Challenges Faced by Teachers in Inclusive Classrooms in Early Childhood Education (ECE) Setting

Early Ch ildhood Education is the foundation of every child’s development and Inclusive Education also plays an important role in children with disabilities to progress. Teachers play a crucial role in an educational setting and ensure that inclusive education is implemented smoothly. The aim of this study is to examine what are the issues and challenges that teacher faced in an inclusive Early Childhood Education (ECE) classroom setting. For this study, a qualitative method was chosen with the use of an open-ended interview session. Interview sessions with a total of 14 participants, primarily teachers who work or have experience teaching in inclusive classrooms in Early Childhood Education setting from a variety of backgrounds and locations, were conducted to provide feedback for this study. The responses from the participants of this study based on the first objective have identified a few challenges that the teachers faced. The main factors such as time consumption, lack of manpower, lack of training and knowledge as well as limited resources were identified as the main themes that emerged from the respondents. This study also made some recommendations and suggestions to address the current issues and for further studies to be done.


Introduction
Early childhood is commonly defined as the period from birth to roughly the age of eight and is regarded as being the most crucial phase since it is during this time that children go through their most intensive and rapid period of development and growth. At this stage, children learn and absorb fast from their surrounding environment. Preschool education which is considered an important part of early childhood growth and development is today provided to all children regardless of the child having difficulties in learning or disability. Inclusive education, a term that is coined with the children's rights movement, is fast becoming common in most educational institutions, including preschools. The implementation of inclusive education in Malaysia has also seen various initiatives including the first draft of the guidelines for the inclusion of students with special needs known as Guidelines for Inclusive Education Programs for Students with Special Needs, followed by the Handbook of Operations of the Special Education Integration Programme (SEIP) in 2015 which serves as a guide and reference for the State Education Department, the District Education Office and schools offering the integrated special education programme. Inclusion in Malaysia, as put forward by Special Education Regulations 2013 implies that students with special educational needs attend the same classroom together with other students in public or non-public schools (UNESCO, 2021).

Problem Statement
Inclusion implies educators taking accountability for providing schools where all learners may thrive and feel a sense of belonging. Teachers are critical in this role due to the primary contribution they make in fostering engagement and minimizing achievement gaps, primarily with children who are thought to have learning issues. Some of the impediments to the formation of effective inclusive schools are identified, and it is suggested that one method to overcome these challenges is to re-evaluate teachers' roles, duties, and values (Tyagi, 2016). Educators of children with special needs are responsible for a wide range of educational tasks and duties. As a result, the perspectives of other teachers are varied and change depending on the context. Teachers are key in deciding what takes place in classes, and some claim that developing more inclusive classrooms demands educators to accommodate varied teaching and learning requirements using curriculum adaptation or modification (Tyagi, 2016).
Although many schools are beginning to implement inclusive learning to embrace the diversity of children and to support the children's right to education regardless of their background, teachers still faced challenges in implementing inclusive teaching and learning. Even as inclusive education seems to have drawn attention from all around the world, it is still seen as a significant difficulty in the worldwide educational system. The effectiveness of the policy depends on the role played by educators in implementing inclusive education. Teachers face several difficulties as they carry out the policy, which is detrimental to the achievement of inclusive education. The implementation of inclusive education has presented difficulties for instructors as they carry out their regular responsibilities (Dorji, 2018).
The findings of this study will show how stakeholders, school administration, parents, and the community may comprehend the difficulties experienced by teachers who manage inclusive classrooms while also identifying approaches to support the development and improvement of the participating teachers' performance. This discovery will be crucial in figuring out a group strategy that can enhance the work performance of the teachers participating in addition to enhancing the performance of the special needs students.

Research Objective
1. To discover the challenges that teachers face when teaching in an inclusive classroom in an ECE setting.

Research Question
1. What were the main challenges that teachers in an inclusive ECE classroom faced?

