FULL REFERENCE: McAnelly, K., Purdue, K., Hall, L.J., Odom, S.L., & Hall, E. (2025). We’re all in this together: Approaches to inclusive early childhood education for disabled children in Aotearoa New Zealand and the United States, and what we can learn from one another. NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 27, pp. 1-16.
ABSTRACT: Research from Aotearoa New Zealand and the United States continues to explore disabled children’s right to an inclusive early childhood education (ECE). In this article we examine ECE provision, key legislation and policy, and research on inclusion in our two countries. We also look at how initial teacher education and professional learning and development programmes help to strengthen inclusive practice in our respective countries. There is a lot that each country can draw on and learn from the other in relation to supporting disabled children’s inclusion in ECE. Drawing on insights from our cross-country comparisons, we offer recommendations aimed at amplifying disabled children’s rights to inclusive ECE.
KEY WORDS: Disability, inclusion, children’s rights, teacher education, cross-country comparison.
Log-in to read the full research paper below. Or order a pdf copy of the article from the main NZIRECE Journal page.
Introduction
The provision of equitable and inclusive early childhood education (ECE) for disabled children differs from country to country, based on each country’s values and imperatives. Although direct adoption of other nations’ approaches is not advisable, countries can learn from each other and improve their own inclusive ECE practices.
A review of literature highlighted for us – early childhood researchers from Aotearoa New Zealand, hereafter, Aotearoa, and the United States (US) – a lack of cross-national comparative studies on equitable and inclusive ECE for disabled children and their families. As a step towards addressing that gap, we compared approaches to inclusive education in our respective jurisdictions. We agreed that comparative research could offer fresh insights into how inclusive ECE can be conceptualised and enacted in ways that uphold the rights of disabled children.
