A Valuing Of Cultural Diversity In Early Childhood Education

Children and young people can now learn and understand about different cultures and beliefs through the media and within their own school and by talking openly and positively about race, religion, ethnicity and cultural comparisons and differences will only benefit children in their understanding and development of a healthy social attitude.

Within a school, equality, diversity and inclusion is very important. It is their duty to make sure all children have equal access to the curriculum. Whether they are a different race, culture, gender or have a special need or disability, it is important that they are supported and have a right to participate and be treated equal; this is known as inclusion. As part of this it is important that schools and other professionals support and promote cultural diversity in schools and the wider society, breaking down any discriminatory barriers to learning.

It is crucial for educators to value, understand and incorporate every child’s cultural diversity in the classroom (The Early Years Learning Framework Professional Learning Program, 2011). This means educators needs to deal with any bias beliefs they might/may hold. For example, some children might not participate in the classroom because

2. “Including ethnic and cultural diversity content in the curriculum” Seek out and use only factually based information on different cultural traits. “This is needed to make schooling more interesting and stimulating for, representative of, and responsive to ethnically diverse students,” and this is a teacher’s ultimate goal in being culturally

Educators should critically examine their own values, beliefs, and attitudes related to difference in diversity because we as individuals all have different experiences, beliefs, values and attitudes that can be quite diverse. Staying mindful of this difference is essential in professional practice. For this to really be effective, you need to critically reflect on how your own life events have shaped your beliefs, values and attitudes. Educators must put all assumptions and bias’s aside and keep an open mind when dealing with these differences. For example, by reflecting on your background, you can become aware of biases and prejudices that may impact on your relationship with others from different backgrounds. Once identified, you can then

After knowing the cultures and beliefs of each child I care for, I will create an activity or programme for the children that includes knowing each others culture. These s activities will help the children be exposed to multicultural

How do they create an inclusive, welcoming, and respectful environment where all children, youth, and families can take pride in their cultural identities, beliefs, and practices?

25). The key outcome tries to get “educators…to broaden students’ understanding of differences and different groups of people” (Kumashiro, 2004, p.xxv), through embracing their students’ diversity. The idea of embracing student diversity and experiences within the classroom ties into the idea of culturally relevant teaching. As described by Pelkowski (2014 p.7), is “described as [the] critical consciousness, or an individuals’s awareness of how herself and others are impact by the dimensions of culture, race, class, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation, as well as how these dimensions are related to the political, social, and economic systems”. I think if students have a fundamental understanding of how these structures/systems impact them and those around them is of paramount importance within this unit, especially within the Canadian context. Through student learning, they should be able to understand how some factors will contribute to how someone identifies or refuses to identify to certain types of

- Talk with and explore the culture, heritage, backgrounds and traditions of every child within the context of their community and expand on this by getting the children to engage in these cultures actively for example learning a dance from a child’s culture.

There are a number of strategies you can use to enrich children’s understanding and respect for cultural identities. The first would be to establish a good knowledge of all the different cultures and backgrounds of the children and families who attend our centre, this is initially done through enrolment paperwork. Talking and forming good relationships with families is another way to gain insight into different cultures. Once this has been done you can incorporate this knowledge into the program and curriculum within the room. By incorporating different cultures into the room you are showing children that everyone, interesting and valued. Show and tell group times are a great way to showcase a culture, for example, a child could bring in a

Reading through the few definitions of cultural competence in the attachment really spoke to me in regards to how to practically keep an environment that is accepting of diversity. What I really took from it is that we must have the capacity to do a cultural self-assessment. Sometimes it is easy to think we are loving and accepting of differences, but really thinking about how we treat people with differences will show the truth. We will have children in our classes that just act a little differently from the average. Frustration is an easy response, but remembering that this could just be a culture difference is so important. Once recognized, we can find out what the child needs. It might be a different need from the majority of the

Pick-up any school brochure and you will see the same picture on each one. A picture of students from different racial and cultural backgrounds standing together used to represent how diverse an institution is. The international school I work for is no different, the first picture on our website is of students from different cultures walking through the front doors of the school. Sprawled among the text below the school uses the words diversity, inclusion and acceptance liberally to describe itself. The school operates on the idea that since it’s populations consists of students from around the world, it is an accepting place that embraces its diversity. A view I once used to share before realizing that being diverse and supporting diversity are not the same thing. I grew-up in a small town in Ontario, where my classmates were white, middle class, cis-gendered, Christians. So when I started working at an international boarding school I felt like the school was exploding with diversity, with students from 73 different countries all living under one roof. However, I began to noticed that students only interacted with students from their own race or country, and the school has done little to help promote interaction. Stereotypes were developing and assumptions were being made that negatively impacted students within the building. Such as, students refusing to live with Nigerian’s, stating that they were too loud and messy and that they would always smell bad. Stereotypes being

As an educator it is important to be aware of the various learners in the classroom as well as being able to shift lessons accordingly to adapt to a greater number of students. In addition it is essential that culturally responsive practices is adapted in the classroom in order for all students to have a sense of belonging and are able to participate. For this reason, a teacher must actively use culturally responsive practices to engage students and their families because it helps to develop a relationship and maintain a level of communication. Learning “facts” about different cultures is not enough, it is more important that we make

In the quest of understanding cultural influences on infant’s development, masters of early childhood education have set forth articles and books on this topic. This paper takes a look at one published article that addressed cultural influences on infant’s attachment and temperament, in which the author has conducted research on these subjects. In addition, this paper elaborates four published books, in which the authors have also researched cultural influences on infant’s attachment, temperament, and one Portable Document Format book online that bases its statements on the authors’ research on culture influence infant’s temperament. These masters of early childhood education presented their perspectives base on the research they studied in

Diversity and Inclusion: I will approach diversity by embracing and being open to learning about other people and their families. I would make sure everyone is included and make sure students are respectful and open to diversity. I will adapt instructions if needed to meet the needs of a class or an individual student. I would adapt a lesson for an individual student if that student is struggling or needs extra help to make sure everyone is learning effectively.