Conceptual Framework
With all the books, scholarly articles, and research that has been done, it has been concluded that there are three main factors that provide challenges for teachers who are responsible for managing inclusive classrooms: a lack of training, a lack of competencies, and a lack of management skills. Teachers are extensively concerned about the abilities, knowledge, and assistance required for managing an inclusive classroom to ensure the children's growth and development.
This study found that three variables: Teacher's training, Teacher's competencies, and management skills can help the success of teachers in the inclusive classroom.
Dependent Variable

Theoretical Framework
In the practice of inclusive education, a blend of various theories is used. The three major theories applied are (i) the Empowerment Approach to social work. (ii) Problemsolving Theory, (iii) Behavioural Theory. As stated in UKEssays (2018), increasing interpersonal, intrapersonal, and political power enables people to take action to better their own circumstances. Through inclusive classroom practices where each kid learns in accordance with his or her needs and abilities, inclusive education seeks to empower all children within a community. The curriculum is built and altered throughout time in response to the requirements of the students rather than being preconceived and imposed upon them. The worker's position in inclusive education, according to the empowerment approach, is that of a resource consultant, community sensitizer, teacher/trainer, and collaborator.
Furthermore, H.H. Perlman made a significant contribution to the problem-solving theory. According to this theory, "living issues" are the outcome of a client's growth and change during a normal process of human development. According to John Dewy, "Learning is solving problems." The teacher in an inclusive classroom will use this theory to address any issues that students may be having with the current system (UKEssays, 2018). According to this theory, if some students experience challenging behavior in the classroom, the teacher needs to make a functional assessment of this problematic behavior. It will help teachers in modifying the curriculum according to the needs of the children. Based on the results of the

Independent Variable
A lack of training A lack of competenc ies A lack of management skills main challenges that teachers in an inclusive ECE classroom faced assessment, the team can plan strategies to modify the environment so that challenging behavior does not occur. This is how the theory of problem-solving can be applied in inclusive education when some children experience problems it is not considered as their weakness and the ability to solve the problem is in the children themself.
A central assumption of behavioral theory is that all behavior-maladaptive or adaptive-is learned. Maladaptive behavior is adapted through learning and can be modified through additional learning. According to Operant learning theory, most human behavior is determined by positive and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is any stimulus that, when applied to a behavior, can increase, or strengthen the behavior itself. Negative reinforcement is any stimulus that can be terminated or avoided. Briefly, rewards can increase positive behavior and punishment can decrease negative behavior. Modeling is a technique used in inclusive classroom settings to develop new behaviors that are appropriate for children with special needs. An inclusive classroom requires an environment where children learn to respect each other (UKEssays, 2018). This is what the teachers involved need to show the children how to respect each other and it needs to be done through modeling and behavioral training. Both normal and specialdisabled students can be taught that there is no difference between them. They are just children, and each child has a unique learning capacity and unique learning needs. This must be done through modeling.

