Creating an Inclusive School Climate in Preschools: Insights from School Principals and Teachers

Abstract

Inclusive education seeks to ensure that everyone has equal opportunities by respecting individual diversity and ensuring that no one is excluded from the educational process. Within this framework, creating a positive school climate is fundamental to the successful implementation of inclusive education. This study aims to examine the views of school principals and teachers on the inclusive school climate. Employing a basic qualitative research design, the study involved seven school principals and seven preschool teachers selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and were analyzed using content analysis. The findings indicate that an inclusive school climate comprises the physical environment of the school, emotional security, social development, respect for differences, a sense of belonging, and the roles of stakeholders. Additionally, it was emphasized that the physical conditions of the school should be designed to support the multifaceted development of students, that teachers should build strong bonds with students, that various activities should be organized in schools, that values education should be prioritized, that respect for differences should be modeled, and that there should be strong communication between families and the school. The collaborative fulfillment of responsibilities among school stakeholders plays a critical role in establishing an inclusive school climate. This study highlights the importance of collaboration among school principals, teachers, students, families, and other stakeholders in promoting an inclusive school environment. It is recommended that school principals evaluate and adapt school facilities, enhance effective communication, support teachers, and promote both inclusivity and student well-being. Meanwhile, teachers should actively contribute to the design of inclusive learning environments, engage in professional development, provide constructive feedback, and align spatial design with student-centered pedagogy.

Keywords

• Inclusive education
• School climate
• Preschool education
• School principal
• Teacher

Okul Öncesi Eğitim Okullarında Kapsayıcı Okul İklimi Oluşturmak: Okul Yöneticilerinin ve Öğretmenlerin Görüşleri

Abstract

Kapsayıcı eğitim, bireylerin çeşitliliğine saygı duyarak herkesin eşit fırsatlar elde etmesini amaçlar ve hiçbir bireyin eğitim sürecinden dışlanmamasını sağlar. Bu doğrultuda, kapsayıcı eğitimin başarısı için olumlu bir okul ikliminin oluşturulması büyük önem taşır. Bu araştırma, okul yöneticileri ve öğretmenlerin kapsayıcı okul iklimine ilişkin görüşlerini belirlemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Temel nitel araştırma yaklaşımı ile tasarlanan araştırmanın katılımcılarını, amaçlı örnekleme yöntemiyle seçilen ve okul öncesi eğitim okullarında görev yapan 7 okul yöneticisi ve 7 öğretmen oluşturmaktadır. Veriler, okul yöneticileri ve öğretmenlerle yapılan yarı-yapılandırılmış görüşmeler aracılığıyla toplanmış ve içerik analizi ile çözümlenmiştir. Araştırmadan elde edilen bulgular; kapsayıcı okul ikliminin, okulun fiziksel ortamı, duygusal güvenlik, sosyal gelişim, farklılıklara saygı, aidiyet duygusu ve paydaşların rollerinin birleşiminden oluştuğunu göstermektedir. Ayrıca, okulun fiziksel koşullarının öğrencilerin çok yönlü gelişimini destekleyecek şekilde tasarlanması, öğretmenlerin öğrencileriyle güçlü bağlar kurması, okullarda çeşitli etkinliklerin düzenlenmesi, değerler eğitiminin önemsenmesi, farklılıklara saygı gösterilmesi ve aile-okul arasında güçlü bir iletişim kurulması gerektiği vurgulanmaktadır. Okul paydaşlarının sorumluluklarını yerine getirip iş birliği içinde çalışması da kapsayıcı okul ikliminin oluşturulmasında kritik bir rol oynamaktadır. Bu araştırma, kapsayıcı okul ikliminin sağlanmasında okul yöneticileri, öğretmenler, öğrenciler ve ailelerin birlikte çalışmasının önemli olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Okul müdürlerinin, okul olanaklarını değerlendirmeleri ve uyarlamaları, iletişimi teşvik etmeleri, öğretmenleri desteklemeleri ve kapsayıcılığı ile öğrenci refahını artırmaları; öğretmenlerin ise kapsayıcı öğrenme ortamlarının tasarımına katılmaları, eğitim almaları, geri bildirimde bulunmaları ve mekân tasarımını öğrenci merkezli öğretimle bütünleştirerek kapsayıcı bir okul iklimini sürdürmeleri araştırmanın önerilerini oluşturmaktadır.

