Intercultural Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education

This essay will analyze Te Whāriki considering the concepts of critical multiculturism and intercultural pedagogy. Ways in which I foster culturally inclusive and responsive early childhood education for children and their whānau/families within my center community will also be critically analyzed. This essay will also briefly mention how demographic trends in New Zealand, such as immigration and decrease in minority groups arise the need for a more critical approach to multiculturalism and authentic intercultural pedagogy.

Demography according to Cherlin (2010) can be defined as the study of the growth, structure, and movement of the human population, and immigration being one of the many demographic trends. Cherlin (2010) explains that social and cultural diversity that comes with immigrants, the identity of a minority groups, should coexist by having good relations amongst themselves. Therefore, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic, and multi-religious settings require integrated policies that include social, economic, and educational settings. This trend in early childhood settings where children come from many different culturally diverse backgrounds thus creates a need for multiculturism and intercultural pedagogy.

According to May & Sleeter (2010), critical multiculturalism originally came into being as a means of addressing a multitude of inequalities both structural and institutional that are taking place within modern education establishments within multicultural settings. Critical multicultural education therefore is a transformative pedagogical framework that brings diverse experiences and voices to the centre of student discourse and empowers students to critique and challenge the social norms that continue to benefit some groups at the expense of others. Critical multiculturism also stems from anti-racist and anti-oppressive theories, which highlight structural inequities and discrimination that serve to marginalize, exclude and alienate some groups (Dei, 1996) while benefiting others. Building on the work of anti-discriminatory theorists such as Dei (1995) and Kumashiro (2001), critical multicultural approaches aim to transform the education system to one rooted in equity and social justice by de-emphasizing “majority” voices and redistributing visibility to diverse and traditionally marginalized voices. According to May & Sleeter, the minority groups are often expected to assimilate into the mainstream culture of the education system; their voices and perspectives are often neither accepted or appreciated.

Cristol & Gimbert (2008) believes that throughout the years multicultural education has slowly died down, arguing that in some classrooms there are now teachers who have never heard of the subject, and teachers who were once committed to its ideals but now feel compelled to deprioritize the issue because of the weight of change affecting their practice. Even where effective classroom practice is taking place it is in spite of legislation rather than because of it therefore issues of inequality have now overtaken in the classroom by issues of assessment and accountability. According to Schoorman (2011), multicultural education was born at a time when it was believed that it was everyone’s interest that ethnic minority children be subsumed within the presumed dominant white culture as quickly and effortlessly as possible, however this approach conveniently shifted from the state to the individual’s responsibility in general. Therefore, multicultural education aided teachers to design programs to facilitate cross-cultural understanding between children. However existing practices of multiculturism according to Vittrup (2016) the existing practices to multiculturism have failed to completely address intercultural learning as many people do not understand the true scope of multicultural education. It is therefore important to reflect the diversity of society so that students are “living diversity” rather than “doing diversity” which triggers the need to move to a more critical multicultural approach.

