Executive Summary

Executive Summary

Introduction

This literature review was undertaken as part of a research project to develop Universal Design Guidelines for Early Learning and Care settings and associated built environment Universal Design self-audit tool. 

This project was coordinated by the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design at the National Disability Authority (CEUD-NDA) on behalf of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr. Katherine Zappone, T.D. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) funded the development of these Guidelines, to support the implementation of the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM). 

This literature review has examined evidence-based research regarding best practice in early childhood provision and Universal Design (including best practice in Inclusive Design, Design for All and Accessible Design). The results have been synthesised as a set of findings and provide key recommendations to underpin the guidelines and self-audit tool. 

Universal Design (UD) is the design and composition of an environment so it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people, regardless of their age, size, ability or disability. This includes public places in the built environment such as buildings, streets or spaces that the public have access to: products and services provided in those places; and systems available including Information Communications Technology (ICT). 

Early Learning and Care (ELC) settings provide one of the most important environments that infants, toddlers and young children experience in their early lives. These settings must provide inclusive environments that cater to a diversity of children with varying abilities and a range of care and learning needs. They must also provide a supportive working environment for the staff working in these settings. Finally, they must support the families who use the buildings every day. Considering the important role played by all members of a child’s family, the
settings must take into the account the wide spectrum of ages, sizes, abilities or disabilities these families will represent. 

To examine these issues and provide an evidence base for the guidelines and audit tool, this literature review has examined a wide range of empirical and expert based material in a national and international context. The findings that emerged from this review provide a synthesis of two key areas related to a UD approach for ELC. Firstly, the key pedagogical and care issues for ELC settings that inform the overall UD approach, and secondly, the key built environment issues that underpin a UD environment that is accessible, understandable and easy to use by all children, staff and family members. The findings are grouped into eight categories and these are discussed below.

Key Findings

These themes below include the overall policy background, identify the diversity of users to be catered for, sketch out the UD approach and philosophy that frames the overall endeavour, and then highlight the key pedagogical and ELC issues. Only then can we start examining the main built environment implications and requirements for the proposed UD ELC guidelines and audit tool.

Inclusive ELC Recent Developments in Ireland

Underpinned by a government commitment, influenced by research on the efficacy of ELC and the core principles of human rights; social justice and equality of opportunity, early childhood in Ireland has undergone a seismic transformation in recent years, culminating in First 5, A Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families 2019-2028 (2018). These developments form a natural policy background for UD and a more inclusive ELC sector.

Diversity of ELC Users and the Need for an Inclusive Approach

Inclusive Early Learning and Care, as demonstrated by the policies above, takes a holistic view of the child and embraces human diversity. This aligns with the UD approach to the built environment where due consideration is given to all users including children, family members, staff and visitors. This is echoed by the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Charter and Guidelines for Early Childhood Care and Education (Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA), 2016) which acknowledges the diversity of a typical ELC, and argues that these settings must embrace the needs of all children and provide an inclusive and accessible environment to ensure equal participation and access to culturally and developmentally appropriate play-based indoor and outdoor activities. 

Beyond children with disabilities, this research and findings highlight the UD philosophy, which recognises that diversity is the norm, a position that is testified to by the wide range of people who attend, work in, or visit a typical ELC daily. This spectrum runs from an infant to an older person who might be a childminder or grandparent who drops-off and picks up the child every day. Within this is a range of ages, sizes, abilities and disabilities represented by the children, staff and family members who will use the building every day.
 

Convergence between UD and Inclusive ELC Policy

Universal Design, as defined in the introduction to these key findings, promotes inclusive built environments that are accessible, usable and easy to understand. UD is much more than removing barriers; it is about providing an actively supportive environment. In this context, a UD approach can help provide the supportive, healthful, and child-centred environment required to fulfil the inclusive early years policy focus discussed above. 

Síolta, the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education

Síolta is the national quality framework for early childhood care and education in Ireland. It was published by the Centre for Early Childhood Education in 2006. It establishes 16 quality standards that all early childhood services should work towards. These standards of quality are underpinned by 12 principles. 

Design and Spatial Requirements Framed by Key Síolta Standards

The Síolta quality principles embody the vision which informs and provides a context for quality practice in Early Learning and Care (ELC) in Ireland. Síolta, (CECDE, 2006:6) in the first of its twelve principles affirming the value of early childhood, states that ‘Early childhood is a significant and distinct time in life that must be nurtured, respected, valued and supported in its own right’ Other key principles include Children First; Parents; Relationships; Equality; Diversity; Environments; Child Welfare; the Role of the Adult; Teamwork; Pedagogy and Play. The principles of quality underpin the standards and components of quality, which further elaborate on, and define quality practice. The breadth of the sixteen Síolta standards is very wide, incorporating the Rights of the Child; Environments; Parents and Families; Consultation; Interactions; Play: Curriculum; Planning and Evaluation; Health and Welfare; Organisation: Professional Practice; Communication; Transitions; Identity and Belonging; Legislation and Regulation and Community Involvement.

Following extensive consultation with both the partners and Steering Committee, six of the sixteen Síolta standards were selected for the purposes of the development of the Universal Design Guidelines for Early Learning and Care settings (See Figure 2 below). Given that the UD Guidelines relate completely to ELC environments, clearly standard two: Environments is inextricably linked and underpins the investigation of the other six standards.

A detailed literature review was conducted to investigate these six standards and draw out the main implications for the ELC built environment. The following sections present each standard and sketch out some of the main spatial and design considerations for each one. These considerations are discussed in line with each standard, but it is acknowledged that there may be an overlap between many of these. 