Literature Review
An inclusive classroom means that all the children must be able to participate in all the class activities. Teachers should analyse the children's communication skills and promote collaborative participation among children. It is challenging for teachers to lead a harmonious classroom when there is a scarcity of technical expertise or adaptable interaction and linguistic tools. Although inclusion classrooms are a great idea, they necessitate extensive preparation, tolerance, and compassion on the part of the teachers. Children in fully inclusive classes range from those who are usually developing to those who have severe and profound disabilities, representing the entire educational and developmental spectrum. This makes it difficult for the teacher to provide balanced support for each child. Even though many schools are moving toward inclusive classrooms for children with special needs, there are still several problems or obstacles that must be resolved (Ramos, 2022).
Individualized education plans are essential to the development of special needs children. Teachers must coordinate several IEPs while attending to each student's learning abilities depending on their capability in an inclusive classroom because the children have different levels of development. Some teachers especially those who never had any experience with children with special needs may find it difficult to adjust their teaching routine and lesson plans from a typical teaching method to a more specialized teaching method to be able to accommodate children with special needs or challenges. For a multitude of reasons, many educators find it challenging to adopt inclusive education. A key component of teaching and learning is the teacher's competencies. When one considers inclusion, they (teachers) become even more crucial.
The issues faced by instructors in managing inclusive classrooms were categorized based on the data collected into the following themes: lack of teacher training, lack of competencies, lack of concrete materials, huge classrooms, time management, and assessment (Thwala, 2015). typical educators believed that resource teachers should handle children with challenges. They considered children with disabilities to be a disruption in the classroom and to be the source of interruptions that prolonged the length of the lesson. As a result, they tend to completely disregard them and focused instead on carrying out their instructional preparations. The teachers lack the necessary skills to teach children with special needs as currently, teacher training is divided, unorganized, and insufficient, taking place in two separate settings, one for children with special needs and the other for children with typical abilities. Therefore, not all teachers are competent and have a good attitude toward children with special needs (Gulzar, 2021).
A regular teacher and a special needs specialist are typically present in inclusive classes. It is necessary to have enough teacher assistants to support the teachers with daily tasks given the nature of the class and its number. However, teachers frequently lack the resources they require, which includes teacher assistants. The teachers believed that there weren't enough educational and learning tools to support the children with special needs, which made it extremely difficult for them to deliver knowledge to the learners. There are very few resources available, and the lack of facilities and qualified teachers can be attributed to an inadequate budget. These inadequate facilities have an impact on the program's participants and the success of inclusion. Most teachers believed that the largest obstacle to working with children with disabilities was their lack of the information and skills necessary to comprehend their specific demands and this results in the teaching-learning process is not as effective as it may be since they do not have the same level of cognitive development as their classmates (Parveen & Qounsar, 2018).
Finding strategies to communicate with children and seeing each child as an individual are both aspects of personalization. In this situation, teachers' fundamental skills include the capacity to identify the assets of younger children with special education needs and their assistance, as well as the ability to create engaging lessons and manage children's weaknesses. Utilizing several teaching techniques and having the flexibility to use them in accordance with the needs of the learner are both aspects of differentiation. The amount of alternative teaching techniques used while using engaging content is a sign of how effective differentiation is (Shevchenko et al., 2020). According to Shevchenko et al (2020) on the roles of teachers in the inclusive classroom, stated that the success of inclusion is ensured by teachers' self-efficacy. Due to the interaction of these elements, organizing inclusiveness will be successful and have the following positive social effects: developing interpersonal relationships between children and instructors; providing primary school children with a place in society that is deserving of them; and fostering a favourable attitude toward the integration of children with special educational needs in society.
When it comes to classroom management, teachers have no choice but to be more resourceful in using whatever materials or knowledge they must deliver an effective lesson. Catering to a diverse learner is an almost impossible task but the teachers are faced with no other options but to be more creative. Already, a traditional classroom has its own challenges and limitations, an inclusive classroom is even more challenging. The issues and limitations that teachers faced especially in an inclusive setting have been an ongoing debate for many years and yet no gullible solution was ever found so far. the modification of the teaching strategies such as examining children's background knowledge of the related field and its themes to properly match the planned lesson to their needs and skills. Furthermore, emphasis on doing assessments frequently is one of the strategies. Providing children with regular, specific feedback on their efforts allows them to adjust their learning tactics and/or seek out more assistance. This is great practice for teachers in general. Use vocabulary that expresses warmth and compassion while providing clear, real-time feedback (University, 2017).
Lack of sufficient training in the basics of correctional education, teaching curriculum criteria for students in various groups, special methods of teaching subjects, knowledge of academic and research factors that influence child development, psychodiagnostics basics, and learning techniques. To organize teaching practices in inclusive education, while considering the individual and age-specific development of children with disabilities, teachers must have a limited set of professional knowledge, skill, and abilities. They do not have a thorough understanding of the details governing the administration of educational and correctional activities. They only exhibit the concept of inclusive education that is partially formed for disabled children (Karynbaeva et al., 2020).
A few studies have been done in the past years in relation to this topic, but recent trend shows that awareness for inclusive education around the world is improving. Also, previous studies focus on teachers in upper primary and higher but very few are done on teachers in an Early Childhood Education area. This topic still needs to be explored further as education starts at early years settings and educators as well as the education system need to address the challenges and find the best possible strategies to overcome them.

