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CHCECE001READINGMATERIALnew1.pptxCHCECE001 Develop Cultural Competence
What is culture?
The Educators’ Guide to the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) (p. 22) expands our understanding of ‘culture’: Culture can be defined as ‘what we create’ beyond our biology. Not given to us, but made by us.
Culture incorporates the scope of human diversity and ways of being, such as
gender, ethnicity, class, religion, ability, age and sexuality.
Think about our own values, beliefs and attitudes related to diversity and difference and acknowledge and address any bias that we may hold.
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What is culture?
Features of a person's identity, contributing to how they see themselves and the groups with which they identify.
Sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings, which is transmitted from one generation to another.
Every community, cultural group or ethnic group has its own values, beliefs and ways of living.
observable aspects - food, clothing, celebrations, religion and language are only part of a person's cultural heritage.
The shared values, customs and histories characteristic of culture shape the way a person thinks, behaves and views the world.
A shared cultural heritage bonds the members of the group together and creates a sense of belonging through community acceptance.
Culture and EYLF
In Belonging, Being and Becoming (p 7) states that culture is fundament to the view of the framework, stating:
From before birth children are connected to family, community, culture and place. Their earliest development and learning takes place through these relationships, particularly within families, who are children’s first and most influential educators. As children participate in everyday life, they develop interests and construct their own identities and understandings of the world.
How would you support children in your care who come from families from a culture different to your own
Acknowledge feelings of isolation/differences.
Acknowledge uncertainty about practices, child rearing difference.
Being available, helpful and empathetic, taking time to explain things in a way that can be easily understood.
Learn some words in another persons language.
Use positive body language to break down communication barriers.
What aspects of the environment have an influence on an individual’s cultural identity
Family background
Upbringing
Language
Dress
Religious beliefs
Socio economic factors
Food
Your role
Your role as educator will influence the lives of children therefore you have a responsibility to ensure that you do not demonstrate bias. You may influence children’s view of the world.
Respecting diversity is a principle of the Early Years Learning Framework.
Children are born belonging to a culture, which is not only influenced by traditional practices, heritage and ancestral knowledge, but also by the experiences, values and beliefs of individual families and communities
Identify and develop cultural competence
The EYLF (p. 16) describes cultural competence as: much more than awareness of cultural differences. It is the ability to understand, communicate with and effectively interact with people across cultures.
Cultural competence encompasses:
Being aware of one’s own world view
Developing positive attitudes towards cultural differences
Gaining knowledge of different cultural practices and world views
Developing skills for communication and interaction across cultures.
The Framework with Families
EYLF sees strong sense of identity as critical in very early years.
Working with the local communities and families is the first step towards being able to support and determine cultural practices, beliefs and expectations.
Families all have differing expectations but add culture and beliefs to the mix then you have a much more complex set of guidelines or practices to develop.
Look at the National Quality Standards
Quality Area 6 – Collaborative Partnerships with families and community
6.1.2 Families have opportunities to be involved in the service and contribute to service decisions.
With reference to the EYLF: How can Educators acknowledge and support children’s family and culture
Encourage children and families to share aspects of their culture with the other children and Educators
Encourage children to use their home language.
Encourage engagement with Elders and community members.
Encourage respect for diversity and engage in discussion of similarities and differences in people.
Ensure that resources and play materials reflect cultural and family diversity.
Identify and develop cultural competence
Cultural competence includes:
being aware of your own culture and world views and how they influence your practice
respecting and valuing different ways of knowing, seeing and living
honouring differences appreciating the centrality of culture in children’s belonging, being and becoming
continually learning about different cultural practices and world views
supporting and encouraging children’s developing cultural competence
learning to communicate in effective and respectful ways with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. (Adapted from EYLF, p. 16)
How can you access more information on the National Quality Framework and National Quality Standards?
- Workshops
- Reading articles from ACECQA, Childcare QLD
Google links
Youtube
Courses
https://www.ecrh.edu.au/national-quality-framework
Were do you find the National Quality Framework and National Quality Standards?
https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-03/Guide-to-the-NQF_0.pdf
https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-07/RevisedNQSHandoutA4.pdf
Examples of cultural practices Educators need to consider when communicating with families and community members from diverse cultural backgrounds
How adults prefer to be addressed.
How to greet males and females – for example it may not be appropriate for a male Educator to shake the hand of a child’s mother.
Who typically takes the lead when discussing the child – mother, father and grandparent?
What is the etiquette for making eye contact with adults and children?
Learn greetings and farewells in relevant languages.
Explain why Educators should avoid saying to children ‘We are all the same’?
We are not all the same.
Pretending differences do not exist does not help children to accept differences.
As children become aware of differences Educators should acknowledge these differences rather than ignore them.
Example of how Educators can use routine experiences as opportunities to talk about differences and similarities?