Keywords

• Kapsayıcı eğitim
• Okul iklimi
• Okul öncesi eğitim
• Okul yöneticisi
• Öğretmen

References

1. Aboud, F. E., & Yousafzai, A. K. (2016). Very early childhood devel opment. In Reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health: Disease control priorities (3. ed.). (pp. 241–261). https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0348-2_ch13
2. Adams, D., Harris, A., & Jones, M. S. (2018). Teacher-parent collaboration for an inclusive classroom: Success for every child. MOJES: Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 4(3), 58-72.
3. Ainscow, M. (2005). Developing inclusive education systems: what are the levers for change? Journal of Educational Change, 6(2), 109-124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-005-1298-4
4. Ainscow, M., & César, M. (2006). Inclusive education ten years after Salamanca: Setting the agenda. European Journal of Psychology of Education, XXI(3), 231-238. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23421604
5. Ainscow, M., & Miles, S. (2008). Making education for all inclusive: Where next? Prospects, 38(1), 15–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-008-9055-0
6. Ainscow, M., & Sandill, A. (2010). Developing inclusive education systems: The role of organisational cultures and leadership. International journal of inclusive education, 14(4), 401-416. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603110802504903 Ainscow, M., Booth, T., & Dyson, A. (2006). Improving schools, developing inclusion. Routledge.
7. Baltaci, A., & Balcı, A. (2017). Complexity leadership: A theorical perspective. International Journal of Educational Leadership and Management, 5(1), 30-58. http://dx.doi.org/10.17583/ijelm.2017.2435
8. Battiste, M. (2014). Decolonizing education: Nourishing the learning spirit. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 60(3), 615-618.