Methodology
There are several ways connected to qualitative research methodology, among them is phenomenological qualitative research where this approach is then used for specific cases or for carefully selected samples. When implementing a research agenda, it is easier to define problems with such studies that show differences, shortcomings, positive conclusions, and focus on various scenarios. On the other hand, it is easier to determine the reliability of conclusions that are strengthened by fast-occurring variables in studies involving more than one respondent. Therefore, when phenomenological research methodology is used, it becomes easier to distinguish between qualitative and statistical reliability. This research methodology is important because it identifies elements and their effects in various case scenarios (Greening, 2019). Phenomenological studies investigate human experiences through the descriptions provided by those involved. These are known as lived experiences. The goal of phenomenological studies is to describe the meaning that experiences have for each subject. This type of research is used in this study to discover the challenges that teachers face when teaching in an inclusive classroom in an ECE setting. To obtain information on what are the main challenges faced by teachers in inclusive ECE classrooms, respondents were asked to describe their experiences as they perceived them in this study. They may write about their experiences, but most information is gathered through interviews.

Result and Discussion
RQ 1: What were the main challenges that teachers in an inclusive ECE classroom faced?

Lack of Manpower
According to the graph below, more than half of the participants stated that they do not have a full-time assistant in the classroom with them during lessons. This result also explained why some teachers are hesitant or reluctant to teach in inclusive classrooms, where the lack or absence of assistant teachers requires teachers to be fully alert all the time and increasing the pressure on teachers.
As we know, children with challenges and disabilities requires extra attention and help in the class. Some might even need to be observe and assist all the time which means that the teacher could not afford to look away especially if the children are prone to risks. Most of the participants wrote that they have no assistant in the classroom which makes this situation even worse. "Manpower is lacking when it comes to the child with special needs and the tantrums disrupted the lessons". "Managing the behaviour of those with needs is challenging for me when there is no teaching assistant to help". Extra attention is always required when we have children with special needs in the class to ensure that they are not being left out. "The most challenging part is to give equal attention to every child and to focus on a particular child that needs extra help, but the children get left out most of the time because of lack of manpower".

Inadequate school support in terms of resources and training
When it comes down to teaching children with different abilities, having adequate resources and knowledge really made a difference. Most mainstream teachers are trained to handle typically developing children and very few undergo some kind of training in the areas of Special Needs. The small number of teachers who are willing to undertake this role mostly find that to modify their teaching and learning strategies, they required a lot of materials and Graph 1: Challenge -Lack of manpower equipment which are hardly available at mainstream schools. This posed a big obstacle for the teachers and the children because it will affect how the teaching and learning process progresses smoothly.
Oftentimes, teachers in mainstream schools who are initially motivated to take on the responsibility of applying inclusive education in their classrooms will eventually feel put off by the idea of accepting inclusion. This is mainly because of the severe lacking skills and knowledge on how to differentiate the teaching and learning methodology. Speaking from my own experience, schools are a little reluctant to spend an extra budget to send teachers for specialized training and workshops mainly due to the number of enrolment of children with special needs which is low, and usually, these specialized training costs a lot of money and is also time-consuming.

Difficulty in Managing the Different Levels of Learning Abilities
An inclusive classroom means that the level of learning abilities differs greatly. Most of the typical children in inclusive classroom settings have a higher cognitive development compared to children with special needs. The teacher might find that different learning levels are difficult to manage as they need to make sure that every child in the class is able to follow through with the lessons.
"To cater to all of the children of different levels without neglecting anyone in the group" "Different levels of learning progress" "Planning activities and learning arrangements that will cater to the needs of all children" and "having mixed grade level". Teachers reported their perspective that more consistent opportunities for professional growth would serve to elevate the quality of their work and allow them to collaborate more efficiently. Moreover, others say that there are specialized teaching methodologies for children with various types of disabilities and that specialized training is necessary. An unfortunate side effect of these beliefs is that most traditional educators don't really feel they have the knowledge and abilities to conduct this type of responsibility and believe that there is an army of 'professionals' out there to handle these children one-on-one or in smaller more manageable groups (Tyagi, 2016).
The teachers are heavily occupied with managing workloads such as preparing lessons, homework, and daily class activities, and having children with special needs in the class means that they must figure out how to modify the lessons and activities to ensure that the children will get equal knowledge and understanding on the lessons. Again, due to a lack of skills and knowledge, this has become a challenge for teachers in inclusive settings.

