Teaching & Learning in Culturally Diverse Early …

1 Linda Mitchell, Amanda Bateman, Amondi OukoRobyn Gerrity, Jacqui Lees, Karen Matata, Htwe Htwe Myint, Leanne Rapana, Amy Taunga, Wendy XiaoTeaching & Learning in Culturally Diverse Early Childhood Centres Teaching and Learning in Culturally Diverse Early Childhood Settings Linda Mitchell, Amanda Bateman, Amondi Ouko Robyn Gerrity, Jacqui Lees, Karen Matata, Htwe Htwe Myint, Leanne Rapana, Amy Taunga, Wendy Xiao January 2015 Mitchell, L., Bateman, A., Ouko, A., Gerrity, R., Lees, J., Matata, K.. Xiao, W.

2 , (2015). Teaching and Learning in Culturally Diverse Early childhood settings. Hamilton, New Zealand: Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research. First published 2015 By Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research (WMIER), Faculty of Education, The University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, 3240, New Zealand Authors Linda Mitchell, Amanda Bateman, Amondi Ouko, (The University of Waikato), Jacqui Lees, Wendy Xiao, Karen Matata, Leanne Rapana, Amy Taunga, Robyn Gerrity, Htwe Htwe Myint Jacqui Lees & Wendy Xiao (Pakuranga Baptist Kindergarten) Karen Matata, Leane Rapana & Amy Taunga (Mangere East Family Service Centre)

3 Robyn Gerrity & Htwe Htwe Myint (Carol White Family Centre). Cover design: Louise Hutt Printed by: Waikato Print, Hamilton, New Zealand Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted, reproduced or utilised in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying or recording, or in any information retrieval system without permission in writing of the publishers. ISBN: 978-0-9922497-8-6 (Print) ISBN: 978-0-9922497-9-3 (online) Teaching and Learning in Culturally Diverse Early Childhood Settings Page 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research was undertaken with support from a University of Waikato Faculty of Education Research grant.

4 We wish to thank and acknowledge the parents and children who allowed us to video their children and who took part in interviews with us. Families from the Carol White Centre invited us into their homes for these interviews, offering us wonderful food and hospitality and an opportunity to meet with their wh nau. Thanks to Margaret Drummond for her help in putting the report together. Teaching and Learning in Culturally Diverse Early Childhood Settings Page 2 Teaching and Learning in Culturally Diverse Early Childhood Settings Page 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements 1 Table of contents 3 Executive summary 5 Research questions.

5 5 Theoretical frame .. 5 Methods .. 5 Findings .. 6 1. Introduction 7 Background .. 7 A way forward .. 8 Layout of the report .. 9 2. Methodology 11 Research questions .. 11 Theoretical frame .. 11 Participants .. 11 Methods .. 12 Data analysis .. 13 3. Pakuranga Baptist Kindergarten 15 Belonging .. 16 Engagement with family cultural values and educational views .. 18 Languages .. 21 Stimulating cross-cultural Learning and contribution .. 28 Staffing and resources .. 29 Discussion.

6 29 4. Mangere East Family Service Centre 31 Wellbeing and belonging .. 32 Empowering for families .. 33 Language, culture and Identity .. 34 Discussion .. 40 5. Carol White Family Centre 41 A social justice philosophy .. 43 Family values and aspirations .. 44 A family centred community creating a fair world .. 47 Communication, language and identity .. 50 Discussion .. 52 6. Conclusion 53 Relationship-based practice .. 53 A willingness to learn as well as teach .. 53 Language, communication and identity.

7 54 Weaving Te Wh riki .. 54 7. References 57 Teaching and Learning in Culturally Diverse Early Childhood Settings Page 4 Teaching and Learning in Culturally Diverse Early Childhood Settings Page 5 EXECUTIVE summary Recent research has highlighted challenges for refugees and immigrants in accessing Early Childhood Education (ECE) services that are responsive to their cultural and linguistic identities and to the contexts of their lives. However, there are few studies of how Early childhood pedagogy can address such challenges.

8 This qualitative study aimed to generate an exploration and analysis of Culturally responsive Teaching and Learning in three Diverse education and care centres. It investigated how teachers in these Diverse settings practically implemented their values by drawing on the funds of knowledge and cultural capital of the families they worked with, weaving these values into the fabric of the national curriculum, Te Wh riki. In doing so, the research aimed to identify Culturally responsive Teaching practice.

9 Research questions The two research questions were: 1. What does Culturally Diverse Teaching and Learning look like in Early childhood settings? 2. How are the values and practices of Diverse families accessed and integrated into the curriculum? Theoretical frame Teachers and researchers worked within a social constructionist theoretical frame which holds that concepts are socially constructed within an historical and cultural context. The research involved collaborations between the university researchers and two or three teachers in each of three Culturally Diverse Early Childhood Education (ECE) centres.

10 At the start of the project and towards the end of the project, the three Teaching teams and researchers came together for a day s workshop. In these ways the pedagogical knowledge of the teachers and the research knowledge of the researchers were able to be pooled. Methods The three education and care centres were: Mangere East Family Service Centre, an integrated ECE centre with health and social services and a predominantly Pasifika and M ori community; Pakuranga Baptist Kindergarten, a centre with a predominantly Asian community; and the Carol White Centre, a centre for children from refugee families with adult Learning opportunities alongside.