Olivia Karaolis: PUPPETS AS A PEDAGOGY FOR INCLUSION
Prethodno priopćenje
Olivia Karaolis, University of Sydney, Australija
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59014/UBVZ4655
UDK: 373.2:792.97-056.24
Ključne riječi:
early childhood, inclusive education, puppetry
Sažetak
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). Yet despite this legal
obligation and national priority, inclusion for all children has remained out of reach
(Graham et al., 2020). In this paper, I will explore the artform of puppetry and its
possibilities to bring about genuine inclusive practice. The findings emerged from a
larger research story that included three preschools that enrol children with disabilities
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. This paper focuses on the potential
of puppets as a pathway, if not a shining light towards a pedagogy that is inclusive
for all. Despite the international impetus, policy and extensive research, the move
towards inclusive education has been difficult to translate into practice and complicated
by systematic and attitudinal barriers (Graham 2020; Schuelka et al., 2020).
It is argued that many of these barriers can be attributed to an absence of a shared
understanding of the terminology or a clearly defined notion of “inclusive education”
(Graham, 2020). To avoid such misunderstanding, in this paper, inclusive education
is aligned with the interpretation in the CRPD and General Comment No. 4 (GC4;
United Nations: 2016), that is, a way of thinking about education that recognizes
individual difference as natural and includes a range of approaches, individual preferences
and strategies to engage all students in their learning. The focus strategy in
this article is puppetry and in the following sections I will outline how educators can
utilize this magical object for authentic inclusion.
Autorska prava
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