a moment in time towards udmi INCLUSION IN CANADA: CWELCC Canada has a well-known reputation for being a country with socialistic and peace-keeping ideologies. Many people immigrate to Canada for our social services and universal health care. It seems somewhat curious that Canada has only recently developed an early childhood program that is available to all citizens. The success of this program is still uncertain. Some early learning centres are concerned the government has underestimated the true costs of running a centre, while many Montessori schools are concerned the government is going to continue to water-down their curriculum. The Federal government, under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has initiated the Canada Wide Early Learning Child Care initiative (CWELCC). The goal is to have daycare and early learning centres provide $10/day care for every child by 2026. This program has seen mixed reviews with parents breathing a sigh of relief and some early learning centre owners feeling financial pressure and being forced to close parts of their centres from a lack of sufficient funding (Ontario Non-profit Calls for Stable Funding as Toronto Child-care Facility Suspends Infant Program, 2023). According to the Government of Canada’s website, the goal is to “support child care spaces for underserved communities, including in rural and remote regions, high-cost and low-income urban neighbourhoods, and communities that face barriers to access, such as racialized groups, Indigenous Peoples, official language minority communities, newcomers, as well as parents, caregivers, and children with disabilities” ($10 a Day Child Care for Canadian Families, 2021). Montessori centres have different reasons for not joining the CWELCC program, but one common element is a lack of perceived value and respect for Montessori pedagogy. In Ontario, Montessori schools have many government restraints placed upon them that jeopardize the authenticity of Montessori programs. These private centres struggle to provide the Montessori three-hour work cycle to students, independent work with real materials, and teaching staff that are Montessori trained. Because of the age group (0-6) in many Montessori schools, the Ontario government considers these schools as daycare facilities and run them under the Child Care Early Years Act (CCEYA) legislations. There is a fear, from Montessori school owners, that joining the CWELCC program will give more control to the government to change the Montessori curriculum to more mainstream ECE pedagogy. This friction is preventing many Montessori schools from joining the CWELCC program and becoming part of the solution to provide affordable and accessible care to children and families in need. Of course, being a new program initiated in Ontario in 2022, there is still room for growth and development, but the early years of the CWELCC program has seen frustration from both parents and early learning centre owners, preventing the Prime Minister’s goal of inclusion from becoming a reality.  UDL IN ELCs Early Learning Centres continue to recognize the need to provide inclusive pedagogy for the communities they serve. Using UDL principles, many ELCs are creating environments that eliminate the need for modifications in the classrooms. “Universal design makes things better and more accessible for everyone…UDL takes a similar approach to universal design and provides a framework for educators that creates accessible, meaningful, and engaging learning based on neuro-research and differentiates across a range of abilities, experiences, and home languages” (Breen, 2018, para. 2). Early childhood educators are encouraged to review their classrooms and ask themselves the following questions: are the materials easily accessible for every student? Is there enough space for safe and conductive movement? Are the materials productive for learning? Are relevant cultures represented and reflected in the classroom? (Breen, 2018, para. 7). By ensuring these questions have been answered, the early childhood educator has ensured a great start on creating an inclusive UDL learning environment. It is recommended that children view their ELC as a safe space that is secure, reliable, and constant. For children who may not have access to food, hygienic supplies, or extra clothing, consider supplying these at the school, “for children who experience poverty, access to learning at school may be interrupted by hunger, poor hygiene, or lack of necessities” (Brillante & Nemeth, 2022, pg. 28). Fundamental to UDL are the qualities of MMR, MMA, and MME. Multiple Means of Representation (MMR) is important because “learning happens when the information is presented in ways that children can understand and connect to previous learning and experiences” (Brillante & Nemeth, 2022, pg. 25). One example of adding MMR in the classroom is to create multiple ways children can understand instructions. The educator could learn some words in the child’s home-language to help explain a task, or, the educator could create illustrations instead of written instructions to demonstrate the steps of proper handwashing. (Brillante & Nemeth, 2022). Multiple Means of Action/Expression (MMA) “provides multiple options and ways for every child to communicate with everyone in the classroom” (Brillante & Nemeth, 2022, pg. 59). Examples are creating group activities where everyone has a role that is based on their strengths so they can learn from each other while participating as a valued group member. Another example is adapting materials, such as using paperclips or gluing popsicle sticks to book pages, to make them more accessible to children with fine motor difficulties (Brillante & Nemeth, 2022). Multiple Means of Engagement (MME) is the third quality of UDL that should be represented in the early learning centre. “Being engaged means…the child has a desire to know more, to do more, and to be part of more” (Brillante & Nemeth, 2022, pg. 85). Brillante and Nemeth suggest educators “change [their] own expectations of engagement in the classroom, be comfortable with the differences of children from different cultures, and do not promote what [their] own culture values” (pg. 90). This can be done by spending time with each child and their families to discover their interests and skills, then using this information to help engage the child with activities. For example, for a child who is able to communicate through sign language, teaching classmates some common signs will allow this student to engage with work and social aspects of the classroom.  