Opening up new spaces for languaging practice in early childhood education for migrant children

International social unrest in recent years has resulted in many people choosing or being forced to leave their home countries to seek better lives elsewhere, causing drastic demographic shifts. Yet, it has been pointed out that institutional policies and practices in many countries have not caught up with such changing demographics, which have contributed to concerns highlighted via the notion of ‘superdiversity’ ( Vertovec, 2007 ). Due to the large influx of migrants over the past few decades, New Zealand and its early childhood education settings have become increasingly ethnically and linguistically diverse. The country is now being described as a ‘superdiverse New Zealand’ and is facing challenges emerging from ‘a level of cultural complexity surpassing anything previously experienced’ ( Royal Society of New Zealand, 2013 : 1). Furthermore, population projections ( Statistics New Zealand, 2015 ) indicate that superdiversity will be a long-term phenomenon in New Zealand. Te Whāriki, the New Zealand early childhood curriculum, embraces diversity, recognising that the country ‘is increasingly multicultural’ ( Ministry of Education, 2017 : 1). In light of these concerns, this article considers the frameworks of superdiversity and critical multiculturalism with regard to transforming and developing policies and pedagogies that support working with superdiverse migrant children and their families by responding to migration-related equity and inclusion issues. This discussion has implications and relevance for both present and future early childhood education settings in New Zealand and in other countries with a large population of migrants.

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What about the Migrant Children? The State-Of-The-Art in Research Claiming Social Sustainability

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11020459 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 459 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Sidsel Boldermo ◽

Elin Ødegaard

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Early Childhood Education ◽

Social Sustainability ◽

Migrant Children ◽

Social Dimension ◽

Education For Sustainability ◽

Research Articles ◽

Childhood Education ◽

Holistic Perspective ◽

The Social

This study aimed to investigate research articles that relate to education for sustainability, primarily in early childhood, in order to describe to what extent a holistic perspective on education for sustainability has been applied, and how the social dimension is conceptualized. The review comprised research articles in Nordic Journals of Education, International Journals of Early Childhood Education, and International Journals of Education/Environmental/Sustainability education. The findings disclosed that researchers within the field of education for sustainability acknowledged, to a large extent, environmental, economic, and social aspects, and thus applied a holistic perspective. This review shows, however, that even if the social dimension were conceptualized as strongly related to topics such as social justice, citizenship, and the building of stable societies, few articles have investigated diversity, multicultural perspectives, or migrant children’s situations in the context of early childhood education for sustainability. This review discloses that the concept of belonging is rarely used in connection to migrants and refugees in research on early childhood education for sustainability. A further argument encourages the inclusion of these aspects in further research which claims social sustainability.

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Opening up possibilities through team research: an investigation of infants’ lives in early childhood education settings

Qualitative Research ◽

10.1177/1468794112468471 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 149-165 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Jennifer Sumsion

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Early Childhood Education ◽

Childhood Education ◽

Team Research ◽

Opening Up

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Tvil som drivkraft

Tidsskrift for Nordisk Barnehageforskning ◽

10.7577/nbf.592 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

Author(s):

Nina Johannesen

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Early Childhood Education ◽

Driving Force ◽

Early Childhood Educators ◽

The Other ◽

Knowledge And Skills ◽

Childhood Education ◽

Opening Up

Title: Doubt as a driving forceAbstract: In this paper I explore what happens when the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's texts encounters material from conversations with early childhood educators in two different early childhood education settings. In the conversations with the educators, I hear an approach to understanding children's expressions that are consistent with Levinas’ claims. They want to open up the children's contributions, and they want to learn. I have used the term doubt to describe the processes where the educators are opening up to the other, in this case children aged one to three and their physical expression and further to show how this may be a practice that allows the children have a real opportunity to influence and thus participate in the development of the pedagogical thinking. The early childhood educators are challenged by the children and each other, and this creates energy and commitment. On this basis I claim that the doubt is a driving force in their work to develop the pedagogical thinking.This practice may be in contrast with thoughts of the time favoring and expecting measurable results in educational establishments. This can also be seen as opposition to and criticism of the desire to map children's knowledge and skills as this mapping might reduce children to the notion we have of them, both as groups and as individuals and not open up to their contributions.

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Early-Childhood Education for the Developmentally Delayed: Diagnosis, Intervention, and Evaluation

Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools ◽

10.1044/0161-1461.1002.81 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 81-92

Author(s):

Susan Freedman Gilbert

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Early Childhood Education ◽

School Children ◽

Developmental Delays ◽

Delayed Diagnosis ◽

Language Impairments ◽

Developmentally Delayed ◽

Speech And Language ◽

Childhood Education

This paper describes the referral, diagnostic, interventive, and evaluative procedures used in a self-contained, behaviorally oriented, noncategorical program for pre-school children with speech and language impairments and other developmental delays.

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