Challenges to Developing Inclusive Learning Environments: A System Analysis of Early Childhood Education and Care in Cambodia

• In Event: Charting New Paths Towards Equity and Inclusion: Transforming Environments for All Learners

Abstract

Developing equitable and inclusive learning environments is a multidimensional and multisector approach to quality education. Given the diversity of meanings, understanding, and interpretations of inclusive education, education systems across developed and developing contexts follow unique trajectories of developing inclusive learning environments (Hue & Karim, 2022). While there is a wealth of knowledge on how high-quality ECEC systems function in developed contexts (Kagan, 2018), little is known about the outcomes of educational reforms, policies, practices, and potential challenges in the developing world. This study examined Cambodia’s Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) from a system analysis perspective (Kagan & Roth, 2017). Despite considerable attention by the Cambodian government and international development agencies to ECEC in recent years, there is a lack of a comprehensive understanding of the gaps in the sector. Therefore, the study's main purpose was to understand the status of ECEC services, identify the system-level challenges to improving the quality of education for young children, and propose practical ways to address the gaps in the ECEC system in Cambodia. The study used a systemic thinking framework proposed by Sharon Lynn Kagan (2018), focusing on the overall infrastructure, sociocultural, and temporal factors that hinder the development of inclusive and equitable learning environments for all. A systemic analysis framework examines the various components and interactions within an early childhood system, such as policies, programs, services, and resources, to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. By adopting an integrative literature review as a research method (Torraco, 2016), the study analyzed primary research studies, international reports and policy documents related to the research object. The study identifies the gaps in policy and practice, a lack of synergy in public institutional interventions and the need for an inclusive approach to ECEC in Cambodia. The paper highlights the need to understand ECEC as a collective effort of various public institutions responsible for health, education, nutrition, and social protection services. Moreover, creating supportive learning environments requires policymakers, educators, parents, and community members to work together to improve young children's learning outcomes. The study proposes that investing in capacity building and strengthening teacher education institutions is vital to improving the quality of preschool education in Cambodia. The study findings underscore the importance of undertaking integrated efforts from all the institutions targeting young children's education, health, and social welfare to develop inclusive learning environments for all children in the early years of development. Although the ground realities and national-level educational priorities vary enormously across education systems, the lessons learned from the Cambodian case may help take informed interventions to improve learning environments for young children in developing countries.

Authors

• Shahid Karim, Education University of Hong Kong

• Alfredo Bautista, The Education University of Hong kong

• Kerry Lee, Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education