Professional Knowledge in Early Childhood Education Programs: Are the Preservice Early Childhood Teachers Ready for Inclusive Education? 幼儿教育课程专业知识：职前幼儿教师准备好接受全纳教育了吗？

Abstract

Malaysia government has committed to provide inclusive education in the country after declared and signed the Salamanca Statement at World Conference on 1994. In addition, Malaysia Persons with Disability Act 2008 also stated clearly that for persons with disabilities, they shall not be excluded from the general education system regardless of their disabilities in all levels of education system in Malaysia. As early childhood education is part of the formal education system in Malaysia, early childhood centres in Malaysia are bound to practice inclusive education in their settings in line with the government policy. In view of this, early childhood teachers must be prepared with adequate special needs knowledge to effectively handle young children with different abilities and disabilities. In the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) programme standards for early childhood education, the essential special needs subject topics are listed clearly. Questions arise on whether the early childhood teachers are ready with sufficient knowledge to teach effectively in inclusive classrooms. To answer the above questions, Malaysia early childhood teacher training programme standard for special needs subject was analyzed. To make the comparison of the comprehensiveness, Singapore Preschool Qualification Accreditation Committee (PQAC) programme standard was used to add to the understanding of early childhood education teachers’ preparedness in inclusive education teaching. Future research on experiences and challenges early childhood teachers face in real inclusive teaching environment is suggested. 

马来西亚政府在 1994 年世界会议上宣布并签署《萨拉曼卡声明》后，承诺在国内提供全纳教育。此外，马来西亚2008年残障人法令也明确规定，在马来西亚各级教育系统中的普通教育系统，无论学生是否有残障，都不得将其排除在外。由于幼儿教育是马来西亚正规教育系统的一部分，马来西亚的幼儿教育中心必然会根据政府政策在其环境中实施全纳教育。有鉴于此，幼儿教师必须具备足够的特殊需求知识，以有效地处理不同能力和残障的幼儿。在马来西亚资格认证机构（MQA）的幼儿教育课程标准中，明确列出了基本的特殊需求教学主题。基于更好的了解幼儿教师是否准备充足以在全纳课堂中有效的进行教学，本文为马来西亚幼儿教师专业课程标准里的特殊需求学科进行了分析。为了进行更全面性的比较，新加坡学前教育资格认证委员会（PQAC）认证标准被采纳以增加对幼儿教育教师在全纳教育教学中准备情况的了解。本文末端也针对未来可进行的有关幼儿教师在实际全纳教学环境中面临的挑战的研究提出了建议。