Diversity and Difference in Early Childhood Essay

Personal interest My first cognizance of racial identity and diversity occurred when I was in Year 3. Having world raised acknowledging acceptance of people of racial or heathen end my thoughts of children of vividness were positive and im conk outial. Howal slipway, one day a boy in my class of Sri Lankan descent got into trouble with other student, but only the Sri Lankan boy was asked to go to the principals office. During our lunch break he came oer to a group of us and t disused us that he thought he was the one that got into trouble because he was dusky.I remember cerebration to myself, why would he get into trouble just because he was black? It was in fact that both boys went to the principals office, just on separate occasions. This was my first memory of someone thinking that they were being singled come out or getting into trouble due to belief of skin colour dissimilarity and racial stereotypes. Ive been certified of racial diversity ever since. Now that I have an opportunity to be a part of childrens learning and give wayment I want to learn much just about diversity and quarter a difference in childrens perspectives of themselves and others. DiscussionAs educators in beforehand(predicate) childhood, it is crucial that we acknowledge and complaisance that childrens personal, family and cultural histories shape their learning and development. The amplify in racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity in educational centres is reflected in many early childhood classrooms. Although the diverse composition of early childhood classrooms may bring challenges, it excessively introduces many opportunities for educators, p bents, and children as we need to value and appreciate difference and bod as a positive attribute in all educational and fond environments (Ashman and Elkins 2008).As adults, being different is a decision to make a personal statement such as deciding to shift a hairstyle, get a tattoo or by eating away alternative cloth ing. It is one thing to be different by choice, and another for a child to discern themselves as being different establish on their physical features, cultural of religious differences. One of the most bear on aspects of early education is observing and supporting young children as they develop their individual identities.This development takes place within different social contexts where issues relating to compassionate diversity and difference impact significantly on childrens instincts and ways of being in the world. Arguably, our education begins when we are first suitable to find out causes and consequences, and continue to form the basis of our identity, behaviours and knowledge of the world around us. Glover (1991) in the early 1990s found that as 2-3 year old children became aware of difference they simultaneously develop positive and negative feelings about the differences they observe.For example, racial awareness impacts on their perceptions of skin colour and on the ir preferences in the social relationships they initiate and foster with other children. An Australian study conducted by Palmer (1990) exemplifies how preschool children were able to make negative judgements based on racial characteristics of young uncreated children. Children were reportedly saying Youre the colour of poo Did your mum drop you in the poo? This observation suggests that children as young as 2 years old are becoming aware of diversity and differences of others, and these judgements children are making are often affecting their ability to make sound judgements of others as their perceptions of truthfulness are distorted. Although Palmers study was conducted in 1990, there has been a significant increase in racial awareness since the 1980s of the importance of early childhood education policies, practices and class aiming to positively reflect the diverse cultural identities of children and their families.Today, the embrace of childrens lives is a central focus of the different philosophies which foster early childhood education in Western society, such as the anti-bias curriculum which emerged from the United States (Derman-Sparks and the A. B. C. Task Force, stated in Robinson 2006 p 2) and also in the perspectives of Reggio Emilia. In Australia there has been a broadening of cultural influences which has been referred to by Ashman (2008) as the cultural mosaic, which refers to those who have migrated maintain their homeland traditions while include the new norms, values and practices within the country.Furthermore data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2008) show that around 25% of Australians were natural in other countries, nearly half the population has direct links with relatives born overseas, and over 2. 5 million people speak a lecture other than English at home, which should clearly illustrate to educators that learning developmental experiences need to be appropriate for multicultural children to be involved in . As stated by Robinson (2006), the early childhood years are important years in the growth and development of a childs cognition, language, social, emotional and physical competence.Early childhood educators are in an idol position to make a positive difference in the lives of children and their families. My emergent philosophy would be to teach children to be critical thinkers specifically about disadvantage and discrimination to encourage children to develop the skills to identify when something they have utter or done is unfair of hurtful to another. Also to model the behaviours and attitudes I would want children to develop, particularly in situations that can either promote prejudice or inhibit a childs openness to diversity.Furthermore, I would aim to expose children to role models from their own culture as sound as to those from other cultures to encourage appreciation of their own cultural identity, as well as different cultures. As professionals who work with familie s, our willingness to talk openly about identity and to help foster a positive mother wit of self in children can make an enormous difference in affirming the rich diversity within our community and help children form tie across cultures and traditions.The more that children have a solid grounding and understanding about who they are and where they came from, the more they learn to value differences of cultures different from their own, and the impendent we get to building a world of respect of multicultural differences. Ashman, A F, Elkins J 2008, fosterage for Inclusion and Diversity, 3rd edn, Pearson Education, Frenchs Forest, NSW. Davis, B M 2009, The Biracial and Multicultural Student Experience a journey to racial literacy, Corwin, Sage Ltd, USA.Glover, A 1991, Young children and race a report of a study of two and three year olds, Australian Catholic University, Sydney. Pulido-Tobiassen, D, Gonzalez-Mena, J 2005, Learning to Appreciate Differences, Early Childhood Today, vol. 20, issue 3, viewed 2 April 2011, retrieved from capital of Seychelles University Database. Robinson, K 2006, Diversity and Difference in Early Childhood Education, Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow, viewed 1 April 2011, retrieved from Ebrary database.