Supporting infants and toddlers in low socio-economic early childhood settings in Australia

Research shows that high quality programs can support positive outcomes for all children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Little research has examined the perspectives of directors working with infants and toddlers in families who are experiencing low socio-economic status (SES) in early childhood settings. This qualitative research addresses this gap by exploring directors’ understandings of inclusion relating to the needs of low SES children under 3 years and their families in the ECEC context. Qvortrup and Qvortrup’s (2018) lens of inclusion was used to analyse (a) the conceptualisation of inclusion held by the directors interviewed for this project and (b) what aspects of inclusion directors were able to influence. Findings showed that directors’ understandings were multidimensional, involving a combination of professional and contextual concerns. This paper discusses implications for working with infants and toddlers from low SES families.