Educators Views on Diversity, Culture and Difference - Research Paper Example

Educators’ views on Diversity, Culture and Difference (Student Name) (Institutional Affiliation) Education (Instructor) April 17, 2013 Research on Educators’ Views on Culture, Diversity and Difference Introduction Children live in diverse and complex family structures and cultures that are different in religious, ethnic, racial and socio-cultural lifestyles and backgrounds. In contemporary society, the term family depicts much diversity, and means different things to different persons based on their individual experience of family. As a result, the families where educators conduct their duties are increasingly changing, complex and diverse. Families comprise step families, single parent families, extended families, blended families, heterosexual couples and same-sex couples with children. Several factors affect children’s early views on how they perceive their families and themselves in the context of their communities not forgetting child care environments. Therefore, it is vital the children’s specific context of family is reflected within the wider community and in their learning environment in order to establish a positive sense of identity and self as well as a sense of belonging. This study therefore, explores the views of educators of different, diversity and families in early childhood education system. A phenomenological study methodology was selected since the major attention of the research was learning about the experiences of educators. This methodology is appropriate for examining the quintessence of human experience. This research was directed by the theme of the research study: the experience of educators working with preschoolers and toddlers in Australian context. Semi-structured model interviews have been carried out with two teachers from two different day care centers. Classroom teaching observations added critical materials to other data generated from interviews. The other data techniques for collecting data included researchers’ journals and field notes. The approaches for analysis the data for this research were constant comparative, thematic and narrative analysis.. The study findings proposed recommendations for practice and future studies in the area of early childhood teaching. The research also developed stories as well description of the experiences of teachers. The other objective of this research was to give some insight towards the preparations of educators will would be competent enough to tackle the challenges of cultural and linguistic diversity within early childhood teaching. The key finding of this research is that an understanding the family and cultural experiences can assist educators connecting with the experience of a child and families to adequately support children’s continuity of development and learning. Literature Review Due to family structure complexities, children’s education and learning environment need to sensitive to individual family cultures and assist facilitate the understanding of children on diversity and difference. The initial assumption of children regarding families is that every family is like theirs and they growth and develop accepting the type of family in which they were brought up. In the context of Australia, cultural diversity refers to persons from a (linguistically and culturally diverse) background are people, who are identified to have a specific linguistic or cultural connection through virtue of their preferred language, religion, ethnic origin, ancestry, birth place, home language(s). Australia is multicultural societies that comprises persons from over 200 countries, speaking over 200 dialects and languages, and follow over 120 religions or faiths (McMahon, 2009). The richness and diversity that these communities bring should not be overlooked or underestimated. Culturally competent educators appreciate multiple cultural approaches of living, seeing and knowing, and celebrate the diversity benefits and have the capacity to honor and understand differences. This is quite manifested in daily practice when teachers show a continuous commitment to establish their individual two-way cultural competence process with communities and families. Educators perceive family context and culture as vital to children’s sense of belonging as being as well as lifelong success in learning. They also make efforts of enhancing the cultural competence of children (McWilliam, Scarborough, Bagby & Sweeney, 2008). Educators view cultural competence as over and above consciousness of cultural differences but rather the ability to communicate with, understand and interact effectively with individuals from multiple cultures and it entails; Establishing a positive mind-set on cultural differences Being conscious of individual’s view of the world Acquiring knowledge from various world vies and cultural practices Developing competencies for interaction and communicating across cultures (Bornstein, 2008). According to McMahon (2009) getting ways to establish effective and strong relations with families of diverse cultural settings and who communicate other languages a part from English is a quite an inspiring experience. Associating with these families offers opportunities for schools to, celebrate, appreciate and better understand their cultures and family experiences. Understanding the family and cultural experiences can assist educators connect with the experience of a child to support better the continuity of development and learning. Families and children of multiple cultural settings communicating other languages apart from English could need support to get involved in the process of transition to school. Thus educators should be responsive to and aware of; the varying fluency level of English language, war or trauma experiences, interrupted learning for some children, discrimination and racism, and the resettlement pressure (Ho & Kang, 2004). Developing the approach the children and their families are integrated into the transition program and ascertaining that processes counter to their needs are critical to assist them begin school on a positive note. According to Bogdan & Biklen (2008) a number of children have basic knowledge of what can be unfair or fair. Educators have a valuable and sensitive role to play to assist children to talk about and reflect what they view as either unfair or fair and to find out why they have such beliefs. Exploring social justice with early childhood children does not only concern lecturing them on what is wrong or right, but also assisting them to build skills and competencies to analyze circumstances and events to derive their own informed individual decision regarding justice and equity. The role of educators is therefore to expand the perceptions and understandings of children regarding fairness and equity to include a focus on communities and families, which are either within or outside the immediate environment of children. In the past, there have not been national frameworks or standards to direct early childhood education in Australia (Ho & Kang, 2004). Of late, under the auspices of COAG (Council of Australian Government Agenda) a national agenda has established a number of strategies to