Developing Cultural Awareness And Competence Of An Early Childhood Teacher

The Importance of Cultural Awareness and Competence in Early Childhood Education

The aim of this report is to discuss, the importance of developing cultural awareness and competence of the teachers involved in the early childhood education. Cultural competence refers to the set of congruent behavior, attitude and policies which falls under a system or agency which enable the teaching professionals to work together efficiently in the cross-cultural setting. The teachers operating in the early childhood education practice, building cultural competencies necessary for the perfect relationship building among the teachers, students and their families. Therefore, the teachers need to follow the process of building competence, the principle of trust among the students, respect for equality, diversity, social justice and fairness to build the relationship of trust and dependence among the students, their families, communities with the teachers of their schools.

This report will be discussing the factors of cultural awareness and cultural competence requirements of an early childhood teacher, professional conduct and ethical considerations in their practice, cultural awareness practices and protocols for working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and professional and ethical considerations for establishing relationships and partnerships with these families.

Childhood is the best time to understand the identity of the individuals where they belong and understand the difference among the different cultures. This is the reason why the teachers of early childhood education practice the cultural competence though curriculum settings, collaborating with the families and using agricultural competence for supporting other educators in the same setting (Nakata, Keech & Bolt, 2012). In order to teach the students more efficiently, the teachers need to have cultural awareness and cultural competence within themselves. Cultural competence is the will as well as actions to build among the students from their very childhood so that they also learn to be respectful and open various cultural perception, strengthen the cultural security and work towards the equality in opportunity (Nakata, Keech & Bolt, 2012). Cultural competencies necessary for the perfect relationship building among the teachers, students and their families. This is based on the understanding of the expectations and attitude of the others, building strength on the knowledge by viewing from other’s perspectives and using wide range of community members as well as resources for building understandings.

For the early childhood teachers, it is very important that they grow cultural competency so that the respect for diversity and address injustice, exclusion, racism and inequity through proper use of legislation can be grown. In addition to this awareness raising against cultural exploitation through rights education as well as protection and maintaining of anti-bias curriculum need to be developed (Lowe & Yunkaporta, 2013). Through the process of building competence, the principle of trust among the students, respect for equality, diversity, social justice and fairness, the teachers can grow the basic factors of building identity especially a strong cultural identity among the children at their early age of education. This grow the sense of where exactly they belong and who are they.

In the process of building cultural competency in teaching the early childhood students, the teachers require the perfect knowledge about the individual cultural identities that helps in developing cross-cultural understandings and relationships (Lowe & Yunkaporta, 2013). The teachers need to have proper awareness and acceptance of the cultural differences along with the awareness of their own cultural values. The teachers of early childhood education need to develop proper understanding of the dynamics of differences. To Hart et al. (2012) the cultural competence requirements also include the development of cultural knowledge and capability to adapt practices to the cultural contexts of the children and their families so that proper implementation of inclusive environments can be achieved effectively.

Cultural Awareness and Competence Requirements for Early Childhood Teachers

Gaining cultural awareness and developing cultural competency in the teachers of early childhood education is the process of increasing cultural tolerance to identify as well as challenge the cultural assumption, beliefs and values so that communication process can be promoted at the culture interface (Yeung, Craven & Ali, 2013). In order to grow the identity of the individual child proper implementation of the teachers need to have knowledge about the own world of their own, develop positive attitude towards the cultural differences among the children as well as their families while dealing with them, developing willingness to know about different cultural practices and their world views and develop skills for properly interacting and communicating across culture (Fogarty & Schwab, 2012). This allows the individuals to

• Honoring cultural and racial differences
• Appreciating the centrality of the cultures in the belonging, being and becoming of the children
• Continuing the learning process about the effective and professional conduct with the students and their families
• Gaining knowledge about different cultural practices and ethnicity
• Supporting the children to grow their own cultural competence though curriculum
• Encouraging students and coworkers to maintain cultural competence

Professional conduct and observing proper code of ethics in the study centers and schools in the culturally diverse region is essential for the successful operation of the teachers associated with the early childhood education system. This is a system of moral principles as well as values which relates to the individual behaviors, human actions and particular professional groups. Ethics is a reciprocal process that facilitates critical reflection relating to the professional obligation and behavior of the early childhood teachers (Evans, 2012). These are important as ethical codes relates to the professional roles as well as responsibilities of the teachers, acknowledge relationship among the teachers, students and their families and the entire institution.

