Diversity in the Early Years: Intercultural Learning and Teaching

Part of the series Oxford University Press - Teacher Education.

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New global contexts are presenting new challenges and new possibilities for young children and those around them. Climate change, armed conflict and poverty combine with new frontiers of discovery in science and technology to create a paradoxical picture of both threat and opportunity for our world and our children. On the one hand, children are experiencing unprecedented patterns of disparity and inequity; yet, on the other hand, they have seemingly limitless possibilities to engage with new technologies and social processes. Seismic shifts such as these are inviting new questions about the conditions that young children need to learn and thrive.

Diversity in the Early Years: Intercultural Learning and Teaching explores significant aspects of working with children and adults from diverse backgrounds. It is a valuable resource for teaching early childhood pre-service teachers to raise awareness about issues of diversity - whether diversity of culture, language, education and/or gender - and for helping them to develop their own pedagogical approaches to working with diverse populations.

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Key Features

• Complements the many government programs and initiatives to support the education and care of young children and their families from a broad range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds in Australian society. The bigger picture of the European contexts offers teacher education students access to multiple perspectives.
• Showcases international research collaborations and addresses theoretical perspectives on working internationally
• Blends discussion of theory and applications in terms of ‘why’ and ‘how to’ so that readers can take what they’ve learned into real world contexts.
• Readers are encouraged to think critically and reflectively by engaging with the end of chapter questions

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Contents

PART 1: Young Children Engaged in Intercultural Learning

• Young Children in Global Contexts: Diversities and Intercultural Possibilities in the Early Years - Ann Farrell and Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson
• Linguistic Diversity in Early Childhood Education: Teaching and Learning for Social and Cultural Sustainability - Anne Kultti and Niklas Pramling
• Embracing Diversity in Childhood Studies: Methodological and Practical Considerations - Johanna Einarsdottir and Snæfríður Thóra Egilson

PART 2: Adults Engaged in Intercultural Learning

• Playing with Diversity: Learning Stories in Early Childhood - Linda Mitchell and Amanda Bateman
• Intercultural Teacher Education: Elementary Teacher Educators’ Perspectives of the Role of Gender in Leadership in Papua New Guinea - Laura Scholes, Jo Lunn Brownlee, Julie Davis and Ann Farrell
• Indigenous Children, Families and Early Years Education in Australia and Canada - Nereda White and Jackie Ottmann
• Challenges and Rewards in Working with Displaced Children and Families: Early Childhood Practitioner Strategies for Engaging with Linguistic and Ethnic Diversity - Anna Kirova
• Children’s Rights to Participation in Two Cultures: Guatemala Maya and Scandinavian Parent Views of Young Children - Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson, Dion Sommer and Monica Berger González

PART 3: Challenges and Implications

• Rethinking Culture and Diversity in Early Childhood Preservice Teacher Education: Teaching and Learning through an Interdisciplinary Lens Julie Davis, Lyndal O’Gorman, Megan Gibson, Lindy Osborne and Jill Franz
• Intercultural Early Childhood Teacher Education: Diversity and Inclusion in Global and Local Contexts - Ann Farrell and Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson
• Prologue—Where to Now? - Niklas Pramling
• Index