9. Black, M. M., Walker, S. P., Fernald, L. C. H., Andersen, C. T., DiGirolamo, A. M., Lu, C., et al. (2017). Early childhood development coming of age: Science through the life course. The Lancet, 389(10064), 77–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31389-7
10. Cefai, C. (2008). Promoting resilience in the classroom: A guide to developing pupils' emotional and social competence. Jessica Kingsley Publishers
11. Ciccone, P. A., & Freibeg, J. A. (2013). School climate and the national school climate standards. National School Climate Center.
12. Cobanoglu, F., Ayvaz-Tuncel, Z., & Ordu, A. (2018). Child-Friendly Schools: An Assessment of Secondary Schools. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 6(3), 466-477. http://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2018.060313 Cohen, J., McCabe, E. M., Michelli, N. M., & Pickeral, T. (2009). School climate: Research, policy, practice, and teacher education. Teachers College Record, 111(1), 180-213. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146810911100108 Corbett, J. (2001). Teaching approaches which support inclusive education: A connective pedagogy. British Journal of Special Education, 28(2), 55-59. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8527.00219 Creswell, J. W. (2018). Nitel araştırma yöntemleri: Beş yaklaşıma göre nitel araştırma ve araştırma deseni. Siyasal kitabevi.
13. Darling-Hammond, L., & Cook-Harvey, C. M. (2018). Educating the whole child: improving school climate to support student success. Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/educating-whole-child
14. Dary, T., & Pickeral, T. (2013). School climate: Practices for implementation and sustainability. School Climate Practice Briefs, 1. National School Climate Center.
15. Eadie, P., Page, J., Levickis, P., Elek, C., Murray, L., Wang, L., & Lloyd-Johnsen, C. (2022). Domains of quality in early childhood education and care: A scoping review of the extent and consistency of the literature. Educational Review, 76(4), 1057–1086. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2022.2077704
16. Emam, M. M., & F. Hendawy Al-Mahdy, Y. (2022). Building school capacity for inclusive education in the sultanate of Oman: a construct validation of the ISCscale. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 21(2), 329-344. https://doi.org/10.1080/15700763.2020.1770803
17. Eriçok, B., Günbey, M., & Kara, E. (2023). Inclusiveness in graduate education in developing countries: a document analysis of diversity and inclusion in the PhD postings. Bartın University Journal of Faculty of Education, 12(4), 820-830. https://doi.org/10.14686/buefad.1341631
18. Felder, F. (2019). Inclusive education, the dilemma of identity and the common good. Theory and Research in Education, 17(2), 213-228. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477878519871429
19. Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (1999). Personality: Classic theories and modern research (p. 576). Allyn and Bacon.
20. Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). Competing paradigms in qualitative research. Handbook of qualitative research, 2(163-194), 105.
21. Günbey, M. (2023). Kapsayıcı eğitimin tarihsel, kuramsal ve hukuksal bağlamlarda incelenmesi. In T. Çalık (Ed.), Kapsayıcı eğitim (pp. 56–74). Pegem Akademi.
22. Hammersley, M. (1992). Some reflections on ethnography and validity. Qualitative studies in education, 5(3), 195-203. https://doi.org/10.1080/0951839920050301 Hoffmann, L., Närhi, V., Savolainen, H., & Schwab, S. (2021). Classroom behavioural climate in inclusive education–a study on secondary students’ perceptions. Journal of research in special educational needs, 21(4), 312-322. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-3802.12529 Hosford, S., & O'Sullivan, S. (2016). A climate for self-efficacy: the relationship between school climate and teacher efficacy for inclusion. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 20(6), 604-621. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2015.1102339
23. Hunt, A., Smith, B., & Johnson, C. (1994). Inclusive education and accelerated skill development. Journal of Education, 7(3), 112-125.
24. Ira, N., & Gör, D. (2018). Eğitim fakültesi öğretim üyelerinin kapsayici eğitime yönelik görüşleri. Turkish International Journal of Special Education and Guidance & Counselling, 7(2), 29-38.
25. Kauffman, J. M., & Hornby, G. (2020). Inclusive vision versus special education reality. Education sciences, 10(9), 258. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10090258 Kölemen, Ö., Kiraz, S., Yılmaz, F., Alparslan, Ö., Asar, M., & Öney, H. (2023). Kapsayıcı öğrenme ortamlarına ilişkin yöneticilerin görüşleri (Denizli İli Pamukkale İlçe Örneği). International Journal of Social and Humanities Sciences Research (JSHSR), 10(99). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8396808
26. Lonkila, M. (1995). Grounded theory as an emerging paradigm for computer-assisted qualitative data analysis. In Computer-aided qualitative data analysis: Theory, methods and practice (pp. 41-51). Sage.
27. Malinen, O. P. (2013). Inclusive education in China. CEREC Chinese Education Research & Exchange Centre Working Paper Series. University of Tampere.
28. Mandiudza, L. (2013). Child friendly schools. Greener Journal of Educational Research, 3(6), 283-288.
29. Mathers, S., Eisenstadt, N., Sylva, K., Soukakou, E., & Ereky-stevens, K. (2014). Sound foundations: a review of the research evidence on quality of early childhood education and care for children under three implications for policy and practice. The Sutton Trust and the Education Endowment Foundation, 1, 1–68. McCarthy, M. (2019). Factors predicting teacher attitudes toward inclusive education. Indiana State University. Melhuish, E., Ereky-Stevens, K., Petrogiannis, K., Ariescu, A., Penderi, E., Rentzou, K., Tawell, A., Slot, P., Broekhuizen, M., & Leseman, P. (2015). Review of research on the impact of ECEC CARE: A review of research on the effects of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) upon child development. http://ecec-care.org/.
