One of the current challenges still consists of providing organisational frameworks that enable and structure inclusive education in schools. This need is also evident in Early Childhood Education. Unfortunately, it is increasingly common to find schools that do not respect children's learning rhythms, needs, transition periods or their own voices (Pontiveros, 2011). The prevailing educational approach is more focused on the curricular requirements of later educational stages, often adopted by corporatist interests or the logic of the market per se. Many children do not find a response to their interests, rights and needs in today's pre-schools. Instead of stimulating their capacities, exclusion processes are favoured from the first contact with formal education.

Previous works have analysed the importance of school places and spaces as physical, but also relational and contextual elements in the organisation of school work (Vanacore, 2020) and the promotion of inclusive education (Grande and González-Noriega, 2015). The ECER 2018 constituted a specific network in which the forms of inclusion and exclusion fostered by school spaces were analysed (Marques-Da Silva, 2018). It was thus emphasised that the different dimensions of the school's spaces not only help to transmit its cultural identity but also its pedagogical identity (Bondioli, 2016). The space is, in fact, constituted as a facilitator of the teaching-learning, inclusion and participation processes of the educational community (Striano, 2020). In Spain, teachers note that school spaces are the obstacles that most hinder their inclusive practices (Arnáiz, Escarbajal and Caballero, 2017). Despite this, in our country it continues to be one of the least researched elements, beyond ensuring the accessibility of certain groups and making adaptations to specific areas of the school (Striano, 2020).

This paper attempts to explore in depth how the organisation of school spaces favours educational inclusion from early childhood, understood as a process that goes beyond the deficit perspective. In this sense, a model of school spatial organisation is advocated, aimed at enhancing children’s possibilities and capacities, taking into account the characteristics and needs of all of them. At the same time, we are committed to making children's voices visible and to articulating inclusive educational and educational research processes that encourage children's participation. As stated by Booth, Ainscow and Kingston (2007, p.3): “Inclusion in Early Childhood Education is as much about the participation of professionals as it is about children’s involvement. Taking part means playing, learning and working in collaboration with others. It involves making choices and expressing an opinion about what we are doing. Ultimately, it has to do with being recognised, accepted and valued by oneself.” Play, learning and participation therefore stand out as key elements of children's educational inclusion. And, along with education and free expression, they are fundamental children's rights. (Cuevas-Parras, 2022) that must continue to be defended (Aguilar, Recio and Macías, 2019). As Tonucci (2012) stresses, it is urgent to ensure that children can participate and propose solutions to issues that affect them. Among them, the design and configuration of the school spaces they inhabit and which enable them, to a greater or lesser extent, to play, relate and learn.

For all these reasons, this contribution aims to analyse how school spaces favour inclusion in Early Childhood Education, without losing sight of how children experience these spaces and what contributions and suggestions they promote for their design and transformation.

A research design is chosen in line with the principles of child inclusion and participation (Ceballos-López, Susinos and García-Lastra, 2018). Children are considered as cultural subjects capable of expressing, through different languages, their needs, interests and proposals. The project follows a qualitative and ethnographic research methodology through a multiple case study. A total of eight schools and educational centres of the first and second cycle of Early Childhood Education in different provinces of Andalusia (Spain) were selected, in which participatory research processes are to be implemented (Bondioli, 2016). The aim is to promote processes of reflection focused on identifying the best possible options for children’s inclusion through the design and organisation of the educational space. The voices of teachers and educators in schools, families and children themselves will be analysed. The research techniques to be used will include document analysis, participant observation and interviews and focus groups in the case of adults. For the research with children, the mosaic perspective advocated by Clark and Moss (2005) will be adopted, opting for photo-voice, photo-elicitation, drawings and observations with video and other media of children's interactions in the school’s different spaces and environments. Qualitative data analysis software, such as MAXQDA, will be used to analyse the information, although other visual data analysis software will also be applied (Banks, 2007). In this sense, we will leverage programs such as the WEBQDA software to take advantage of the large quantity and quality of data provided by audiovisual tools such as photographs, videos and drawings (Rodrigues, Souza and Costa, 2017). To ensure the rigour of the research, among other issues, the principle of saturation will be taken into account to finalise the fieldwork and the triangulation of sources, instruments, agents and researchers will be used. Ethical issues will also be ensured. In this regard, special attention will be paid to safeguarding the physical and emotional safety of the participating schoolchildren and to catering for their various needs and well-being.

This project was part of the research proposal advocated by González-Falcón (2021) in her candidacy for the post of full professor at the University of Huelva. It is currently being evaluated by the educational research group DOCE (HUM-668) and submitted for external funding. We hope to be able to present initial results at the ECER in August 2023. The intention is to contribute to the generation of greater scientific knowledge on the influence of space on educational inclusion in early childhood, a subject that has not yet been explored in Spain. In addition to providing new evidence and references to advance in the design of research proposals and methodologies that take children’s participation into account, both in the second cycle of Early Childhood Education and in the first cycle (0-3 years). On the other hand, the project will help to define guidelines for the design of inclusive educational spaces in Early Childhood Education based on legislation, research and educational practice in Andalusia. It will be possible to draw up specific proposals on the dimensions and categories of analysis of the educational space and research with visual techniques and pedagogical documentation. Finally, it is expected to contribute to the definition of different improvement actions in the participating schools, with an impact on educational reality and practice.

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