Inclusive Early Childhood Education and Human Capital Development: Comparative Insights from Morocco and South Korea

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-680-7_20How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Inclusive preschool education; Children with disabilities; Comparative analysis between Morocco and South Korea; Human capital development; Educational and digital innovation; Territorial; cultural; and linguistic equity

Abstract

Preschool education represents a fundamental lever for the development of human capital and social cohesion, particularly for children with disabilities, including those with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Morocco and South Korea present two contrasting but complementary trajectories in terms of inclusive preschool.

Three research questions guide this discussion:

• How do inclusive preschool education policies contribute to human capital development, and what institutional factors explain disparities in equity and outcomes between Morocco and South Korea?

• What factors explain the gaps in quality, equity, and outcomes between the two comparative contexts?

• What pedagogical and technological innovations can be transferred or adapted in a contextualized manner through such international cooperation?

The approach adopted is based on an exploratory comparative approach focused on an analysis of inclusive preschool education policies and practices in Morocco and South Korea, seeking to identify points of structural convergence and divergence, as well as transferable innovations to strengthen early childhood inclusion. The results reveal commonalities, such as political will, an inclusive framework, and the role of digital technology. However, the differences are marked: professionalization and universalization in Korea, versus territorial disparities, educator insecurity, and low digital inclusion in Morocco. This study integrates human capital theory, ecological development, and capability approaches to analyze inclusive preschool education as a multidimensional social investment. The analysis shows that, regardless of the context and/or institutional management strategies, inclusive preschool education constitutes a strategic lever for building a more equitable society. Korea illustrates the benefits of high teacher professionalization, curriculum coherence, and advanced digital integration for inclusive education, while Morocco highlights the importance of social, territorial, and linguistic equity. These findings underscore that inclusion is not limited to formal access: it requires real conditions of pedagogical quality, cultural and linguistic adaptation, and adoption of advanced technologies in the field. To strengthen the impact of preschool on children's development, countries should consider coordinate public policies, educator training, technological innovation, and social equity.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Lamiae Bezzaz
AU  - Mohamed Meliani
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/20
TI  - Inclusive Early Childhood Education and Human Capital Development: Comparative Insights from Morocco and South Korea
BT  - Proceedings of the Conference Morocco-Korea Cooperation: A Lever for Afro-Asian Development (MKC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 274
EP  - 287
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-680-7_20
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-680-7_20
ID  - Bezzaz2026
ER  -