Through proper learning about cultural competence, the children in tehri early age education develop a sense of belonging to the groups as well as communities. They gradually develop the understanding of their reciprocal rights along with responsibilities. In this regard, the teachers of the early education hold some particular responsibilities in their decision-making process. They need to maintain proper professional conduct and consider ethical ground for maintaining a sustainable and effective scenario for all inclusive growth of the children. In this process of maintaining ethical consideration, the families of the children and other colleagues are also included which also relate to the communities (Ens et al., 2012). By playing perfect roles from the part of the teachers, the children become socially responsible and show respect for the environment for attaining cultural diversity. In relation to the children, the ethical consideration the teachers must abide by include:

• Recognizing and respecting the individual culture and practices of the children
• Helping children understand the essentiality of becoming a successful global citizen
• Creating and maintaining healthy environment within the classroom so that the children can respond to the cultural diversity with respect
• Respecting the relation of the children and their facilities and acknowledging their interactions so that they become aware of fairness
• Understanding the vulnerability of the children for the dependence on the adults which build their emotional cognitive, social and physical development
• Ensuring the culture, ethnicity, family structure and language are valued
• Considering the personal start and intelligence of the students and not discriminating on the basis of culture and ethnicity (Fogarty & Schwab, 2012).
• Advocating and ensuring that the children are not decimated on the basis of the culture, ethnicity, religion, national origin and lifestyle.

Professional conduct and ethical consideration of the teachers in the early childhood include the duty in relation to the other teachers working under same circumstances. The professional behavior includes respecting the difference of culture of the colleagues and maintaining the attitude of integrity. The ethical consideration also includes showing proper consideration towards the capability and strength of the individuals and encourage them to use them without feeling dispirited for having different culture or ethnicity. The professional conduct of the early childhood teacher includes sharing of knowledge to the fellow employees along with the resources and experience without discrimination. In order to mane differences of opinion in the workplace, the teachers must use constructive methods so that there are no issues of disrespect to the cultural diversity.

Cultural Awareness Practices for Working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Families

In order to work in a diverse cultural setting, the teachers need to have cultural competence that they apply in working with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students as well as their families. There are some cultural awareness practices and protocols. Cultural protocols refer to the codes and customs which guide the attitude and behavior of the cultural group (Fogarty & Schwab, 2012). Different cultures have different cultures that demonstrate respect for history, cultural traditions and diversity of the community. In dealing with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and families, cultural protocol is intended to provide respectful manners of interactions with the indigenous people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island. These are important to know as these are essential to del with the children of this particular region. According to the data provided by Supportingcarers.snaicc.org.au (2018), there are some very important codes already established by the government of Australia how the people from different culture will be behaving with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

This particular place has native title over the majority of land and sea which have a number of governess arrangements. These must be considered while engaging with this particular communities. To Hart et al. (2012), the lifestyle, origin, culture, beliefs and values of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are completely different from the culture of the mainland Australia. Therefore, interaction and knowledge sharing with the families of the students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island must be different and abiding toe cultural protocol laid by the government. Proper demonstration of respect and dignity to the religion, language are cultural practices are the chief ways to maintaining cultural awareness and competence of and early childhood teacher working with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their families (Lowe & Yunkaporta, 2013).

The use of language mainly English is prohibited as this is the second or third language of the company in one hand and there is complexity in the proper understanding of the meaning understood. The teachers of early childhood education must show respect to the cultural diversity and observe the cultural practices of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island students along with their facilities (Fogarty & Schwab, 2012). They consider the usage of complicated language, behavior that are unknown to this indigenous people and the contexts unknown to the communities, completely unusable. The teachers may use basic English in the interaction process with the families but take care of the perfect understanding and conveying messages properly to these people.

In order to develop respectful relationships with the families of the students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island, proper engagement of the students and families in the school life is important. As mentioned by Nakata, Keech and Bolt (2012), by observing the community events in the schools, the teachers and the institution create scope for the proper communication and interaction with the culture of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Evans, 2012). Therefore, the families are to be encouraged to take an active part in the celebration of the community cultural events so that the schools can effectively develop cultural tolerance among the students in one hand ad get the support from the families of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island. Secondly, the teachers need to be aware of the history as well as culture of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders so that the curriculum can be set accordingly and use learning process that do not affect the culture of these students. Thirdly, as discussed by Ens et al. (2012) the centers must be welcoming and intent to get knowledge from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities. fourthly, the engagement with the communities establishes environments and experiences can support children in developing confidence and strength in their personal and cultural identity. Finally, the teachers can attain a collaborative relationship with the families of aboriginal students along with their communities by engaging personal backgrounds on the attitudes (Price, 2012). These processes will be helpful to build the relationship with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders based on trust and dependence.

