Facing the Challenges of Inclusive Education in Early Childhood Education

Inclusive education is a real evidence that there is no discrimination in education. The government through regulations has promoted and demonstrated to support the implementation of inclusive education for each level of education in Indonesia. That means that inclusive education should also be applied in Early Childhood Education (ECE). Therefore, all components involved in ECE should be prepared to admit and implement an inclusive education system. The qualitative approach used to examine selected sample in three provinces in implementing inclusive education, there are Central Java, East Java, and West Java. Fifteen early childhood education teachers involved in this research, five teachers of each province. The data were obtained by interviewing the teachers. This study identifies how teachers understand the implementation of inclusive education, the challenges, and obstacles faced, specifically in implementations and expectations for better inclusive education. The findings showed that the teachers understood the importance of inclusive education but none of them have admitted children with special needs. Then, the lack of teachers' competencies and skills, such as designing a proper curriculum in dealing with children with special needs, is a major challenge in implementing inclusive education. The government support is needed, such as to hold inclusive education training to improve teacher's competencies.