Enhancing Early Childhood Teacher Readiness for Inclusive Special Education in Malaysia: A Capacity-Building Initiative

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-662-3_4How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Early Childhood Education (ECE); Special Education Needs (SEN); Teacher readiness; Individualized Education Plans (IEPs); Classroom strategies

Abstract

The readiness of Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers to effectively support children with special education needs (SEN) remains a pressing challenge within Malaysia’s efforts to implement inclusive education. Although national policies emphasize the importance of inclusive practices, many ECE teachers continue to face gaps in pedagogical knowledge, practical classroom strategies, and confidence when teaching children with diverse needs. This study outlines a structured professional development initiative that involved 50 ECE teachers across four phases: needs assessment, curriculum development, training implementation, and outcome evaluation. The findings demonstrated a significant increase in teacher preparedness, with knowledge assessment scores improving by nearly 30 percent and marked enhancements in the use of differentiated instruction, behavioural management techniques, and understanding of individualized education plans. Qualitative observations further indicated that children with SEN showed greater engagement and improved social interactions in classrooms led by trained teachers. These results highlight the transformative impact of sustained, hands-on training supported by expert mentoring, and present a scalable professional development model aligned with Malaysia’s inclusive education goals. The study provides practical insights for policymakers and educators seeking to strengthen the integration of inclusive strategies into early childhood education.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Cynthia Saineh
AU  - Mohd Zuri Ghani
AU  - Noorzazila Abdul Manaf
AU  - Intan Djelita
AU  - Sakina Mokhtar
AU  - Komalah Apu
AU  - Siti Rushliyana Rusli
AU  - Norazly Nordin
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/14
TI  - Enhancing Early Childhood Teacher Readiness for Inclusive Special Education in Malaysia: A Capacity-Building Initiative
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Cross- Disciplinary Academic Research 2025 - Track 3 Advances in Humanities, Education, Teaching, Learning & Arts (ICAR-T3 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 34
EP  - 47
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-662-3_4
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-662-3_4
ID  - Saineh2026
ER  -