Developing an Original Ecological Framework for Early Childhood Disability Inclusion in Nigerian Multicultural Contexts

Disability inclusion in early childhood education involves ecological factors spanning family, community, cultural, and policy levels that interact in distinctive ways in Nigerian multicultural contexts, and developing an original ecological framework for understanding and facilitating inclusion fills a critical gap in both Nigerian disability studies and global inclusive ECD theory. This study developed an original Ecological Framework for Early Childhood Disability Inclusion in Nigerian Multicultural Contexts, drawing on Bronfenbrenner's ecology theory, disability studies, and empirical research across four cultural zones. A constructive theory-building methodology was employed, combining systematic review of 78 disability inclusion in ECD publications from 2018 to 2024, structured interviews with 60 parents of children with disabilities, 40 ECD teachers, 20 traditional and community leaders, and 15 disability advocacy specialists across Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, and Tiv communities, and analysis of Nigerian disability policy documentation. The review confirmed that existing ecological frameworks inadequately theorised the role of cultural disability causation beliefs (spiritual, ancestral, and karmic theories) as microsystem-level exclusion drivers, community ritual exclusion practices, extended family stigma dynamics, and the interaction between cultural disability beliefs and formal policy provisions. The original framework proposes four Nigerian-specific ecological layers: cultural microsystem (family and community disability beliefs), institutional mesosystem (school-community disability interaction), policy exosystem (legislation-community interface), and cultural macrosystem (indigenous worldviews of disability). Expert review by 24 specialists confirmed the framework's theoretical originality. Recommendations include integrating cultural disability beliefs into policy implementation approaches.

Keywords: ecological framework, disability inclusion, early childhood, Nigeria, multicultural contexts