Cultural Connections Booklet - Child Australia

[Pages:72]Cultural Connections

Booklet

Professional Support Coordinator

This cultural connections booklet has been created to complement and introduce some of the materials in your Cultural Connections Kit and to help you and your team engage in some of the key topics surrounding `respect of diversity' and `cultural competency' in the early child hood education and care sector.

All of us want to ensure that the children and their families, who attend our services, feel welcome, enriched and settled. Because of the rich diversity of our communities, it is important we support children to be able to grow and flourish in a multicultural society.

Cultural Connection Kits:

In your kit you will find a variety of resources, including a mixture of: ? Puzzles ? Story books ? Puppets ? Dolls ? Games ? Musical Instruments ? Dress ups ? Cultural Treasure Chest DVD. ? Resource and Information sheets

However, cultural competency goes far beyond what resources we have in our service. It's about the relationships we make, the way we connect with others and our attitudes.

``Often when we talk about `cultural competency' people often think where to get resources from, how to get Aboriginal people to come and tell stories, do dances, where to go to get puzzles and so on. What is important to stress is that this is secondary' (Yorganop)

Inside the booklet you will find a series of practical examples, stories, reflective questions and staff exercises. You will also see ideas on how to use the resources in your kit in a meaningful way.

Some things that may be useful to bear in mind when using this resource:

? Culture changes over time and members of different cultural or ethnic groups will not always think and act in the same way

? Cultural considerations are relevant to all children, whether or not their cultural identity is the same as the dominant culture

? As cultural competence is a reflection of combinations of what we know, what we want to know and what we can pass on, cultural competency becomes an integral part of a continuous learning process

? Cultural competency is a life long journey, not a destination and it varies from moment to moment and from situation to situation.

This resource focuses on cultural diversity in general. Clearly, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people occupy a unique place in our nation as the original custodians. While examples of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences have been given, we strongly urge you to access materials and resources written by Indigenous organisations. A list of these can be found in the resource sections of this booklet.

Cultural Connections Booklet

Table of Contents

Introduction

4

What is Culture:

5

Cultural Competence

6

Reflections of Diversity through the Curriculum

7

Self

8 Where do I start?

How do my biases affect the children I work with? Guiding children to respect diversity:

Helpful tips in challenging discriminatory or bias comments from children Johari's Window ?revealing those blind spots Understanding your own racism and personal prejudice Staff Activity: A Refugee experience

9 9 10 11 15 16 21

Questioning Our Assumptions And Attitudes

23

Staff Activity: Cultural Iceberg

23

Some Key Differences Across Cultures

24

Family composition and parenting

24

Child rearing practices

25

Spirituality, religion and other considerations

27

Food security

28

Celebrations, entertainment and religious observances

30

Decision making

31

Resources

33

Relationships

34 Communicating With Others

Extended community involvement First Impressions & Enrolment Working With Families And Children Who Have English As Their Second Language

Bilingual language acquisition chart: Tips for when working with ESL Families

35 38 39 42 42 44

Using interpreters

46

Resources

47

Environment & Resources

What is Tokenism Storytelling with children: Using puppets: Resources Community resources

48 51 54 55 56 58

Definitions

51

Appendix

61

Promoting Cultural & Linguistic Competency Self-Assessment Checklist

61

Footnotes

68

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Cultural Connections Booklet

Introduction

Research1 shows that: ? Children as young as 3 years old and sometimes earlier can show prejudice behaviour and attitudes.

? Evidence proves that children are affected by the attitudes and behaviours of adults around them.

? Educating children reduces discrimination and violence in society over the long term.

It is at these early stages in their lives, where we as Educators can play a significant role in planting seeds of tolerance, compassion and understanding that will contribute towards the creation of a more harmonious society for the future to come.

`Respect for diversity' and `cultural competency' are key aspects of the National Quality Standards (NQS), the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and the Framework for School Aged Care (FSAC). There is also increasing evidence to show that supporting children to follow their cultural traditions and to participate in cultural activities enhances their wellbeing and can contribute to their resilience, social confidence and protection from prolonged isolation, emotional trauma or exclusion.2

Given that these topics are complex and cover such a vast array of areas, we have chosen to consolidate the research in the field and structure this resource into three key areas:

Culture is `the fundamental building block of identity' and is essential for children's sense of being and belonging. (Educators Guide EYLF 2010, 21)

? Self ? Relationships ? Environment & Resources

This symbol highlights how some of the resources in your Cultural Connection Kit are relevant to the text.

5

What is Culture:

According to Aboriginal leader Dr. Alf Bamblett `culture is to people as water is to fish ? we take our own culture for granted as it is part of our identity and part of our very being'.

(Aboriginal Cultural Competence Framework. Copyright State of Victoria 2008, Victoria Aboriginal Child Care Agency 2008).

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`Cultural identity is not just an add-on to the best interests of the child.........Your culture helps define how you attach, how you express emotion, how you learn and how you stay healthy'.6

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Cultural Connections Booklet

Cultural Competence

For many educators, cultural competence is a new and perhaps unfamiliar area of focus. The EYLF 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'.7

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 EYLF Educators Guide (2010, 25-26) describes cultural competency as a journey that encompasses skills, knowledge and attitudes. It highlights the need for cultural competency to filtrate through three levels- the individual, the service level and the systems level.

`The ability to identify and challenge one's own cultural assumptions, one's values and beliefs. It is about developing empathy and connected knowledge, the ability to see the world through another's eyes, or at the very least, to recognise that others may view the world through different cultural lenses.'8

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Reflections of Diversity through the Curriculum

The program should recognise and incorporate the diverse cultures, languages, beliefs and values of families, the community and children. Educators who are knowledgeable about the culture and languages that children bring to school are then able to provide resources, experiences and interactions that reflect children's everyday lives. However, a multicultural approach is relevant regardless of whether the children are from diverse cultural backgrounds or not. Educators need to work consciously to assist children to recognise their own worldview and to build their competence to interact within cultures of larger society9.

`Being familiar with the rich and long history of Australia, including our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures is essential and enriches us all.' 10.

`Belonging, being and becoming are integral parts of identity. Children learn about themselves and construct their own identity within the contexts of their family and communities. This includes relationships with people, places and things and the actions and responses of others. Identity...is shaped by experiences.'11

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Cultural Connections Booklet

Self

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