Supporting Engagement and Participation of all Children

Supporting engagement and participation of all children! This is an essential way to think about how we, as professionals, can support the meaningful inclusion of all children.

For many years I have been privileged to work alongside educators in early childhood services and I have found that their ability to work as a team to support the inclusion of all children is an important puzzle piece towards full participation.

When a child is not engaged in a learning environment, the likelihood of learning in that environment is very low. In Australia the Early Years Learning Framework tell us that helping children to be engaged is an important responsibility of educators. We should also acknowledge that more specialised practices are needed for children with disabilities or developmental delays to engage in daily routines and learning environments.

I am often reminded of Dr Robin McWilliam’s statement around engagement: Engagement is the key to learning. McWilliam defines engagement as the amount of time a child spends interacting with adults, peers or materials in a developmentally and contextually appropriate manner.

Dr Tim Moore helps us to consider what participation really means: 

Meaningful participation is the engine of development and the key to attaining a true sense of belonging and a satisfactory quality of life.

There is no doubt that participation and engagement is important, but what support can educators draw on to look at this?

Some of the practices that support participation and engagement have to be the ability to adapt the program to be inclusive of all children. To this end, I continue to think that the knowledge of how all children learn is critical to including all children.

Gaining an understanding of a diverse range of children, how they learn and what adaptations you can make is another part of that puzzle piece towards all children participating meaningfully in the classroom.

Engaging and Extending Participation of all Children

Over the years I have found that having a framework to fully understand engagement has really helped me to consider how to then extend the engagement of children and support them to participate more meaningfully.

There are some resources that can support us to know where to start when we are aiming to engage and include all children.

Being able to stand back and use a framework such as CARA’s Kit to consider what is happening for a child, and how we can utilise a range of adaptations is a great opportunity. When you are working in an early childhood service, the days are so constantly busy that sometimes the introduction of this type of framework supports us to stand back and examine what is happening and if there are some challenges that need to be looked at.

Firstly, we look at the environment, what can we change in the environment that may work around a particular problem. Then perhaps it is materials that would make a difference. Are there particular materials or the way an activity is set up that would help?

This model supports us to consider how to firstly create an environment that supports the learning of all children, then we can move on to considering what tailored supports we need to explore to ensure the participation of some of the children that we work with. It also may mean that educators need the support of external professionals such as therapists in looking at adaptations and interventions.

Supporting Learning for Children with Speech and Language Delays

Another piece to this puzzle is also to consider how all children are communicating. By understanding and supporting early communication for all children, we can also guide children to become early effective communicators, which then can assist in their engagement in a program.

Early communication development is important for long-term learning and social outcomes. Supporting all children with their early language is important to support their ability to:

• Understand and follow instructions
• Express themselves using the correct words and grammar
• Learn to read, write, and spell when they begin school.

There are some well researched techniques that are helpful in this space including:

• Getting down to the child’s level. Being face-to-face with the child and paying close attention. This sounds easy but is something that needs to be quite purposeful in a busy classroom environment.
• Waiting with no pressure to talk. Although we can all think we are good at waiting for things, in a classroom full of active children it can be hard to give enough time for a child to respond. This is one of the most useful and important techniques to use.
• Using visual supports to assist in communication. This technique is often used both at home and in early childhood services and can really support young children in their understanding of what is being communicated, but it also may help them to express their needs as well.

The Supporting Engagement and Participation seminar series empowers educators to create inclusive and supportive learning environments where every child feels valued, respected, and has equal opportunities to succeed. Victorian government-funded kindergarten providers can access this program using their School Readiness Funding.