners are being enrolled in schools . To retain them, the system — including its private sector
— must recognise that there are many children that no single norm of capacity, personality or
aspiration can serve in the emerging scenario. School administrators and teachers should also
realise that when boys and girls from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds and

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different levels of ability study together, the classroom ethos is enriched and becomes more
inspiring.

PARTICIPATION OF ALL CHILDREN

Participation by itself has little meaning. It is the ideological framework surrounding
participation that defines it and gives it a political construct. Education defines the fabric of a
nation, and has the capacity to provide each child a positive experience of democratic
functioning. Like the texture, colour, strength, and nature of each thread that is woven into a
tapestry, each child can be enabled to not only participate in a democracy, but to also learn how
to interact and form partnerships with others to preserve and enhance democracy. It is the quality
and nature of the interrelationships among individuals that determines the socio-political fabric
of our nation. However, children are often socialised in to discriminatory practices. Children and
adults learn from what they experience at home, the community and the world around them. It is
important to recognise that adults socialise children within the dominant socio-cultural paradigm.
This paradigm would include the role models that children see the mass media including
television. This experience conditions their perceptions of caste and class, gender, democracy
and justice. These perceptions, if and when reinforced by repeated experiences of the same kind,
are converted into values. At a community level, when a group of people have the same
experience and therefore share the same values, these values get converted into culture, and
sometimes even ideology. This is a spiral, and each time the cycle is repeated the values and
culture get reinforced unless there is a variation in the experience. The counter - experience
needs to be strong and real enough to transform the earlier perceptions. Children cannot wake up
one fine morning when they are 18 and know how to participate in, preserve and enhance a
democracy, especially if they have had no prior personal or even second - hand experience of it,
nor any role models to learn from.

The participation of children is a means to a much larger end, that of preserving and adding a
new vibrancy to our culture of egalitarianism, democracy, secularism and equality. These values
can be best realised through an integrated and well-designed curriculum that enables children’s
participation. The existing environment of unhealthy competition in schools promotes values that
are the antithesis of the values enshrined in our Constitution. A positive ‘experience’ of
democracy and democratic participation must be provided both within and outside the school.
This experience must actively engage children and young people in ways that encourage values
of inclusion, eventually leading the way to the realisation of the vision of a participatory
democracy.

Enabling democratic participation is also a means of empowering the weak and the marginalised.
If a nation is to realise her dream of a nation based on egalitarianism, democracy and secularism,
where all her citizens enjoy justice, liberty, equality and fraternity, enabling the participation of
children would be the most fundamental step in this process. Enabling learning through

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participation in the life of a community and the nation at large is crucial to the success of
schooling. The failure to provide this will result in the failure of the system, and hence needs to
be treated as the utmost priority. It is not only as essential as the teaching of mathematics and
science, but takes on even greater importance as an indispensable component of all disciplines. It
is a running theme, and has to be integrated into all learning processes and arenas, and given top
priority in the development of all curricula and syllabi.

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