Interaktion och goda relationer – viktiga inkluderingsaspekter i förskolan : Hur skattningsprogrammet Inclusive Classroom Profile kan synliggöra och skatta inkluderande verksamheter i förskolan

Sammanfattning: The ability to participate in adequate relationships with peers and with adults is highlighted in research as important for all children’s development and learning. Research also shows that children who have difficulties with social interactions may be excluded from the peer group social context, if observant adults do not take an active and supportive role to facilitate peer interactions. To ensure that all children regardless of needs nor disability are given the opportunity to develop and learn, the preschool systematically and continuously needs to evaluate how they operate with the task of supporting children’s social relationships and participation. Inclusive Classroom Profile (ICP) is a structured observation rating scale developed recently in the UK and used in several contexts (i.e. United States) to measure quality in inclusive preschool settings based on twelve areas that are particularly important to consider for children with special educational needs.The aim of this study is to analyse and discuss two of the twelve contents of the ICP program, and to investigate its usefulness in the Swedish preschool. These contents are adult relationships with children and adult support in child interactions with peers. This study is a part of a project called Play and interaction for all children in inclusive preschool environments, initiated by the Department of Special Education, Stockholm University. The study is based on a qualitative research approach and is based on interviews with five preschool teachers and four observations in preschool learning environments. The result shows that the ICP can be a tool for development of an inclusive early childhood program in a Swedish context, both as a self-assessment tool and as a quality improvement tool. The two areas that have been estimated in the ICP have been perceived as relevant to the studies participants because of its importance for children`s development and its correlation with the Swedish preschool curriculum. However, there are certain concepts and formulations in the ICP that has brought objections during the interviews, for example, adults consistently ignore children´s efforts to interact with peers and adults consistently ignore children´s effort to interact with peers. Based on these reports, it seems that some formulations should be adapted or explained in the comments. The assessments made through the ICP make it possible to capture shifts in the quality of interactions that take place in the various inclusive activities. The quality differences have been made visible and evident by the ICP tool. This indicates that the ICP may be useful to estimate and evaluate operations, both in order to make improvements and also to reduce shortcomings in the learning environments. This is an important goal to achieve, especially considering that an equitable preschool with good quality may have a great impact for children in vulnerable situations.