MONTESSORI INCLUSION The above practices which are recommended for bringing inclusion into early learning centres are easily transferred to Montessori classrooms. However, Montessori educators have also been developing their own systems of inclusion. Two popular approaches are the Consultant model and the Special Educator model. The Consultant model requires a special educator to visit a school on a contract basis. The special educator observes and recommends programs and training for students and staff (Berger & AuCoin, 2020). Montessori schools like this model because it allows the guides to be trained to remain the main educator in the environment while keeping extra adults out of the classroom. The guide is able to utilize what she has learned and adapt it to suit the needs of student and the classroom. The Special Educator model had a permanent staff member onsite who specializes in developing IEPs, working with the children, holding meetings with families and teachers, providing professional development for teachers, and following the progress of the children who need supports (Berger & AuCoin, 2020). This model is attractive to Montessori schools that prefer a consistent staff member with specialized training be responsible for the programming and progress for students with special needs. This model is appreciated by guides who find special education to be overwhelming. Montessori guides are continuing their own training as they see a need for in their classrooms. Dr. Joyce Pickering has developed the MACAR (Montessori Applied to Children At Risk) method and offers training through the Shelton school in Texas, USA (MACAR - Shelton School). MMPI (Montessori Medial Partnership for Inclusion) was developed by Catherine Nehring Massie and Barbara Luborski to help educate Montessorians, medical professionals, parents, and others on how to create inclusive environments in Montessori settings. They currently offer an online course for Montessori educators and a course for Montessori administrators, however, you do not have to be a Montessori trained professional to join these programs (Montessori 4 Inclusion | Montessori Medical Partnership for Inclusion).  WHAT ABOUT THE DOWN-SIDE? As with all new trends and ideologies, there is always going to be concerns, fears, misunderstandings, and insightful criticisms. It is important to acknowledge and understand what these are so they can be minimized and resolved as much as possible. As you read the following, think about how you could work with parents, teachers and administrators to address these concerns.
These concerns are all valid and are stunting the advancement of inclusion in Montessori schools and other early learning centres. Parent and teacher education will help these negative views shift. With the support of a strong administrative team, parents and teachers can work together and inspire one another to challenge and change these views.  IN SUMMARY… Creating the perfect inclusive Montessori environment is a goal of many, but there is much to be considered. In Canada, there are laws and regulations that Montessori schools must follow, that oppose Montessori pedagogy. This, plus the concern about the CWELCC program, has prevented many Ontario Montessori programs from being able to provide affordable childcare to children and families in need. Many traditional daycares have already started to implement UDL concepts in their centres and are finding success with this. This provides a framework for Montessori schools as UDL can be easily brought into Montessori schools without changing pedagogy. Montessori has not fallen behind the work of inclusive early learning. There are many Montessorians who are actively involved with training on bringing inclusivity into their classrooms. The views in Montessori are shifting to more inclusive environments. However, we must remember there are real concerns that must be acknowledged and addressed. To progress towards inclusion, the concerns of parents, educators, and administration, need to be heard. These three units need to come together to problem-solve and educate while actively listening to each other. This may be the most challenging part of the process to bring inclusion into Montessori environments, which also makes it the most important part. An inclusive school needs to be flexible and ever-changing with the needs of the families it serves. I would caution any school considering creating an inclusive program without partnering with the families involved to reconsider. To exclude the families of the children we are serving will only weaken the foundation of our inclusive endeavors in Montessori education. REFERENCES $10 a day child care for Canadian families. (2021, April 21). Prime Minister of Canada. https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2021/04/21/10-day-child-care-canadian-families Berger, B.J., & AuCoin, D.J. (2020) Better Together: Montessori & Special Education. In A. Epstein (Ed.), Montessori inclusion: Strategies and stories of support for learners with exceptionalities (pp. 1-13). Parent Child Press. Breen, M. (2018, July 5) Universal design for learning in the early childhood classroom. Free Spirit Publishing. https://freespiritpublishingblog.com/2018/07/05/universal-design-for-learning-in-the-early-childhood-classroom/ Brillante, P., & Nemeth, K. (2022). Universal design for learning in the early childhood classroom. Routledge. Lee, S., & Devaux, A. (2020, June 23). The five common myths about Inclusive Education. RAND. https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2020/06/the-five-common-myths-about-inclusive-education.html Ontario non-profit calls for stable funding as Toronto child-care facility suspends infant program. (2023, November 10). Toronto. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-non-profit-calls-for-stable-funding-as-toronto-child-care-facility-suspends-infant-program-1.6638189
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