Assignment Task: Culturally Competent Approaches
NAEYC states "for optimal development and learning of all children, educators must accept the legitimacy of children's home language, respect (hold in high regard) the home culture and promote and encourage the active involvement and support of all families, including extended and nontraditional family units" (NAEYC 1995, 2). This inspired the development of the Quality Benchmark for Cultural Competence Project (QBCCP), which promotes cultural competence in early childhood programs. The QBCCP provides seven culturally competent approaches for early childhood education settings:
Long description:
Acknowledge that children are nested in families and communities with unique strengths. Recognize and mitigate the tension between the early childhood profession's perceptions of the child as the center of the work versus the family as the center of the work.
Build on and identify the strengths and shared goals between the profession and families and recognize commonalities in order to meet these goals.
Understand and authentically incorporate the traditions and history of the program participants and their impacts on child- rearing practices.
Actively support each child's development within the family as complex and culturally driven ongoing experiences.
Recognize and demonstrate awareness that individuals' and institutions' practices are embedded in culture.
Ensure that decisions and policies regarding all aspects of a program embrace and respect participants' language, values, attitudes, beliefs, and approaches to learning.
Ensure that policies and practices build upon the home languages and dialects of the children, families and staff in programs and support the preservation of home languages.
(NAYC, 2019)
But what do these principles actually look like in the school setting? What kinds of resources and support are needed to make these principles come alive (i.e., materials, policies, professional development, etc.)? In this discussion, you will analyze how educational settings currently address approaches to cultural competence.
To prepare for this discussion:
Read Chapter 2.
Read NAEYC's Quality Benchmark for Cultural Competence Project.
Imagine you are an educational environment coach, and your focus is cultural competence. Pick one of the 7 approaches and prepare to describe how you might assess it an educational setting.
In your initial post,
Describe the chosen approach in your own words.
Provide an example of the culturally competent approach in action and specify the age group (between 0 and 8 years). Need Professional Help?
Describe how the example is culturally appropriate and sensitive.
Justify why your example is an effective way to implement this approach