Professional Conduct and Ethical Considerations for Early Childhood Teachers

In order to strategize the professional and ethical considerations for establishing relationships with families of the Aboriginal and Torres Island, the teachers need proper knowledge about the cultural aspects of the students as these differentiate them from the other children of the class (Bodkin-Andrews & Carlson, 2016). In this regard, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives must be included into the early childhood curriculum of the schools on a daily basis. The main factors that the professional and ethical considerations of the teachers in the early childhood curriculum setting expect partnerships, cultural safety and health. As mentioned before, the best outcome in such cases will be attained through perfect development of trust and engagement among the communities and the educational institutions (Supportingcarers.snaicc.org.au, 2018).

In order to gain professional and ethical considerations for establishing relationships with the aboriginal families, the teachers begin with building relationship of trust. To Rhea and Russell (2012), they need to acknowledge the country and its heritage through their professional communications process that will be preferred to ask rather telling or ordering them. this is important as these brings a feeling of dependency between the two cultures rather than pointing out the differences and superiority. The communities of Aboriginal and Torres Island follow some of the practices which are common in every family and significant in maintaining their individuality in Australian context (Behrendt et al., 2012). Therefore, the teachers of early childhood programs need to seek more than an opinion so that there is no conflict between the institution and aboriginal community.

The aboriginal families of Torres Island have some particular family structure as well as parenting style that need to be understood be the teachers. The parents often do not feel comfortable to meet the teachers from the other cultures due to these different belief and communication complexities. As mentioned by Arens et al. (2014), these extended family structure shares engaging relationship and kinship for enjoying psychosocial and emotional support for wellbeing of the children. In this regard, the teachers need to be more aware about the parenting model followed by the aboriginal parents in the rearing of children hence must not be infringed while communicating with the families. There are some issues regarding family violence in these aboriginal families where the teachers need to intervene for the wellbeing of the students under such circumstances (Woods-McConney et al., 2013). However, in such cases also, the teachers need to follow the protocol and demonstrate respect to the cultural differences. Therefore, the teachers working to educate the early childhood students need to be skills at different interactions.

Conclusion:

Therefore, it can be concluded that in order to teach the students more efficiently, the teachers need to have cultural awareness and cultural competence within themselves. Cultural competencies necessary for the perfect relationship building among the teachers, students and their families. They need to grow respect for diversity and address injustice, exclusion, racism and inequity to deal with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their families. There are issues in proper managing and parenting the students having aboriginal background. Hence, proper understanding of the cultural factors and respecting them is essential for the teachers.

References: 

Arens, A. K., Bodkin-Andrews, G., Craven, R. G., & Yeung, A. S. (2014). Self-concept of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian students: Competence and affect components and relations to achievement. Learning and Individual Differences, 32, 93-103.

Behrendt, L. Y., Larkin, S., Griew, R., & Kelly, P. (2012). Review of higher education access and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Bodkin-Andrews, G., & Carlson, B. (2016). The legacy of racism and Indigenous Australian identity within education. Race Ethnicity and Education, 19(4), 784-807.

Ens, E. J., Finlayson, M., Preuss, K., Jackson, S., & Holcombe, S. (2012). Australian approaches for managing ‘country’using Indigenous and non?Indigenous knowledge. Ecological Management & Restoration, 13(1), 100-107.

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Fogarty, W., & Schwab, R. G. (2012). Indigenous education: Experiential learning and learning through country. ANU, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR).

Hart, V., Whatman, S., McLaughlin, J., & Sharma-Brymer, V. (2012). Pre-service teachers’ pedagogical relationships and experiences of embedding Indigenous Australian knowledge in teaching practicum. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 42(5), 703-723.

Lowe, K., & Yunkaporta, T. (2013). The inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content in the Australian National Curriculum: A cultural, cognitive and socio-political evaluation. Curriculum Perspectives, 33(1), 1-14.

Nakata, M., Keech, S., & Bolt, R. (2012). Decolonial goals and pedagogies for Indigenous studies. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1(1).

Price, K. (2012). A brief history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education in Australia. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education: An introduction for the teaching profession, 1-20.

Rhea, Z. M., & Russell, L. (2012). The invisible hand of pedagogy in Australian Indigenous studies and Indigenous education. The Australian journal of Indigenous education, 41(1), 18-25.

Supportingcarers.snaicc.org.au. (2018). Cultural Protocols – Supporting Carers (SNAICC). Retrieved from https://www.supportingcarers.snaicc.org.au/connecting-to-culture/cultural-protocols/

Woods-McConney, A., Oliver, M. C., McConney, A., Maor, D., & Schibeci, R. (2013). Science engagement and literacy: A retrospective analysis for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. Research in Science Education, 43(1), 233-252.

Yeung, A. S., Craven, R. G., & Ali, J. (2013). Self-concepts and educational outcomes of Indigenous Australian students in urban and rural school settings. School Psychology International, 34(4), 405-427.