EYFS Best Practice – All about … ableism

The early years setting, whether a nursery, a childminder or a school, is one of the first spaces in which children become aware of their social identity, including their learning abilities. Within those first few years, young children are navigating many new experiences in which they are gradually figuring out whether they are welcomed and belong or simply trying to find a way to fit in.

Sadly, any space that narrowly pre-determines who children should be and what they should learn is also a space in which ableism can flourish. Simply put, ableism is the societal belief that disabled bodies and minds are an unwanted difference. Ableist systems, therefore, focus on preventing, fixing, curing or treating disability rather than advancing inclusion and accessibility for all. As a sector, we are primed to believe that early child development falls within the binary categories of ‘normal’ and ‘special’. And through the early identification of a child’s unwanted difference, we are assured that early intervention can reduce a child’s deficits. All of this is wrapped up within the EYFS principle that children are unique and ‘constantly learning…capable, confident and self-assured’ and that they ‘develop and learn at different rates’ (DfE 2021).