Standard one: The Rights of the Child Key built environment considerations include: large scale issues relating to how well settings are connected and integrated with the community: building layouts and design that allow children to freely circulate and associate with their peers; down to spaces and materials, which allow each child to freely express himself/herself through a range of media. 

Standard three: Parents and Families Key considerations include: the provision of accessible, welcoming spaces for parents/ELC practitioners to interact with each other and staff; environments that reflect the diversity of parents/families; and space to accommodate families, including extended families for specific occasions. 

Standard five: Interactions Among other issues, the setting should provide: a mixture of large and smaller indoor and outdoor spaces for children to explore and navigate; spaces, resources and provocations to maximise children’s engagement in learning; dining environments that mirror family meal-time rituals; and the balance of environmental stimuli. 

Standard six: Play Some of the most important design considerations include: adequate indoor and outdoor space for children to play; accessible, understandable and easy to use outdoor play spaces that are well integrated with the interiors; consider covered outdoor areas; and a range of stimulating spaces and materials to promote communication, encourage problem-solving, critical thinking, and a sense of identity and belonging. Play spaces should also range from unstructured to structured, facilitate solitary and group play. 

Standard eleven: Professional Practice Provide spaces that promote adult-child interactions to support children’s learning and development; encourage a culture of reflection in the physical environment; and, provide for a flexible environment that acknowledges the role of the ELC practitioner as environmental planner, participant and evaluator. 

Standard sixteen: Community Involvement Provide settings that are well connected and integrated, and enhance visibility between the setting and the community; make children’s expression visible in the local community and incorporate projects in the setting that are directly linked to concerns in the local community.

Integration and Interface with the Community

A number of the Síolta Standards (CECDE, 2006) emphasise the importance of community and societal interaction; for example, Standard three: Parents and Families, or Standard sixteen: Community Involvement. For the built environment to support these aspirations it must adopt a relational approach, where the physical environment enables positive relationships between the ELC setting as a whole and the local and wider community. In design and spatial terms this means a setting that is physically well integrated with the locality and that has a permeable, welcoming, and interactive interface or physical boundary with the community. While the safety and security of children is paramount, this must be balanced with the need for relational space that will help underpin the Síolta standards.

UD across Key Spatial Scales can support the Síolta Standards 

In considering UD and the built environment, it is critical to think about a setting as a whole, to ensure an integrated and coherent approach, but also to consider the key spatial scales so UD is applied across the full spectrum of the built environment. These scales include: (1) ELC setting site location, approach, entry and site layout; (2) entering and moving about the ELC building; (3) key internal and external spaces; and, (4) elements and systems. At all these scales the built environment must be accessible, understandable and easy to use to ensure a continuous ‘travel chain’ for users of all ages, sizes, abilities and disabilities. 

Most importantly though, the ELC setting is a dedicated child-centred environment and this should be reflected in the setting as a whole. While this will differ from one context to another, the setting must facilitate the primary needs of children including play, exploration and investigation; mystery and enchantment; imagination; movement and stillness; interacting socially; moving freely and risk-taking within a safe context.

Supporting Inclusive Child Development, Challenge and Learning Provocations

In the discussion of the Síolta standards above, the importance of diverse spaces, interactions and learning provocations is highlighted. Similarly, the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Charter and Guidelines for ELC and Education (DCYA, 2016) calls for early learning and care settings to challenge and promote the individual child’s abilities and development. These issues challenge the built environment to provide an appropriate level of challenge or difficulty for one set of needs or abilities (this might include a three-year-old who needs to climb and jump) while also ensuring an inclusive approach for all children (this might include a child who uses a wheelchair). 

In this context, adopting a UD approach and the concept of personalisation is helpful. Personalisation allows enough flexibility and adaptability in a design to facilitate a level of specialisation, should it be required, to suit individual needs.

Co-Design through Participation and Collaboration

Universal Design promotes participatory and collaborative design that not only works with users to understand and incorporate their needs and preferences, but also involves them in the design process in a meaningful manner. Through acknowledging the diversity of users and understanding their needs, a personalised approach can be facilitated to support inclusive child development and the challenge and learning provocations discussed above, as well as the specific needs of staff and family members, and other visitors. Looking back to the Síolta Standards, from Rights of the Child to Community Involvement, a philosophy of participation and collaboration is strongly emphasised in all of the standards. 

Conclusion 

These findings bring the UD philosophy of inclusion and diversity together with key pedagogical and early childhood issues, to help create UD and ELC environments that are accessible, understandable and easy to use by children, staff and family members. 

The review highlights many positive developments in early childhood policy and illustrates how these not only promote greater inclusion and diversity in the early learning and care context, but also align with the principles of UD. In terms of pedagogy and early childhood, the review draws on the Síolta standards and identifies the key built environment issues required for a holistic ELC environment. In response, UD issues are then examined across key spatial scales to ensure that the ELC setting as a whole, and at each distinct spatial scale, can facilitate the appropriate levels of accessibility, usability and inclusion that such a diverse environment requires. The review supports collaboration with stakeholders, including children, around the design of their environment, arguing that children are often excluded from decision making due to a lack of appreciation by adults about their competence to contribute to this process. 

Finally, this review shows how UD, in its concern for human performance, health, wellness and social participation, is also a powerful ally to progressive pedagogical and early childhood philosophies that celebrate childhood and embrace diversity in ELC.