Cultural Diversity and Inclusion in Early Childhood Education and Care: Reflection on ideology, theory, research and edu

1. Cultural Diversity and Inclusion in Early Childhood Education and Care:Reflection on ideology, theory, research and educational practice Miriam K. Rosenthal The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

2. Diversity and Inclusion:Children of Ethiopian & Israeli-born parents

3. Outline of the paper A conceptual framework: • Eco-cultural Context and Cultural Diversity • Cultural Scripts and Valued Educational Goals and Practices Eco-cultural change, migration and cultural diversity Early Childhood Education and cultural diversity Reflection on "inclusion" in Early Childhood education

4. What is Cultural Diversity ? • Cultural diversity describes existing variations within a society(e.g., SES, education level, race, religion) • Cultural diversity describes also variations resulting from migration: • migration across countries • migration within countries (from agricultural villages to big industrial cities).

5. What is an eco-cultural context? Inter-related Environmental and Cultural dimensions: Physicalclimate, geography, living conditions, threats to life Economyagricultural, industrial , "free market economy" Political systemdictatorship, democracy, etc. Social structureSES stratification, minority groupsetc. Cultureshared history, religion, folklore, and language Cultural scriptsshared values, beliefs, attitudes & norms # 5

6. Cultural Scripts = Shared culturalvalues, beliefs, attitudesandnorms An “Individualist" cultural script – focus on Independence and Individual achievement A“Socio-centric" cultural script- focus on Inter-dependence and community well being # 6 Greenfield, 1994; Triandis, 1995

7. Eco-cultural context effects Early Childhood education Effects on: (a) Researchers, policy makers, teachersand on educational programs (b) Valued educational goalsand on Valued educational practice (C) Images of an Adaptive Adultand on "naïve theories" of children's learning # 7

8. Eco-cultural context andEarly Childhood education (a) Eco-cultural Context effects children’s education through effects on: • Educational Research • Educational Policy • Teacher training • Educational Programs # 8

9. Eco-cultural context andEarly Childhood education (b) Eco-cultural context influences valued educationalgoals: "What does it mean for a child to do well" Eco-cultural context influences valued educationalpractice: "What does it take to get a child to do well" Evaluation of what is good educationis based on Valued educational goals & valued educational practices

10. Eco-cultural context andEarly Childhood education (c) The image of an Adaptive Adult – a guiding metaphor for parents and educators Naïve theories concerning the nature of Learning: • What is the role of 'learning' in children's achievement? • How do children learn? • What is the role of an adult in children's learning? • What is the role of the child in his/her own learning? # 10

11. Contemporary Cultural Diversity • Members of any given society, do not necessarily share the same eco-cultural context • Most societies today are characterized by great diversity of eco-cultural contexts and their related "cultural scripts" • Parents and educators within any given society may hold different education values # 11

12. "Quality in early childhood education and care: A cultural context“(Rosenthal 2003) • Cultural scripts are related to Eco-cultural context • Diverse communities in any given society may have different cultural scripts • Parents and educators from diverse cultural communities are likely to (a) value different goals for the education of children (b) value different educational practices Therefore – the same educational program is likely to be considered “good” by some and “not-suitable” by others, within the same society # 12

13. Diversity of Cultural scripts: Valued Goals( Examples from Rosenthal, 2003) “Individualist"cultural scripts • Intellectual, linguistic and academic achievement • self actualization, happiness and personal satisfaction • assertive and competitive in attaining personal goals “Socio-centric"cultural scripts • "Sense of group identity and concern for others" • "Social harmony, group identity and self control" • "Trustworthiness, social wisdom, quickness, and craftiness"

14. Diversity of Cultural scripts: Valued Practice( Examples from Rosenthal, 2003) “Individualist"cultural scripts • Free play, exploration, autonomous choice of activity • Teachers adapt their instruction to children's ability • Teachers enrich language skills and ask "open" questions “Socio-centric"cultural scripts • Structured learning: memorization, task persistence • Children adapt themselves to adult activity • Children observe and imitate; Participate as apprentices # 14

15. Studying valued goals and practices in a culturally diverse society • Israel is a "natural laboratory“ • Valued educational goals and practices: A Questionnaire-based-interview • General findings: Israeli educators and parents do not value extreme “individualist” goals; The average scores on valued goals and practices of different cultural communities are statistically different; • The questionnaire helps in training for "culture sensitivity" # 15

16. Cultural Diversity and changing eco-cultural contexts Changingeco-cultural contexts is a world phenomenon, resulting from: • Changing economic structure • Changing political system • Revolutions, wars, natural disasters • Migration within and across countries #16

17. Domains of Change (Greenfield, 2009) • Ecology movement from country to city • Economy from agriculture to commerce • Education from informal to more formal education • Technologyfrom limited to widespread and complex • Social geography isolated to contact with outside world • Populationfrom homogenous to heterogeneous (diverse) #18

18. Changing eco-cultural context: Effects on Mothers' Educational goals • Ultra-orthodox Jews(Israeli-born) • Jewish immigrants from Bukhara (Central Asia) • Bedouin Arabs(Israeli-born) • Arab Villagers(Israeli-born) • Arab urban-professionals(Israeli-born) (Rosenthal & Roer-Strier, 2006) # 18

19. Circumstances of change and mothers' goals for their children Unique circumstances of community, and of change, modify the influence of basic “cultural scripts”: • Degree and intensity of exposure to change • Social structure of the community (Definition of family & community boundaries; gender roles) • The community’s attitude towards change • Cultural tradition that over-ride change

20. Migration and Cultural diversity: Challenges to Parents • The immediate impact of eco-cultural change on parents' lives • Coping with change – effects on "self esteem" and parenting • Meeting the EC education program– Any conflicting valued goals and practices ? # 20

21. Migration and Cultural diversity: Challenges to Teachers • Communication and Language • Communication and Cultural behavior codes • Educating "host-culture" children to accept and respect the "different“ • Differences between parents' and teachers' culture-based values • Teachers need support

22. Migration and Cultural diversity: Challenges to Educational Policy • Children's rightfor "a fair opportunity to reach their full potential" – • What is the best way to provide a "fair opportunity" to immigrant children ? • Can a society tolerate co-existence of culturally diverse EC education systems? • EC education as investment in society's "economic health" and "social fabric" • Cognitively oriented competencies • Language and literacy • Academic achievement

23. A concluding reflection: What do we mean by "inclusion"? • Inclusion of children and their parents ? • Training teachers to work with culturally diverse population? • A clear, publicly funded, social and educational policy ?

24. Included . . .

25. THANK YOU !