Collaborative Partnerships

Partnership working has been shown to have benefits for staff; it has been found to give more clarity regarding roles and responsibilities and is also linked with lower levels of stress.

Another challenge educator’s encounter is the cultural gap that is between students and teachers. It is important for educators to understand that some culturally diverse children may need things explained to them in a different way for them to gain an understanding.

In order for teachers to create a learning environment that is culturally responsive to each individual student, a teacher must learn the student’s funds of knowledge. The importance of learning the funds of knowledge of your students is crucial. A teacher can approach learning more about a student’s prior knowledge and culture in a variety of ways, including, instructing personal interviews with questions about their personal life such as what are the most important things in your life. Another way to discover your student’s funds of knowledge is by placing yourself in their shoes and doing a school and community walk through. You can also be provided with more insight into your student’s lives by conducting an adult interview from someone that also lives in the same community. In order for me to create lessons and classroom practices that are culturally responsive is by discovering my student’s funds of knowledge. I am at Blackwell Elementary School, which is located in Marietta and is apart of the Cobb County District. After having the students create heart maps and interviewing them, doing a school and community walkthrough, and talking with an adult, I was greatly impacted by all the new information and perspectives I learned. Without going through this process to obtain the information, I would have no knowledge on my students or the community surrounding Blackwell besides what meets the eye. This experience impacted my own thinking about the school I am working in for

It is important and beneficial to value and promote cultural diversity in your work with children because people come from all walks of life, we are now a multicultural society and even though we are a catholic school we have children who are not catholic in our classes. we have celebrated Chinese new year and the children in reception tried Chinese food, and we have just celebrated Judaism week where the children in year4/5 were taught about and made a

written, email, fax, face to face; working effectively together with people like professionals, agencies and

I believe that our culture helps to shape our identity and therefore I believe that early childhood education should reflect the culture of the children attending the program, while teaching other cultures to promote diversity and inclusion. Aboriginal Head Start programs are contributing back to the communities through culturally responsive education, which reinforces Aboriginal identity. Nguyen (2011) argues that Aboriginal early childhood education needs to provide children with a “sense of who they are and where the come from, which will impact community self-government and self-determination” (p.231). Similarly, Greenwood et al. (2007) points out that early childhood education should socialize children into their heritage and ancestry through programs that reflect their community and nation. The Aboriginal Head Start programs foster the education of both Aboriginal culture and language into the program in hopes that this inspires children to learn their respective language and participate in their communities (Nguyen,

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

It is important to respect, understand and include a child’s culture as it helps each child feel a sense of being, becoming and belonging. Knowing about each child’s cultural identity will also help you to promote an equitable environment by building trusting and responsive relationships with children and their families and to demonstrate acceptance of diverse family structures and perspectives (OpenSpace, 3.2.1). For education and care services, understanding and valuing cultural diversity is key to countering racism in our services and community. Including a child’s culture into the centres environment gives the individual child a chance to grow with their culture and to include the other children in it. Showing children an individual child’s

Julie- educator 2 is a white Australian female in her late 20’s. She is a qualified group leader currently working in a Kindy room with children aged 2.5- 2.5 years; she is also assistant director (2IC) of her centre that she has worked at for the past ten years. The interview was a one on one scenario, conducted in her staff room after work, the interview was recorded. Both educators signed a letter of consent to participate in this research project, allowing the interviewee to explore the educators’ experiences and personal beliefs in relation to diversity and difference with the families and children in their centres.(As seen in Appendix 1 & 2). Key aspects and issues in relation to families, diversity and difference were considered essential data to be analysed for this research report.

As an educator in an education and care setting it is important to understand a child’s culture who attends the centres, this is because we want to develop a respectful and trusting relationship with the child and allow them to feel valued and important within the group. Being able to have a good understanding of the child’s culture will enable me to be mindful and respectful when interacting. Not only respecting a child’s culture but actually understanding it and embracing it within the centre will have a positive effect on how the child will move throughout the space and an effect on the way they interact with the group. If a child has a sense of belonging they are more likely to feel connected to their centre and community and feel like

The term “cultural broker” is defined through common usage in the context of child education as a person who facilitates another person or group of people to explore and engage with another culture, “the act of bridging, linking or mediating between groups or persons of differing cultural backgrounds for the purpose of reducing conflict or producing change”

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

Culturally responsive family partnerships ensure that the children are subjected to a routine and as such are integral in promoting early childhood Special Education. According to Jennings Hanline & Woods

In recent years, development focuses have shifted from leaving the power in the hands of multilateral organizations to distributing the power to a range of actors. The idea that the government has the ultimate knowledge and power an out-dated (CCIC, 1). Partnerships and participation refer to the stakeholders in decision-making for projects and development and how they interact. These strategies ensure that every one has a voice in decision-making and the project is being implemented in a fair way. These strategies include all of the international development agents; NGOs, CSOs, governmental institutions, working in partnerships for international development.

For successful implementation of a programme, the supervisor has to look into the diverse backgrounds of the children. According to DAP (2009), “Development and learning occur in and are influenced by multiple social and cultural contexts”. The supervisor has to understand that children’s development requires viewing each child within the sociocultural context of the child’s family, educational setting, community and the society. The contexts are interrelated thus, they all strongly influence how the child develops. Celebrating different festivals together as a centre and talking about different cultural backgrounds during lessons are a good way to include children from various cultural backgrounds.