Conference Agenda

Our research is based on the triangle of expectations the early educations care teachers meet from the parents, the society, and what`s best for the child; how the ethical dilemma in inclusive education is a balance between different considerations for the teacher (Afdal, 2011, Reindal, 2016, Reindal, 2019).

The Norway`s society today have a more diversity of cultures, economic, social, religions and geographic background than earlier (Morken &Karlsen, 2019). Each family has roles, traditions and a background who have an impact for their meanings of what`s important for their children’s education, different expectations to how they want to be met by the society and early childhood teachers (Wolf, 2018). The ideal of equality in Norway; that everybody have the same rights to be treated equally regardless of function and capabilities (Sen, 1993,1999), is still an important value who can make it difficult se the variety in parents and families (Bendixen, Bringslid & Vike, 2018).

The “Professional ethic for the teaching profession” (Union of Education Norway and Norwegian Union of School Employees, 2012) are an important guideline for basic values of the teaching profession. Understanding early childhood parenting and care are based on universal human rights and especially the UN convention on the rights for children. (UDF & SL, 2012). The value of “what`s children’s best?” is an important guiding principle for the teaching profession (Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2017). The principle towards corporation and understanding parents in early childhood care are the first rule and premises in Norwegian right for early childhood care § 1. (Barnehageloven, 2005, §1).

Early childhood teacher’s everyday life is in the middle of a triangle with expectations from both their own profession; whit the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), the society`s mandate and rules act relating to kindergarten (Barnehageloven, 2005) and the parents’ mandate; whit The Universal Declaration of Human Rights §26.3 (UN,1948). In this study we wish to highlight some of the challenges, cross pressure, and ethical dilemmas these teachers face in their meeting with the normal life in early childhood care whit inclusion and corporation with parents. Our research is based on empirical data from interviews with early childhood teachers, both groups and individuals. Our understanding is based on the principle that the variety among parents, families and children are an important resource in the community that can be both a challenge and a good resource for children with special needs and for all children.

From a professional-theoretical perspective, the educational staff plays a central role in the quality of educational processes. Against the backdrop that early childhood educational institutions have the mission to realize an education for all, professional educational actions can be equated with inclusive educational actions (Fröhlich-Gildhoff et al., 2020). Furthermore, on a scientific basis, qualification requirements for inclusive education by elementary education professionals have been defined, and pedagogical basic competencies for inclusion have been specified (Sulzer & Wagner, 2011).

Early education in Austria is federally regulated, leading to 9 different legislations in Austria's 9 federal states. As a result, inclusion and the associated framework conditions vary significantly.

But in the nationwide educational framework, inclusion is understood as a fundamental attitude (Charlotte-Bühler-Institut, 2009). Throughout Austria, early childhood teachers (ECT) are supported in a region-specific and provider-dependent manner by Inclusive Early Childhood Teach (IECP). They have further training in inclusion, that lasts 4 terms and comprises 90 ECTS points. Their task is to 'ensure, support, and qualitatively accompany the social integration and local care of children with increased support needs' (Land Salzburg, n.d.).

This presentation initially raises the question of whether ECT and IECT differ in their attitudes and competencies regarding inclusion.

Dialogue and partnerships between countries are essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. They provide the opportunity to learn what works in other nations and facilitate research and programmes, such as those between the European Union and Indian civil societies. Particularly, research collaborations can help to advance disability-inclusive education, as countries vary in terms of progress towards inclusion.

It is estimated that 7.8 million children live with disabilities in India (UNESCO, 2019). There are policy and legal provisions for educating students with and without disabilities in the same classroom. However, societal, systemic, school, and family level challenges often prevent full inclusion (Singal, 2019). Deep social stigma regarding disability often results in affiliate stigma among parents of a child with special needs (Patra & Patro, 2019) and can affect teachers’ beliefs (Singal, 2019).

In effective schools, there is family and community involvement (Masters, 2004). Families and schools have a shared responsibility to help students reach their full potential. Family engagements are a series of interactions between the family and schools that are dynamic and everchanging (Xu, 2020). Family involvement leads to improved academic outcomes, behaviour, and student attendance, amongst others (Jeynes, 2005; Sheldon & Epstein, 2004; Sheldon, 2007).

Family-school partnerships are particularly important to help every child succeed in disability-inclusive contexts. They have academic, social, and emotional benefits for students with disabilities (Patrikakou, 2011). However, schools are required to allocate resources, offer professional learning opportunities for teachers, create communication routines, and allow parents to observe the strategies deployed in classrooms for successful collaboration (Patrikakou, 2011).

While speaking with the lead author, eminent inclusive education expert, Dr Umesh Sharma, said in his interview on behaviour management and inclusive learning environments, that the problem arises when teachers contact parents only when students misbehave (Chakraborty, 2023). Indeed, the concern for a significant number of Indian schools, like in other parts of the world, is to create regular and institutionalised strategies for collaboration with families.

Teachers in India expressed that they need support from parents in understanding the challenges of the child, for formal diagnosis, preparation of Individual Education Plans (IEPs), training on assistive technology, and in classroom teaching and learning activities (Chakraborty, 2023). However, there is a lack of empirical research in India on understanding how family-school partnerships have been established in the context of disability-inclusive education and what the challenges are, as existing literature primarily focuses on the experiences of parenting children with disabilities (Gokhale, 2021; Chakravarti, 2008).

This paper aims to explore family-school partnerships in disability-inclusive school education in India. The central question is ‘What are the opportunities and challenges of family-school collaboration for disability-inclusive education in schools in India?’ Specifically, we ask,

(i) What are the existing family-school partnerships that promote disability inclusion in schools?

(ii) What are the challenges in building such partnerships for disability-inclusion?

(iii) How do schools collaborate with families in the context of learning assessments?

The third question is particularly relevant as learning assessments for children with disabilities and factors affecting them haven’t received much academic attention.

This qualitative study will gather the perspectives of school leaders to develop an understanding of the family-school partnership landscape in India for improving academic and co-academic outcomes for students with disability. The insights will enable policymakers and school leaders to design teacher professional learning opportunities that enable schools to strengthen their connections with families. Further, learnings from the study will promote the development of effective parent-school collaboration in disability-inclusive contexts which is emphasised in India’s National Education Policy (NEP, 2020).