Ponciano & Shabazian (2012) defines intercultural pedagogy as implying practices in education that ensures the right to be different, promotes equal opportunities and prepares all students for coexistence in a democratic society and acts as an indispensable agent in the process of getting to know and understand other cultures. In order to effectively implement critical multicultural education, teachers must also work towards instilling an equity pedagogy in the classroom (Banks, 1995). While all students should be offered equal access to success, Banks cautions that equity and equality are not interchangeable terms. Villegas & Lucas (2002) agree that different students require different, perhaps “unequal” teaching approaches, which is in fact what renders this an equitable practice. While McReady et al. (2011) warn teachers not to stereotype children’s learning based on culture, Delpit (1996) urges educators to ask questions about children’s culturally-rooted behavior and to design subsequent accommodations for success in the classroom. In order to build equitable, culturally-relevant experiences, Delpit urges today’s teachers to get to know students in and out of school in order to effectively locate and teach to strengths of students, rather than assuming and focusing on deficits. The goal of fostering academic success, which refers to the development of various academic (for example literacy and numeracy) and social (for example of turn-taking and active listening) skills, stems from advocates of culturally relevant teaching practices (Gay, 2004). Accordingly, critical multicultural educators recognize that all students come to school with unique “funds of knowledge” that are often under-estimated in the classroom and overlook the cultural capital that some children are armed with from day one (Colegrove & Adair, 2014). Therefore, it necessitates that teachers provide opportunities for students to succeed by teaching to their unique backgrounds and strength. In order to make learning experiences more culturally significant for students, culturally-relevant teaching requires educators to learn about and invite student’s home and community experiences into the classroom to help them create meaning and understand the world (Ponciano & Shabazian, 2012). Therefore, culturally relevant pedagogy naturally overlaps with critical multicultural education, as both approaches empower students to challenge Eurocentric school experiences, to see their own histories repeated in light, and to use cultural referents when constructing knowledge, skills and attitudes and demonstrating learning.

A multicultural approach to learning and teaching is reflected strongly in Te Whāriki, as this approach posits that the importance of children’s cultural heritage is highlighted in early childhood programmes (Ministry of Education, 2017). Culture is conceptualized in Te Whāriki as the most essential influence on learning, giving rise to a demand that early childhood education provided to children should be relevant to children’s own cultural values and practices. Cultural diversity is another important concept in New Zealand early childhood education and according to Chan (2011), an important them in Te Whāriki is diversity. The document aims to enable the weaving together of a curriculum that embraces diverse languages, cultures and socio-economic conditions of all children in New Zealand. Chan (2011) also suggests that critical multiculturism subscribes to the notion of inclusion and equity and when applied in education it comprises as inclusive curriculum that stresses equal opportunities for all, despite individual differences which is evident through Te Whāriki. Intercultural pedagogy in Te Whāriki reflects that teachers facilitate children’s learning and development through thoughtful pedagogy that include being culturally competent and “are able to support the cultural and linguistic diversity of all children as part of promoting an inclusive environment” (Ministry of Education, 2017, p. 59). The central tenet of the culturally responsive pedagogy is the unbiased response of teachers to diverse cultures of children, and culturally responsive teachers connect learning programmes to home, sociocultural and school experiences and create a community of learners through empathy and understanding as reflected in Te Whāriki.

My own practice in terms of intercultural pedagogy is reflected by my attitude within my practice towards creating an unbiased learning environment. In my practice, I strive to display positive attitudes towards all races, ethnicities and genders, religions and lifestyles which helps in eliminating negative concepts about race and ethnicity in the classroom. In my practice, I combat prejudice by cultivating a class culture in which “difference” is a positive concept, reconstructing difference in a positive light that allows children to deconstruct their vision of the norm. In terms of working on my practice around intercultural pedagogy, is learning to evaluate my own perception of diverse cultures in order to eliminate negative attitudes in my classroom with regards to learning materials as well as class composition. Howard (2010) supports this by stating that while many teachers may perceive of themselves as culturally inclusive in terms of classroom content, these teachers must ensure that they are not “stereotypical profiles of students” and subsequently “writing off” certain students as incapable. I can also work towards creating classroom resources that do not discriminate but rather reflect inclusiveness and diversity. Lee (2002) suggest that educators must critically examine all resources for discriminatory depictions; otherwise, they impede the development of a truly inclusive multicultural classroom.

To conclude, practical critical multicultural classrooms approaches, and intercultural pedagogical approaches help foster equity, inclusion and student empowerment in the classroom. Understanding the concepts of critical multiculturism and intercultural pedagogy which is supported and reflected throughout will help create successful critical multicultural teachers that will empower students to recognize and challenge bias, stereotype and discrimination and facilitate collaborative classroom that provides opportunities for student empowerment. Finally, reflecting and improving my own practice will allow me to become a successful critical multicultural educator.