Approaches to the development of universal design for learning to promote children's holistic development in private kindergartens

Abstract

This survey research aimed to, first, study the current and desirable levels of practice regarding the development of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to promote children’s holistic development in private kindergartens and, second, to recommend approaches to the development of UDL to promote children’s holistic development in private kindergartens. It employed Block Two: Inclusive Instructional Practice by Katz (2012) as a research framework. The research population were 581 private kindergartens in Bangkok. The informants were 379 private kindergarten administrators, heads of the academics, and teachers obtained through random sampling. The research instruments were a questionnaire and a feasibility assessment form. Basic statistics used to analyze data included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and PNI [modified]. The findings were as follows: 1. The overall current level of practice regarding the development of UDL to promote children’s holistic development in private kindergartens was at a moderate level, whereas the overall desirable level of practice was at an extremely high level. 2. The five dimensions that showed the highest level of need for the development of UDL to promote children’s holistic development in private kindergartens were flexible groupings/cooperative learning, student choice, discipline-based inquiry, social & academic inclusion of children with exceptionalities, and integrated curriculum, respectively. In contrast, the domains of holistic development that showed the highest need for development were the cognitive domain, the social domain, the physical domain, and the emotional domain, respectively. 3. The recommended approaches to the development of UDL to promote children’s holistic development in private kindergartens included 5 main approaches, 10 sub-approaches, and 20 procedures. The main approaches were 1) enhancing positive attitudes toward learning through collaboration and inclusive school community; 2) optimizing student choice and autonomy to promote a democratic school culture; 3) Highlighting discipline-based learning as the main pedagogical approach in classroom; 4) differentiating instructions to include children with exceptionalities in a wider range of activities; and 5) developing an integrated curriculum that promotes healthy emotional expressions in holistic ways