Difficulty in Creating a Learning Environment that is Suitable for an Inclusive Classroom
Setting up or creating an appropriate environment that will address all the children's needs is no easy task. Setting up an environment for an inclusive classroom environment seems almost impossible for teachers. With huge obstacles such as resources and manpower, creating a classroom that is suitable for inclusive teaching and learning proves to be a challenge. To cater to all the diverse learning needs, special equipment, and materials are needed. Also, setting up need to be done with suitable and proper planning which some of the mainstream teachers have no knowledge of. Therefore, the teachers find it challenging for them to create an inclusive classroom that is beneficial to the learners.

Lack of Experience in Managing an Inclusive Classroom
By adapting their pedagogical approaches, teachers can teach children with a variety of requirements. It is crucial that teachers have the necessary skills to meet the various requirements of their children. In the same respect, all educators-special educators included-should be ready to work with pupils who have special needs. To provide inclusive education, class teachers must be aware of and skilled at identifying pupils with various disabilities. This is because they must support the kids' learning process (Nishan, 2018). Teaching itself is already a difficult task, and what more than teaching children with special needs and with different abilities? Most of the time, the school did not have adequate training or knowledgeable teachers to handle children with special needs. Table 1 Challenge -Lack of experience in managing the inclusive classroom.
Participants The most challenging part of teaching in an inclusive ECE classroom response 1 In my current experience, differentiation is in the sense that I don't have enough time for it, as well as consistent support from an extra set of hands (support teacher or teaching assistant).

2
Managing the class is difficult as children with special needs require modification in teaching.

3
Teaching children with special needs together with other children is difficult and it is hard to ensure that they receive the knowledge and skills required equally as other children in the classroom.

4
Different levels of learning progress.

5
When there is no help or shadow teacher in the classroom to help, it is difficult. 6 Lack of time to plan various ways to differentiate for the different types of learners to accommodate their individual needs.