When children are toileting or hand-washing Educators can talk about differences in skin colour, facial features and hair.
During meals Educators can talk about different foods, diets and food and cooking utensils.
When children are dressing or at sleep/rest time Educators can talk about differences in clothing, footwear and personal preferences.
Identify and develop cultural competence
Relationships
Do you discuss cultural expectations with families?
Are you aware of the culturally practices of those who utilise the service?
How are you including families into the curriculum and day-to-day practices?
What relationship does the service have with the community? Not just the families.
Is the information current?
Identify and develop cultural competence
Curriculum
How is the information from the families and community incorporated in the curriculum?
If not, why?
How to you make this real and natural?
What more could be done?
Who can you get extra information from?
Have the local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander groups in your community bee consulted?
Has the local ethnic community been consulted?
Identify and develop cultural competence
Activities
Are they culturally appropriate?
Can you incorporate community members into the activities?
Who can you discuss cultural activities with? Are they helpful?
Do the activities link with the community?
Have you sought information from the community about what they feel is appropriate?
What are some of the impacts of government legislation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture
Dispossession of land.
Family fragmentation.
Mental health issues.
Social and emotional wellbeing issues.
Grief and loss issues.
Poverty
Racism
Unemployment
Poor health outcomes.
Poor housing standards.
What is the role of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner?
Advocate for the recognition and the rights of Indigenous Australians and seek to promote respect and understanding of these rights among the broader Australian community.
The distinctive rights that Indigenous Australians hold as the original people of this land.
The right to a distinct status and culture.
The right to self-determination.
The right to land.
Ways Educators can find out more about the Indigenous cultures within their community
Familiarise yourself with region and the land that the service is on.
Research local community for aboriginal land councils and aboriginal organisations and community groups.
Arrange to speak with aboriginal representative/organisation from the community to talk with Educators about region and protocols for communicating with aboriginal families and communities.
Research geographic map or poster that can be displayed in the workplace which outline the aboriginal language groups/ nations within that region.
Examples of policies and procedures an educator needs to follow in relation to working with children from a different cultural background.
Cultural Diversity Policy
Inclusion Policy
Celebrations policy
Respect for children Policy
Non English – Speaking policy
Food policy
How can childcare educators interact with children to help them have a strong sense of identity and well being within their world
Responding Positively
Acknowledging
Role modelling
Catering to child’s needs
Effective communication
Exploring traditions etc.
How might you obtain information about the cultural identity of families attending a service
Enrolment form.
Family survey.
Talking with families and supervisor.
Ways Educators can create a culturally inclusive physical environment
Provide a diverse range of materials, resources and equipment that reflects the broad cultural diversity of the community, including Indigenous cultures. For example, wall hangings baskets, jewellery made from a variety of materials, puppets, rugs, eating and cooking utensils, as dolls, dress-up clothes, puzzles and table games.
Display greetings/messages in different languages including the languages of children in care.
Use books, games and music that reflect cultural diversity and include the background of the families in the service.
Provide and share food from diverse cultures including those represented in the service environment.
Practical tips to consider when working with families where English is a second language.
It is essential that judgments are not made about children’s language and cognitive proficiencies based only on their use of the English language.
Invite parents to ask questions and have their concerns respectfully addressed.
Explore ways to support families to understand the value of maintaining their first language. Make available up to date information such as bilingual resources in formats that are accessible for families.
Reassure families that children will learn English as an additional language from English speaker sat the early years setting.
Work with bilingual early childhood professionals whenever possible to support children to feel secure in the early years setting and to assist communication with families.
Research Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities
Australia is a multicultural society, consisting of people from all around the world. Australia has always had a mix of cultures and people although not in the same way as it does today.
Before 1788, Australia was populated only by the Indigenous people of Australia - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
there were approximately 700 languages spoken throughout Australia with an estimated population of 750 000 people.
Today Indigenous people make up 2% of the entire Australian population (about 265 000 people) and only 250 languages have survived.
Aboriginal people has changed since European settlement because of the effects of removal of people from traditional lands and the impact of cities and towns on populations.
Research Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities
Before 1788:
Indigenous Australians cared for specific areas of land.
They divided themselves and the land between the clan associations and the language that they spoke.
After America won independence with England, England needed somewhere to send there convicts, they believed that Australia was the place to send them
Research Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities
Colonisation
The first fleet arrived on 26th January 1788.
The colonists believed that the land belonged to no one as there where no boundaries evident.
Aboriginal cultures were poorly understood by the early colonists of Australia.
The lack of understanding resulted in many clashes between the Indigenous Australians and the Colonists.
The colonists would take the land from the Indigenous people, forcing them to be dependant on the Colonists.
Research Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities
Translation of Dreaming:
dreaming is an approximate translation of the Aboriginal concepts.
The Dreaming
The Dreaming refers to “all that is known and all that is understood.”
