Everybody in! Drama as a Pedagogy for Inclusion

Abstract

As a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) all educational settings and early childhood centres in Australia must legally “ensure an inclusive education system at all levels (Article 1, United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with a Disability). Inclusion for all children has been identified by the government as a national priority, yet from the extensive body of research surrounding inclusive practice (Cologon, 2019) highlights a range of barriers to such realisation. This inquiry seeks to add to the knowledge of inclusion for educators’ working with young children in early childhood settings and specifically explore the potential of drama of reducing these barriers. Included in the study are three preschools that enrol children with additional needs in their program. Together with the researcher, the children and staff engaged a range of drama strategies, including puppetry and found they significantly increased the participation and contribution of all children in their learning experiences, creating a more inclusive learning environment. The process of this study is depicted in portraits, allowing the audience to discover the world of the children, how their day-to-day experience was changed by the creative approaches and the potential of drama and puppetry as a valuable tool for professional development in the early childhood sector.