Early Childhood Administrators’ Admission Decision Making Process in Including Children with Special Needs in Singapore

Early Childhood Administrators’ Admission Decision Making Process in Including Children with Special Needs in Singapore

In Singapore, many parents find it difficult to locate early childhood services for their children with special needs. As Singapore does not have laws protecting the right to education for children with special needs, early childhood center administrators (managers and principals) make admission decisions at their own discretion on a case-by-case basis. This qualitative interview study examines the individual, varied patterns of early childhood center administrators’ admission decision making process in relation to children with special needs in Singapore. The results revealed an on-going, dynamic decision making process jointly participated in by both administrators and parents. The researcher investigated and documented the steps and efforts these administrators took to make the inclusion of children with special needs possible in regular early childhood education settings. The implications of this unique Singapore inclusion model are focused on the moral and professional aspects of inclusion and administrators’ sense of ownership in inclusion without the presence of the law.