It is the way that the Aboriginal people explain life and how their world cane into being.
It is the central existence of traditional Aboriginal people, their lifestyle and their culture.
Dreaming determines their values, beliefs and their relationship with every living creature and every feature of the landscape
Research Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities
The kinship system allows individual naming for up to 70 relationship terms in some tribes. That is, far more than the European terms .
It is also the system where brothers of one's father are also called, in one sense, "father", and cousins may be called "brother" or "sister".
A person knows, of course, who their real mother and father are, but under kinship laws, they may have similar family obligations to their aunts and uncles,
the same as they would to their mother and father, and this is reciprocated. The common terms of endearment amongst modern urban Aborigines, "brother" or "sister", used when talking to people, are derived from these kinship terms and associations.
Research Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities
The clan is an important unit in Aboriginal society, having its own name and territory, and is the land-owning unit
A clan is a group of about 40-50 people with a common territory and totems, and having their own group name. It consists of groups of extended families. Generally, men born into the clan remain in the clan territory. This is called a patrilineal group.
Not all members of a clan live on the clan territory. The sisters and daughters of one clan go to live on their husbands' clan territory, if that is the tradition for that tribe.
Research Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities
It was a futile move to stop the Mer people's claim and in 1989 it was overruled as it contravened the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth). The case then came to the High Court of Australia – the highest court in the country.
On 3 June 1992 six of the seven High Court Judges ruled;
'The Meriam people are entitled as against the whole world, to possession, occupation, use and enjoyment of the lands of the Murray Islands'
Eddie Mabo had died of cancer in February 1992, just 4 months before this historic high court ruling that would change Australian land law. The judgement was so historic because it completely overturned the idea of terra nullius and said that native title survived in many places, even though the land had been taken by the Crown
Research Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities
The Mabo decision ended forever the idea of terra Nuillius in relation to Australia.
It recognised the Meriam people as the owners of the Murray Islands.
It also opened the door for other Indigenous groups to be able to claim ownership of the land.
Support individual cultural identities
Bronfenbrenner Ecologocial Systems demonstrate the links and influences on a child’s life, highlighting the importance of family and culture on the child. These influences include:
family
local community
social class
religion
ethnic origins
Support individual cultural identities
sociocultural theory looks at:
individual mental functioning is related to cultural, institutional, and historical context;
the focus of the sociocultural perspective is on the roles that participation in social interactions and culturally organised activities play in influencing psychological development.
Support individual cultural identities
How can we do this around the centre
Posters, notices, information, and welcome notices in relevant community languages
Notices about relevant cultural activities
Parental information in relevant languages
Multilingual information leaflets
Pictures – are various cultures shown?
Support individual cultural identities
Home Corner
Add utensils commonly used in homes of people from various cultures
Common furniture – pillows
Clothing worn every day by various cultures – scarves …
Food packaging different written languages
Puppets – different skin tones, clothing…
Posters, pictures – various family situations from different cultures
Artefacts, decorations reflecting cultures.
Ideas
Support individual cultural identities
Book Corner
Books written in different languages
Pictures depicting different cultures
Stories from various cultures.
Puzzles, games and manipulatives
Non stereotypical (does not depict aboriginal with groin cloths or American Indians with feathers etc.)
Illustrations depict various cultures.
Support individual cultural identities
Music
Variety of sounds from different cultures
Instruments from various places
Finger plays from various cultures
Songs in different languages.
Support individual cultural identities
National Quality Standards (QA6) services may have untapped resource of cultural knowledge
Activities will vary according to the community
Cultures may value gardening or music. Use these skills and seek advice from the cultures. Consider
Cooking
Music – songs from home culture
Gardening
Reading stories
Teaching language
Making objects
Art – painting, drawing
Story telling
Support individual cultural identities
Communication is the key to discovering how to incorporate culture into the service. This can be done continually from the very first encounter with the parents. Seek advice during:
Arrival times
Departure times
Emails
Newsletters
Learning stories
Communication books
Support individual cultural identities
Home languages in early childhood environments are a means of developing links between home and the service.
From birth children communicate with others using gestures, sounds, language and assisted communication.
Children are social beings who are intrinsically motivated to:
exchange ideas, thoughts, questions and feelings, and
to use a range of tools and media, including music, dance and drama, to express themselves, connect with others and extend their learning.
Children’s use of their home languages underpins their sense of identity and their conceptual development.
Children feel a sense of belonging when their language, interaction styles and ways of communicating are valued.
Create environments to support children’s cross-cultural understanding and relationships
Early childhood is part of the Australian education system and as professionals we are influenced by government policy.
NQS and the EYLF established through consultation with Australian Government.
The EYLF has cultural competence at its core.
Many changes in the cultural backgrounds of immigrants over past years due to many factors including war, famine and skilled migration.
