Research School Network: Inclusive and Equitable Teaching in the Early Years: the ShREC Approach Inclusive and Equitable Teaching in the Early Years: the ShREC Approach
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Inclusive and Equitable Teaching in the Early Years: the ShREC Approach
Inclusive and Equitable Teaching in the Early Years: the ShREC Approach
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by East London Research School
on the
Fliss James
Fliss James is Director of East London Research School and Assistant Head Teacher at Sheringham Nursery School and Children’s Centre
Every child deserves to feel seen, heard and valued. Every child has a right to have their communication prioritised and nurtured. The development of communication and language is fundamental to all children’s learning, relationships, wellbeing and future success and happiness.
Research consistently highlights the vital role of educators in supporting children’s communication development. Communication is also central to building relationships and enabling children to express their needs, feelings, experiences and ideas. This is particularly important when working with children who have diverse communication profiles.
The ShREC Approach offers simple, memorable and practical evidence-informed strategies that help early years educators engage in powerful brain-building back and forth conversations with young children.
Crucially, the ShREC Approach is inclusive and can be used with all children, however they communicate.
Let’s look at ShREC in action…
Every day, as soon as 4‑year-old Idris comes into nursery he chooses to play with his favourite dinosaurs. He tips out the box and sorts them into size order, organising the dinosaurs on a specific part of the shelving unit. His key person Ayla watches carefully, gets down to his level and pays close attention to Idris’s expressions, vocalisations and actions.
Idris looks up and glances around the room, Ayla takes the opportunity to greet him sensitively and comments, “Dinosaurs!” Idris responds by smiling. He runs his hands along the dinosaurs he has carefully arranged. Ayla gets herself a set of dinosaurs and copies Idris’s action by running her hands along the tops of her set of dinosaurs. As she does this, she repeats the word, “Dinosaurs.”
Idris scoops up all of Ayla’s dinosaurs and adds them to his collection. As he does this, she comments, “You have so many dinosaurs.” Idris starts to quietly count. Ayla joins in saying the number names as he touches each dinosaur. Idris smiles and moves his hands excitedly.
Once he has finished Ayla expands on his counting by stating how many he has altogether, “8 dinosaurs, you have 8 altogether.” Idris gathers all the dinosaurs and takes them to the water tray. He takes one and moves it up and down in a stomping motion and splashes the water. Ayla takes one and mirrors his actions, ‘Splash! The dinosaur is splashing in the water…splash…!” Idris looks at Ayla and splashes his dinosaur again. Ayla responds and they begin to take turns splashing.
Ayla shows excitement and joy as she engages in this back-and-forth interaction. After a few minutes, Idris reaches out, smiling and puts his hands on Ayla’s face.
Every child communicates
Inclusive practice begins by establishing warm, trusting relationships; getting to know children is key. It also means recognising that all communication attempts are valid. While spoken language is important, it is only one form of communication. Children may communicate through gestures, facial expressions, their gaze, vocalisations, movements, symbols, signs or other non-verbal means.
A child sharing attention through eye contact, gestures or actions is still participating in a meaningful communicative exchange. Every child should experience enjoyable, meaningful and enriching conversations.
Equity: ‘a bigger slice of the cake’
An important principle underpinning the ShREC Approach is equity. Equity involves recognising that some children need more support than others, or ‘a bigger slice of the cake’, in order to access opportunities and achieve positive outcomes.
”Children who have experienced fewer sustained and supportive interactions might have shorter attention spans. They might have fewer interests or be less confident communicators. Educators may need to take more time and care in developing warm and supportive relationships with them.”
Noticing, responding and including
In the interaction above, we see how Ayla dedicates time to Idris, and how she uses the strategies of the ShREC Approach to enter a sustained, meaningful back and forth interaction.
This example also highlights an important point about inclusion and equity. Engagement matters, but before a child can engage in an interaction, the educator needs to notice them. This reminder challenges educators to be intentional about who they see, respond to and support throughout the day.
Educators should reflect on questions such as:
Who receives most of my attention?
Which children am I interacting with most often?
Which children might be overlooked?
How can I ensure every child is actively included?
Making every interaction count
It is so important that, in our efforts to develop children’s communication and language, we don’t inadvertently overlook the children who may be communicating differently. And that we ensure that we are deliberate in using evidence-informed approaches that benefit everyone – creating the ‘rising tide’ that lifts all children.
When we slow down, notice children and respond to them as unique individuals, not only do we support the development of children’s communication and language, but we also create the foundations for belonging, participation and lifelong learning.
References/Further Reading
Ang, L., Grenier, J., Harmey, S., James, F., & Prendergast, M. (2025). Supporting early years professional development to enhance high-quality conversational interactions in early childhood care and education settings: The ShREC approach. Early Years, 46(3), 391 – 409. doi.org
Law, J., Charlton, J., Dockrell, J., Gascoigne, M., McKean, C., & Theakston, A. (2017). Early language development: Needs, provision, and intervention for preschool children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Education Endowment Foundation; Public Health England. https://educationendowmentfoun…