7
To be able to cater to all the children of different levels without neglecting anyone in the group is quite challenging. 11 The environment, lack of support from school, parents, and community. No prior training given, or knowledge is limited when it comes to teaching children with special needs.
12 Planning activities and learning engagements that will cater to the needs of the children. Also managing the behaviour of children with special needs is challenging for me. 13 Creating a learning environment that supports every student and let all of them study and grow as much as possible is almost impossible to achieve.
14 In my case, it is finding time for every student and differentiation due to having mixed grade level classes is difficult.
The educators' views concerning inclusion and its guiding principles are one of the key obstacles to the implementation of inclusive education. The degree of the students' complexities, the category of the student's disabilities, the teachers' awareness of students with special needs, their confidence in their own abilities to implement inclusive tasks (the teachers' preparedness for inclusive classrooms), or their objectives for the students regardless of their differences and the core curriculum, among other things, all have an impact on these attitudes. According to earlier research, teachers find it more challenging to work with students who have emotional or behavioural difficulties in the classroom than they do with students who have other types of disabilities. Teachers may not think they are capable of teaching both students with special needs and students without special needs. The key factor is that they lacked the skills necessary to manage these inclusive educational programs.
Lack of academic preparation to deal with disabilities, and the degree of assistance received from various resources in the classroom. They believe that when it comes to having students or friends with challenges, schools, teachers, and students are not properly equipped. that some of the obstacles that prevent students with disabilities from receiving an appropriate education come from a fundamental level because of split parliamentary supremacy, a shortage of laws, policies, goals, and plans, as well as occasionally a lack of funding. Furthermore, there are issues specific to the school, such as the curriculum and pedagogy, inadequate assistance, and training for instructors, as well as both physical and psychological restrictions that can result in aggression, harassment, and maltreatment (Ricardo et al., 2017).
Knowledge, skills, and the attitudes of teachers can pose huge obstacles to inclusive education. The teachers lack the necessary skills to teach students with special needs. Currently, teacher training is dispersed, disorganized, and insufficient, taking place in two separate settings, one for kids with special needs and the other for students with average ability. Therefore, it is doubtful that these kids would obtain a quality education if all teachers had the necessary abilities and attitudes toward students with special needs. Lack of training and knowledge might be the biggest obstacle that teachers in an ECE classroom faced daily.
To be thrown into a situation where you have little to zero knowledge can be overwhelming especially for teachers who are still new (Gulzar, 2021).
Both pre-service and in-service training are required in the field of education to develop human resources. Pre-service training is the term used to describe the preparation of people to become teachers. This includes instruction at national and regionally accredited teacher education institutions. In the Malaysian context, regardless of experience level, every preschool teacher should be motivated to use appropriate pedagogical strategies. To give new teachers opportunities, educator upgrading programs need to be expanded. Most research studies on inclusive education in Malaysia have shown that there is still no official support mechanism in place to increase the involvement of students with learning difficulties in these programs (Masnan et al., 2017). Support from the school seems to be one of the concerns for the teachers when it comes to inclusive education. Lack of help from teaching assistants hinders the effective implementation of an inclusive classroom.
The difficulties of inclusive classrooms must be overcome collectively and systemically, with all stakeholders playing their proper parts. It is suggested that first, a revamp of teacher learning strategies and the curriculum should be incorporated to also emphasize teaching approaches and techniques for cognitive impairment learners. Secondly, the emphasis should be placed on ongoing in-service professional development, and third, continuing inservice teacher training should be a priority Like other educational institutions, early childhood settings are a part of the community. Inclusive environments keep a close relationship with the neighborhood and make use of the knowledge that is available there to advance children's education. This notion results in an emphasis on modifying the kid (who is being "included") to "fit" inside a setting, rather than on changing the setting to include the child, with relation to early years settings.

Discussion and Conclusion
Discussions and conclusions from this research have been shown in table 2 followed by explanations. The results and information from this study show that when it comes to inclusive classrooms, especially in the ECE setting, teachers are faced with challenges to deliver effective teaching and learning. Due to these challenges, teachers face difficulties in implementing inclusive education at the early childhood education level.
Students of all backgrounds are produced and created by educators that emphasize inclusiveness. When teachers are certain of what inclusion and diversity really entail, the students pick up on that certainty, which fosters a welcome climate that values all forms of difference.
Student engagement alone does not constitute inclusion; rather, inclusion entails that the usual classroom teacher assumes responsibility for the entire class. The right education enables teachers to assume responsibility for each pupil. Teachers that are educated about inclusion are better able to produce and create a varied student body in an inclusive classroom (Webster, 2014).
Many teachers continue to believe that inclusive classrooms are the same as traditional classrooms, thinking that all students must be taught similarly to provide all course materials. Without being aware of the level of participation, engagement, or comprehension on the part of the students, the teacher continues to present the information.
Although inclusive education is not new in our education system, we still lack appropriate strategies and approaches to ensure its success. To promote inclusive education, adequate resources, training, equipment, and support from schools, communities, and even parents are needed. The researcher hopes that future studies on strategies to assist teachers in implementing inclusive education, especially in the ECE environment, can be conducted.
The notion highlighted the fact that there are plenty of schools where the medicalpathological model still plays a central role in the instructional activity, as many educators hold the opinion that students who are perceived as abnormal are not their obligation. The program should be revised concurrently with teachers receiving the required training regarding inclusion and its tenets. Any modification or reorganization will be challenging, but it is vital to create an educational system that can adequately address all the needs, traits, and unique variations of every student enrolled in school (Unianu, Teachers' Attitude Towards Inclusive Education, 2012). Future studies on techniques to help educators adopt inclusive education, especially in the ECE context, are desired by the researcher.