Essential as professionals start the cross cultural awareness at a very early age so it becomes part of the norm.
Children need to understand and accept the individual and cultural differences of their community.
Create environments to support children’s cross-cultural understanding and relationships
Infants and toddlers - self-awareness is established. - children learn "what is me" and "what is not me."
Toddlers are sensitive to the feelings of the adults around them, and they begin to mimic adult behaviour.
By age 2, children
recognize and explore physical differences;
learning names of colours, and beginning to apply this to skin colour.
Natural curiosity leads to questions about differences.
Create environments to support children’s cross-cultural understanding and relationships
3 and 4 years notice differences between people:
learned to classify, and they tend to sort based on colour and size.
cannot yet deal with multiple classifications, so they get confused about the names of racial groups and the actual colour of their skin.
They wonder why two people with different skin tones are considered part of the same racial group.
will comment - in words or through actions - on hair texture, eye shape, and other physical characteristics.
Curious about how people got their colour, hair texture, and eye shape.
Create environments to support children’s cross-cultural understanding and relationships
5 to 6 year olds
continue to ask questions about physical differences,
begin to understand the explanations for these differences.
make distinctions between members of the same racial or cultural group.
developing social skills and becoming more group-oriented.
enjoy exploring the culture of their friends.
By age 6, most children understand the concept of fair and unfair, and they often use these concepts as they try to deal with issues.
Create environments to support children’s cross-cultural understanding and relationships
Your role as educator will include
Have knowledge of child development
Communicate with family, community and colleagues
Research the culture of the communities servicing the centre
Discuss with children their ideas
Follow the children’s lead and expand their world
Use teachable moments
Use teacher-guided activities to develop cross-cultural understanding.
Look for similarities and differences
Create environments to support children’s cross-cultural understanding and relationships
Outcome 2: Children are connect with and contribute to their world. Below are ideas from this section:
Reflect on own responses to diversity
Plan experiences and provide resources that broaden children’s perspective and encourage appreciation of diversity
Demonstrate positive responses to diversity in their own behaviour and in conversations with children
Explore the culture, heritage, backgrounds and traditions of each child within the context of their community
Explore with children their ideas about diversity
Create environments to support children’s cross-cultural understanding and relationships
Early childhood professionals are from diverse professional backgrounds. They use multidisciplinary approaches to provide better support to families and draw on the skills and expertise of their peers. Early childhood professionals EYLF, p 10:
work collaboratively to share information and plan to ensure holistic approaches to children’s learning and development
understand each other’s practice, skills and expertise, and make referrals when appropriate
acknowledge the significance of transitions within and across early childhood services and schools, and ensure that children understand the process and have an active role in preparing for these transitions
build on children’s prior learning and experiences to build continuity for their learning and development from birth to eight years of age.
Support children in developing confidence and strength in personal and cultural identity
In some cultures it may be more appropriate to speak to the mother about the children than the father, however, keep in mind that the father may be the decision maker.
In some cultures, men do not shake women’s hands, and some find it inappropriate to meet alone in a room with someone from the opposite sex.
Parents may not be accustomed to playing with or entertaining their children so don’t assume that toys and books are readily available in the home or that this is something children are used to.
Some cultures do not see play as important and may not be aware of the educational benefits of learning through play.
Support children in developing confidence and strength in personal and cultural identity
Parents may come from different cultural backgrounds and may each be bi- or multi–lingual.
Families can feel torn between cultures. It can be hard to find a balance so building strong connections to community support is important in times of transition.
In some cultures it is inappropriate or challenging to have direct eye contact, so when you are speaking to someone they may have their eyes to the ground. Looking down may be a sign of respect so if you are unsure you may need to clarify this.
In some cultures it is inappropriate to touch a child on the head, or anywhere.
Support children in developing confidence and strength in personal and cultural identity
Inclusive settings and practices, through their physical and social systems, can enhance children’s social interactions as well as physical and cognitive development.
Research into outstanding inclusive early year’s classrooms has identified three main opportunities that enhance opportunity to learn (Katz & Galbraith, 2006, p. 14):
Open-ended activities provide opportunity for peers to interact and teach each other.
Transitions between routines can become the impetus for social, physical, emotional and cognitive learning and enhance opportunities to develop skills and knowledge.
Staff working collaboratively to plan and provide situations for open- ended and transition activities is vital.
Support children in developing confidence and strength in personal and cultural identity
Group work can provide a wide range of opportunities for children to develop skills and knowledge around cultural competency. It will allow students to:
Discuss options
Communicate with others
Assess a problem
Analyse what to do
Look at differences
Look at similarities
How does your service reflect the diverse backgrounds of children and families as well as the broader community (consider policies, procedures, teaching strategies, practices, program, environment)?
All center's must follow a multicultural policy where you have to include the families background in your daily teaching practice .
In EYLF we also must teach the children about their own cultural identity.
