Sameness-as-fairness: Early childhood professionals negotiating multiculturalism in childcare

Rivalland, Corine; Nuttall, Joce

doi:10.18296/ecf.0173

Cited by 14 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…Despite the widespread advocacy for children’s agency in early childhood settings, the assumption that immigrant young children have difficulties communicating in the dominant language leads to perceptions that they are not competent enough to be agentic. Research studies increasingly inform us of tokenistic or marginalizing practices in multicultural early childhood settings (Guo, 2014; Rivalland and Nuttall, 2010). They reveal the difficulties faced by immigrant children to gain access to non-immigrant peer groups (De Feyter and Winsler, 2009) and to participate in other routine activities in early childhood settings which are neither designed for them nor by them (Barron, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ailwood, 2003; Burman, 2008; Cannella and Viruru, 2004) provide another strong argument to critically reconsider taken-for-granted meanings of these terms. Specifically, multicultural education scholars argue that no single pedagogy works for all children, given differences in children’s backgrounds, needs, capabilities and interests (Boyer, 2013; Rivalland and Nuttall, 2010). Hence, teachers are encouraged to make pedagogical decisions that fit children’s particular characteristics, rather than some generic ideal.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Belonging as a force of agency: An exploration of immigrant children’s everyday life in early childhood settings

Guo

Dalli

2016

Global Studies of Childhood

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The notion of agency is being used with increasing frequency in early childhood policies, replacing traditional assumptions about young children's immaturity and their role as mere recipients of adults' arrangements. Agency is thus both an educational aspiration as well as a signifier of a strong rights-based political commitment to countering views of children as immature and incompetent. This article develops the argument that agency is inherently a sociocultural product that is driven by children's clear attempts to bond with others and to develop a sense of belonging. Using examples of the everyday experiences of two Chinese immigrant children in an early childhood centre, the article considers ways in which agency was exercised by the children in an unfamiliar sociocultural setting because they wanted to belong. Some crucial issues are highlighted for practice and policy development in the area of immigrant children's education, arguing that the shaping of early childhood education requires an attention to children's 'invisible' capabilities, needs to belong and 'small' everyday life realities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Belonging as a force of agency: An exploration of immigrant children’s everyday life in early childhood settings

Guo

Dalli

2016

Global Studies of Childhood

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“…Their call affirms this situation as exacerbating a gap in understanding teachers’ belonging, and elevates the importance of teachers’ attitudes and orientations towards not only children’s, but also their own and their colleagues’ cultural Otherness. Existing research – for example, that describes teachers’ approaches to diversity in their settings as grounded in an approach to fairness that promotes treating all Others the same (Rivalland and Nuttal, 2010) – perpetuates cultural normalizations and exacerbates already normalizing interpretations of policy or curriculum (Arndt et al, 2015; Cederman, 2008). This article provokes thinking about teacher diversity and belonging in ways that counter universalizing approaches to Otherness within early childhood settings.…”

Section: Contextual Influencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early childhood teacher cultural Otherness and belonging

Arndt

2018

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood

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Early childhood education settings are arguably places of community, togetherness and belonging. But what if they are not? What if individuals’ senses of identity, place or reality clash, do not fit or, worse, repel or offend? This article picks up on the largely under-researched area of teachers’ belonging and sense of cultural identity in early childhood settings. It argues for the critical importance of elevating and paying attention to teachers’ subject formation and identity. Drawing on some of the concerns and common conceptions of cultural Otherness in early childhood education, the article uses Kristeva’s foreigner lens and her theory on the subject in process to argue that teachers’ sense of belonging, of their own cultural identity and place, in their teaching team and in their early childhood setting is critical for an overall sense of openness and belonging throughout the setting. Teachers are commonly called on to nurture children’s and their families’ cultural identities. The sense of belonging intended through such practices depends on teacher attitudes and orientations to cultural Otherness that go beyond the surface – that allow for the difficult, complicated, unpredictable processes of becoming part of a centre community. This article offers a challenge to rethink teacher Otherness, for the (re-)elevation of their own sense of belonging in early childhood settings and teaching teams.

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“…Having an understanding of children’s learning experiences at home is valuable knowledge for ECCE teachers. When teachers deepen their knowledge of children’s participation within their family’s and communities’ activities, and then engender links to these experiences within the educational programme, children experience a continuity of understandings and expectations between home and education settings which, in turn, can foster their enthusiasm for learning (De Gioia, 2013; Hedges and Cooper, 2014; Rivalland and Nuttall, 2010).…”

Section: Interrogating Notions Of ‘Parental Involvement’ and ‘Partnermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These narratives suggest that teachers may have been unprepared to consider practices as fluid and hybrid (Bhabha, 1994), and to incorporate diverse families’ funds of knowledge (González, 2005) into centre practices, thus reflecting power asymmetries between immigrant parents and teachers in ECCE settings (Ali, 2008; Tobin et al, 2007). Teachers’ practices are organised and structured mainly by institutional discourses (Rivalland and Nuttall, 2010), such as the ‘free play’ mentioned by Sonia. Yet, in ostensibly supporting institutional expectations and dominant discourses, the teachers are paradoxically silencing and negating certain parental aspirations, rather than applying a dialectical approach (Bhabha, 1994) which considers diverse hybrid funds of knowledge to be negotiable.…”

Section: Findings From Research Projectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parents, participation, partnership: Problematising New Zealand early childhood education

Chan

Ritchie

2016

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood

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This article interrogates notions of teacher 'partnership with parents' within early childhood care and education settings in the context of Aotearoa (New Zealand). Te Whāriki, the New Zealand early childhood curriculum, clearly positions children's learning and development as being fostered when their families' cultures and practices are recognised. Yet findings from both national evaluative reports and recent studies indicate that, in many instances, families that are not members of the dominant cultural group do not experience this synergy. The authors draw on some recent national evaluative reports to paint a broad picture of the implementation of 'partnership', and then employ illustrative data from several research projects regarding the inclusion of Māori and Chinese families respectively. The authors apply hybridity theory, along with the related idea of funds of knowledge, to reinforce the need for teachers to proactively move beyond the hegemonic safe zones of traditional teacher-dominated practices towards opening up spaces of dialogic, fluid engagement with families whose backgrounds differ from their own. This aspect of teachers' professional responsibility is particularly important in the current era of increasing superdiversity.

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Sameness-as-fairness: Early childhood professionals negotiating multiculturalism in childcare

Cited by 14 publications

References 0 publications

Belonging as a force of agency: An exploration of immigrant children’s everyday life in early childhood settings

Belonging as a force of agency: An exploration of immigrant children’s everyday life in early childhood settings

Early childhood teacher cultural Otherness and belonging

Parents, participation, partnership: Problematising New Zealand early childhood education

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