30. Merriam, S. B. (2002). Introduction to qualitative research. Qualitative research in practice: Examples for discussion and analysis, 1(1), 1-17.
31. Merriam, S. B. (2015). Nitel araştırma: Desen ve uygulama için bir rehber. Nobel Yayıncılık.
32. Miles, M. B. & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Sage Publications.
33. Mitchell, M. M., & Bradshaw, C. P. (2013). Examining classroom influences on student perceptions of school climate: The role of classroom management and exclusionary discipline strategies. Journal of school psychology, 51(5), 599-610.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2013.05.005
34. Murungi, L. N. (2015). Inclusive basic education in South Africa: Issues in its conceptualisation and implementation. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 18(1), 3159–3195.
35. Mzangwa, S. T. (2019). The effects of higher education policy on transformation in post-apartheid South Africa. Cogent Education, 6(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2019.1592737
36. Nelissen, P. T., Hülsheger, U. R., van Ruitenbeek, G. M., & Zijlstra, F. R. (2017). Lending a helping hand at work: A multilevel investigation of prosocial motivation, inclusive climate and inclusive behavior. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 27(3), 467–476. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-016-9680-z
37. Nilholm, C., & Alm, B. (2010). An inclusive classroom? A case study of inclusiveness, teacher strategies, and children's experiences. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 25(3), 239-252. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2010.492933
38. Noddings, N. (2013). Caring: A relational approach to ethics and moral education (updated). University of California Press.
39. Nwobodo, R. F. D., & Agusiobo, H. C. (2018). School climate and peer relationship as correlate of academic adjustment of persons with disabilities in tertiary institutions. International Journal in Management and Social Sciences, 6(3), 85-94.
40. Özokcu, O. (2018). The relationship between teacher attitude and self-efficacy for inclusive practices in Turkey. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 6(3), 6-12. https://doi.org/10.11114/jets.v6i3.3034
41. Patton, M. Q. (2002). Two decades of developments in qualitative inquiry: A personal, experiential perspective. Qualitative social work, 1(3), 261-283. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325002001003636
42. Putnam, J. W. (2008). Cooperative learning for inclusion. In Psychology for inclusive education (pp. 93-107). Routledge.
43. Taneri, P. O. (2022). Kapsayıcı eğitim uygulamaları: Çeşitlilikleri ve farklılıkları kucaklayan kapsayıcı çemberi genişletme. Eğiten Kitap Yayınevi.
44. Tekerci, H., & Çöplü, F. (2024). Sense of belonging in early childhood: A study in an early childhood education center in Türkiye. Child Indicators Research, 17(5), 2527–2554. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-024-10171-0
45. Theoharis, G. (2007). Social justice educational leaders and resistance: Toward the development of social justice leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 43(2), 221–258. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/0013161X06293717 Tillman, L. C., & Scheurich, J. J. (2013). Handbook of research on educational leadership for equity and diversity. Routledge.
46. Turan, S., & Bektas, F. (2013). The relationship between school culture and leadership practices. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 52, 155- 168
47. UNESCO. (1994). The Salamanca statement and framework for action on special needs education. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000098427
48. UNESCO. (2000). The Dakar framework for action education for all meeting our collective commitments. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000121147
49. UNESCO. (2005). Guidelines for inclusion. Ensuring Access to education for all. Paris: UNESCO. https://www.unesco.org/creativity/en/2005-convention
50. UNESCO. (2009).Policy guidelines on inclusion in education. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000177849
51. UNESCO. (2017). A guide for ensuring inclusion and equity in education. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000248254
52. UNICEF (2012). The right of children with disabilities to education: a rights-based approach to inclusive education; position paper.
53. UNICEF. (2012). School readiness: A conceptual framework, New York: United Nations Children’s. https://www.unicef.org/evaluation/media/901/file/Accelerated%20School%20Readiness%20Programme.pdf
54. United Nations (2006). The convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-persons-disabilities
55. Wah, L. L. (2010). Different strategies for embracing inclusive education: a snapshot of individual cases from three countries. International Journal of Special Education, 25(3), 98-109.
56. Weisel, A., & Dror, O. (2006). School climate, sense of efficacy, and Israeli teachers’ attitude inclusion of students with special needs. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 1(2), 157-174. https://doi.org/10.1177/1746197906064677
57. Wilson, C., Marks Woolfson, L., & Durkin, K. (2020). School environment and mastery experience as predictors of teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs towards inclusive teaching. International journal of inclusive education, 24(2), 218-234. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2018.1455901
58. Wulan, R., & Sanjaya, W. (2022). Developing positive school climate for inclusive education. Journal of Education for Sustainability and Diversity, 1(1), 54-66. https://doi.org/10.57142/jesd.v1i1.6