Fun and the benefits of Sign Supported Big Books in mainstream Indonesian kindergartens

Abstract

Inclusive kindergarten provision remains relatively rare in Indonesia. This article indicates factors that contribute to this situation (stigmatisation, lack of resources and training) and reports on an approach to begin to address it. Sign Supported Big Books were evaluated in mainstream kindergartens (i.e. classes without children with special educational needs) as a way of enhancing their inclusive affordances. These books used Signalong Indonesia, a keyword signing approach, to support whole class stories with 76 children in five kindergarten classes. Four classes used books with signs and one used a book without signs as part of their everyday activities. Five teacher interviews suggested that the approach enhanced pupils' engagement and was enjoyable and fun for pupils and teachers alike. There were also positive effects for children's story comprehension and sign learning. The findings of this study support the novel position that having a disabled child in a class is not necessary in order to justify using an inclusive keyword signing approach. The implications of these findings are discussed for developing a proactive approach to facilitate inclusive practices in Indonesian kindergartens.

Towards inclusive practice in Indonesian kindergartens: Evaluating the impact of Sign Supported Big Books

“…Teachers (70%) disagreed with the statement the approach didn't help children to understand that the story and 93% of teacher believed that the approach helped children to remember the stories. This supports findings from the pilot study, which found that children had improved comprehension and recall of stories with SSBBs, and that teachers and children found the approach fun (Rofiah et al, 2023).…”

“…As their name indicates they are big, around 34×42 cm, and have large story illustrations that help teachers to engage the interest of young children (Jayendra et al, 2018a) and support interactive, dialogic, storytelling (Lever and Sénéchal, 2011). Rofiah and colleagues (Rofiah et al, 2023) created big books with a Signalong Indonesia sign for each page of the story. These Sign Supported Big Books (SSBB) featured a single visual sign prompt on the back of each page for the teacher when telling the story to the class.…”

“…Teachers were trained to use the SSBB approach, and a pilot evaluation compared the use of books with and without signs in five mainstream kindergarten classes, for children between 4 and 6 years of age, which had no disabled children. The findings suggested that the incorporation of Signalong Indonesia signs in this way was associated with children’s improved engagement, story comprehension and recall, and that the SSBB approach was more enjoyable and fun for teachers and pupils alike (Rofiah et al, 2023). Fun and happiness have been indicated as having a central role in Inclusive Indonesian pedagogy in contrast to beliefs revealed in non-Indonesian research (Budiyanto et al, 2018).…”

“…kindergartens do not train or buy resources because they have no pupils with special educational needs. They have no pupils with special educational needs because they do not have the resources or training” (Rofiah et al, 2023: 3)…”

i-Maties: Indonesian Translation on an Instrument for Teachers Attitudes Towards Inclusive Education

“…In Indonesia, establishing an inclusive education system across Indonesia is a social undertaking that is especially difficult. Indonesia, whose national motto is Bhinneka Tunggal Ika ('unity in diversity,') is the world's largest archipelagic country with more than 17, 524 islands and a population of more than 270 million people, making it the world's most diverse multi-ethnic state [2].…”