steer early childhood activities. Due to that development, the current landscape of early childhood practices depicts a range of new programs comprising; National Quality Standards, Early Years Workforce Strategy among others. Hence, the present advocacy portrait of early childhood is intricate by a combination of factors of different contextual levels, particularly in respect to LDC (Long day care) educators’ settings. A number of suggestions have been put forward to tackle those intricacies such as ratio of child to educators; professional development, training and wages, to have competence teachers who can deliver on this matter (McWilliam, Scarborough, Bagby, & Sweeney, 2008). Educators need to embrace diversity and offer learning experiences which are inclusive of the diversity of families. These would cultivate children’s establishing a sense of identity, belonging and self in the service culture through welcoming their families to the service settings to find out which of their family cultures can be reflected or included in the service. Research Methodology So as to comprehend educators’ experiences teaching preschool children of diverse linguistic and cultural settings, the main technique I deployed for evaluating my study questions/interviews was phenomenological technique. The technique can act as a detailed narrative, a reflection tool, and could be used to establish a theory (McWilliam, Scarborough, Bagby & Sweeney, 2008). More significantly, experience is the fundamental term for these various inquiries. Anfara, Brown & Mangione (2011) also noted that so as to obtain such information, the person carrying out the research has to perform profound interviews which respondents who directly have experiences the subject phenomenon. Hence, I deployed profound semi-structured interviews with educators in order to examine their views and experiences on teaching these children. I chose teachers from different ethnic background to have a wide perspective of their different cultural views. The participants had over 10 years of experience to provide a history of their experiences and developments that they have seen in this service. After securing the consent of the teachers, the process of interviewing and observation started from within the classrooms for about 3 hours. I performed the interview with both the two teachers and each session took about 45 minutes. The sessions were audio-taped using a voice recorded (digital one o course), and this was done with the permission of the respondents and thereafter, transcribed to allow analysis and review. I noted the themes that resulted from the interview, including my findings through research and field notes. As a result, the interpretation that came out enabled me to place my observations, the respondent’s narration as well as the existing studies in to broad new story which will offer a new insight for both teacher educators and educators. The interview questions and answers are appended on this paper. Discussion In this research, I investigated the educators’ experiences teaching preschool children of diverse linguistic and cultural settings in a college town northwest Melbourne. The research was based on the below methodological instruments, observations, profound interview with two educators, and other existing literature. On reading and interpreting the transcripts of interview, and carried out member check with the educators, I established a wide-ranging thoughtful of how the educators developed sense of their experiences. Relying on this inquiry as well as my comprehension of the data, I constructed each teacher’s descriptive profile and noted the themes originating from the information collected. There were five themes in total which were developed and they include: a) the understanding of cultural diversity and difference, b) the practices which credit social justice, c) the relationship between teachers and families and community, d) kinds of experiences and e) values. As a standard of protecting privacy, there respondents would be referred as Educator 1 and Educator 2 respectively in this study. On establishing what diversity and difference mean to educators’ of preschool children the both educator one and 2 fully understand the meaning of diversity although they put in term own understanding. The educator one understands diversity as what makes people within our communities which is in line with the literature meaning of diversity-differences in perspectives and cultures (Brofenbrenner, 2009). Educator 2 gave a more wide description of diversity, giving reference to the educational setting as – cultural backgrounds, learning styles, special needs and different family units. Educator 1 seem to have personal experience with family diversity as she noted that her family comes from various beliefs, overseas, different background experiences, needs and interests while Educator 2 simply stated that they are all of them are different and didn’t expound. The respondents views on what different means to them were quite simple Educator 2 noted that being different means authentic unique self, while Educator 2 simply stated that it is outside her experience. The response they gave on the theme: the relationship between teachers, families and community seem to be impressive. Educator 1 stated that she establishes relationship with families by being ready to understand these children and empathizing with them as well as being honest. Educator 2 they he establishes relationship with families through engaging them in school activities, by having real interest in them, as well as calling them positively. Both educator 1 and 2 appear to have common methods of communicating to the families and they include; informal meeting, note, phone or emails, and greetings or face to face as McMahon (2009), also observed. The respondents just like other teachers of preschool children noted that the class plays a role of informing, entertaining, learning and caring, and are a part of garden that all use. Each one must be involved and all the stakeholders work as a team. Regarding roles and values that families contribute in their profession, educator 1 indicated that families are sharers of experiences, knowledge, helpers as well as supporters. Educator 2 observed that they are excursions, parent helpers; they provide positive feedback as well as share their know-how. They seem to grasp well the meaning of values as these beliefs that people respect and hold in their day to day lives (Bogdan & Biklen, 2008). Turning to the types of experiences theme; Educator 1noted that they work with different and diverse families and children by seeking to be understood and understand sharing stories and at time celebrating, and Educator 2 seem to share the same experiences and he simply generalized them as celebrating each everyone’s diversity. On the challenges theme; educators experience challenge in resources and time. And on some of the rewards that educators’ of preschool children get include extended circle of learning and community, enriched days. Educators are proud and satisfied that they contribute to changing the world through making difference in children that they teach as well as how they engage and interact with the community through