Culture and Ece Service in Nz
Providing culturally competent care in early childhood services in New Zealand
Part 3 : Parents ' experiences of different early childhood pedagogies
Parents’ experiences of different pedagogies
Lisa Terreni In Providing culturally competent care in early childhood services in New Zealand -Part 2: Developing dialogues, strategies were presented for practitioners to engage in meaningful dialogue with parents and families. It was argued that on-going dialogue is the most successful way for teachers to begin to ‘unpack’ the early childhood programme for parents, as well as helping early childhood practitioners discover the beliefs and experiences that parents from different cultural backgrounds bring to their new encounter with early childhood programmes in New Zealand. Families who migrate to New Zealand have often had experiences of early childhood education programmes in their countries of origin. Their previous experiences of early childhood pedagogy are sometimes quite different from that practiced in New Zealand. Discovering these differences by talking with parents can be illuminating and can highlight areas of potential discomfort for both parents and practitioners. For the purposes of this paper I interviewed three parents from different cultural backgrounds who have had experience of early childhood services in their countries of origin and whose children have also attended early childhood services in New Zealand. At the end of each interview there is an analysis of points of difference that practitioners may want to consider as topics for discussion with parents.
An early childhood experience in Jordan Mohammed Shubair, his wife and three children came to New Zealand in 1996 from Jordan. Mohammed, a trained medical doctor who had practiced medicine in Jordan for many years, came to New Zealand because of job opportunities and the volatile political situation in the Middle East. Was the kindergarten your children went to in Jordan significantly
Part 3 : Parents ' experiences of different early childhood pedagogies
Parents’ experiences of different pedagogies
Lisa Terreni In Providing culturally competent care in early childhood services in New Zealand -Part 2: Developing dialogues, strategies were presented for practitioners to engage in meaningful dialogue with parents and families. It was argued that on-going dialogue is the most successful way for teachers to begin to ‘unpack’ the early childhood programme for parents, as well as helping early childhood practitioners discover the beliefs and experiences that parents from different cultural backgrounds bring to their new encounter with early childhood programmes in New Zealand. Families who migrate to New Zealand have often had experiences of early childhood education programmes in their countries of origin. Their previous experiences of early childhood pedagogy are sometimes quite different from that practiced in New Zealand. Discovering these differences by talking with parents can be illuminating and can highlight areas of potential discomfort for both parents and practitioners. For the purposes of this paper I interviewed three parents from different cultural backgrounds who have had experience of early childhood services in their countries of origin and whose children have also attended early childhood services in New Zealand. At the end of each interview there is an analysis of points of difference that practitioners may want to consider as topics for discussion with parents.
An early childhood experience in Jordan Mohammed Shubair, his wife and three children came to New Zealand in 1996 from Jordan. Mohammed, a trained medical doctor who had practiced medicine in Jordan for many years, came to New Zealand because of job opportunities and the volatile political situation in the Middle East. Was the kindergarten your children went to in Jordan significantly
Bibliography: Cannella, G.S. (1997). Deconstructing early childhood education: social justice and revolution. New York: Peter Lang. Chen, G and Starosta, W. J. (2000). Communication and global society. New York: Peter Lang. 6 Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2001). Multi-cultural issues in child care (3rd ed.). Mountain View CA: Mayfield. Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2002). Working with cultural differences: Individualism v collectivism. The First Years Ngä Tau Tuatahi: New Zealand Journal of Infant and Toddler Education. 4(2), 1315. Trompenaars, F and Hampden-Turner, C. (1998). Riding the waves of culture: Understanding diversity in global business (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw Hill. The author Lisa Terreni (Dip Kindergarten Teaching, B.Ed) works as a professional development facilitator for Early Childhood Development, Wellington, New Zealand. 7