For children at risk and with disabilities inclusion needs to be balanced in order to provide rich opportunities for participating and being engaged in the same activities as other children and at the same time receive needed support. Interventions for inclusion focused on engagement may be provided by classroom organization, individualized interactions, management of activities in the child-group, and through planning activity settings to promote engagement and participation. Studies in the everyday life of the preschool environment based on a deeper understanding of of engagement and its role in providing support in inclusive education are needed.
Engagement is part of the construct participation, determined by attendance and involvement predicting children’s development, learning, and wellbeing. It can be defined as the time children are actively involved with material, other persons, or in a situation. The time children engage in activities and interactions in ECEC seems to be conditional for inclusion, but also the focus of activities and interactions. As engagement is a key aspect of inclusive practices in ECEC it is increasingly important to understand the concept of engagement and the relation between engagement and factors in the preschool environment, and how engagement can be used in intervention processes in inclusive preschool settings.
The scope of this Research Topic covers studies about the concept of engagement, how it is defined and related to social interactions and learning in inclusive preschool environments. A special focus is on providing support for engagement and understand the links between engagement and different aspects of the environment, such as teacher-child and child-peer interactions and different aspects of the everyday indoor and outdoor activities. In addition the links between engagement and self-regulation, social competence, self-concept, health and other personal factors are of interest.
The topic also covers how engagement can be operationalized and measured, looking at different approaches such as rating scales, behavioral counts and ethnographic studies. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies are welcome. Another approach is how engagement is used in research about inclusion, and how engagement is used in inclusive practices and interventions.
For children at risk and with disabilities inclusion needs to be balanced in order to provide rich opportunities for participating and being engaged in the same activities as other children and at the same time receive needed support. Interventions for inclusion focused on engagement may be provided by classroom organization, individualized interactions, management of activities in the child-group, and through planning activity settings to promote engagement and participation. Studies in the everyday life of the preschool environment based on a deeper understanding of of engagement and its role in providing support in inclusive education are needed.
Engagement is part of the construct participation, determined by attendance and involvement predicting children’s development, learning, and wellbeing. It can be defined as the time children are actively involved with material, other persons, or in a situation. The time children engage in activities and interactions in ECEC seems to be conditional for inclusion, but also the focus of activities and interactions. As engagement is a key aspect of inclusive practices in ECEC it is increasingly important to understand the concept of engagement and the relation between engagement and factors in the preschool environment, and how engagement can be used in intervention processes in inclusive preschool settings.
The scope of this Research Topic covers studies about the concept of engagement, how it is defined and related to social interactions and learning in inclusive preschool environments. A special focus is on providing support for engagement and understand the links between engagement and different aspects of the environment, such as teacher-child and child-peer interactions and different aspects of the everyday indoor and outdoor activities. In addition the links between engagement and self-regulation, social competence, self-concept, health and other personal factors are of interest.
The topic also covers how engagement can be operationalized and measured, looking at different approaches such as rating scales, behavioral counts and ethnographic studies. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies are welcome. Another approach is how engagement is used in research about inclusion, and how engagement is used in inclusive practices and interventions.