fetes, events, grandparent and parent sharing instances (Bornstein, 2008). And finally on the theme of how early childhood teachers can promote social justice within their environment; Educator 1 noted that it can be done through connecting families with resources and services, upholding standards, and speaking up. It can also be promoted through advocating for equity and celebrating difference. Some of the practices which the two educators identify as effective for honoring social justices within their educational systems include; promoting discussions and openness beyond the school environment, providing time to support community-home-school links (Hill, Stremmel, & Fu, 2009). On a wider perspective, everything within the public educational fraternity honors the social justice system by way of code of conduct. Learning and teaching experiences must be observed as a prospect of developing civic citizenship and whole child (McWilliam, Scarborough, Bagby & Sweeney, 2008). Based on my analysis, the major essential resources for early childhood teachers included sharing experiences and consulting parents. The educators demonstrated that there was inadequate professional resource establishment in courses or seminars linked to teaching in diverse linguistic and cultural environments. As a result, teacher educators should consider conducting workshops or design courses regarding educators’ experiences with the early childhood educational fraternity. Educators, can share not just want that have within the classes concerning their challenges, but also their fulfilling, learning and interesting stories as observed during the interview (Campbell, 2011). In addition educators can share their experiences on how they have been transformed by the process as individuals or helped them in working with the families, community and these children. Campbell (2011) for example examined the transformation self that implies a system whereby the development happens because of the beliefs, values, motivates, and goals an individual contributes to a state of affairs and social impacts one experiences upon getting into that situation. Hill Stremmel & Fu (2009) observed that during workshops and other events, families may share their experiences with the educators and discuss their some of their cultural values in teaching or raising a child. Educators should feel comfortable discussing family structure differences to allow other families and children to emulate. Educators should be supportive and respectful of the families as well as the experiences that interest and challenge them. To achieve this is an inclusive approach educator’s show respect for all aspects of family cultures, comprising their values, beliefs, rituals and practices. Genuinely inclusive teaching and learning environments assist children to feel valued and accepted. The attitude of acceptance makes an individual to feel empowered and develop enhanced ability to comprehend to need to accept the rest irrespective if their differences. It is often difficult even for good teachers to go out into the community to do the home visits that can build rapport. I advocate three family-specific alternatives to connect teachers with the primary or secondary caregiver(s) of each student at least once during the school year in order to offer positive information regarding student progress. 1. Call each child’s family with positive information. 2. Email each student’s family during the school year with positive information. 3. Through email attachment, post office mail, or student delivery, send a positive message via audio or audio/visual medium regarding each student. Conclusion One of the most apparent challenges for families and children from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds is communication. However, there are several things schools and early childhood centers can work on to circumvent communication hurdles to effectively support these children and their families and they comprise; Presenting information in their family or community language Utilizing the help of bilingual aides, staff, interpreters and translated content to make families comfortable and understand Using photographs and pictures to assist share information with families The study has also found out that early childhood teachers can enhance social justice within their teaching environment through connecting with families, resources and services. Social justice can also be advanced through upholding standards, and speaking out what is right. Early childhood teachers can also enhance social justice through advocating for equity as well as appreciating and celebrating our strengths in diversity. Regarding some of the practices which early childhood educators can do as a way for honoring social justice include; providing time to support other community related activities, encouraging discussions and openness even beyond the setting’ of a class. In a broader perspective it is noted that all efforts for child development within the public educational system are designed to honor social justice by way of code of conduct. Finally, the teachers’ views should be considered as a conduit for establishing civic citizenship and whole child. Educators need to develop on their understandings regarding family structures, and their related similarities, differences, and richness to assist them establish and sustain holistic relationship with families, support families, strategize for individual children learning environment and experiences. Making sure that individual family cultures are reflected in day to day life of learning environment would assist establish a sense of belonging for families and their children and deepen the service community. References Anfara, V., Brown, M., & Mangione, L. (2011). Qualitative analysis on stage:Making the research process more public. Educational Researcher, 31(7), 28-38. Bogdan, R., & Biklen, K. (2008). Qualitative research for education : An introduction to theory and methods (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Bornstein, M. H. (2008). Cultural approaches to parenting. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Brofenbrenner, U. (2009) Developmental ecology through space and time: A future perspective. Moen, G, & Luscher, K. (Eds.). Examining lives in context: Perspectives on the ecology of human development Washington, DC: APA Books. Campbell, S. (2011). Hard-to-manage preschool boys: Externalizing behavior, social competence, and family context at two-year follow up. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 22(2), 147-166. Hill, T., Stremmel, J., & Fu, R. (2009). Teaching kindness and compassion in a diverse world. Scholastic Early Childhood Today, Nov/Dec, 36-45. Ho, F., & Kang, K. (2004). Intergenerational comparisons of child-rearing attitudes and practice in Hong Kong. Developmental Psychology, 10, 1004-1016. McMahon, I. (2009). Using documented written and oral dialogue to understand and challenge preservice teachers' reflections. Teaching and Teacher Education, 13, 199-213. McWilliam, A., Scarborough, A., Bagby, J., & Sweeney, A. (2008). Teaching styles rating scale. Chapel Hill, NC: Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, University of North Carolina. Read More