Sunday, October 5, 2014

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

Family diversity includes heritage, culture, and traditions. Understanding each individual family's identity will allow educators and parents to view children and as unique individuals who, in society, form a combination of mixed identities with diverse experiences and backgrounds (Brooker & Woodhead, 2008). It is important to analyze one's own biases and potential stereotyping in order to eliminate them and facilitate an educational environment where a welcoming, accepting, atmosphere is established for all children. Educators will then also be able to develop and implement programs that cater to children's needs in ways that encourage healthy development through exploring different cultures and respecting others and their beliefs regardless of race, religions, or other categories of "-isms." Children are extremely impressionable and it is, therefore, vital that our opinions and views of others are not discriminatory, thus allowing children to imitate and identify with positive emotions towards one another. Children should learn that each person is not defined by a single component or definition but are made up of several personal truths about oneself. 

I am fortunate not to be surrounded by many "-isms" in the international environment that I teach in. However, I have discovered that I, myself, have behavioural biases where I am prejudiced against people who are intolerant and disrespectful. Being in an international school, I have not come across any parent or educator who is disrespectful towards particular races. I do anticipate that when potentially moving to smaller, local schools in regions of developing countries, I will be faced with particular difficulties associated with racism. As I wish to work in Cambodia, working to provide healthy early childhood care for children who are not fortunate to receive adequate educational care, I may experience barriers in establishing such a system and working with local educators as they may be initially dismissive of my ideas and of me being there as a foreigner. It would be important for me to learn about traditions, norms, and the culture prior to my endeavour in order to enable positive communication and relationships between colleagues. When colleagues are opposed in areas of ideas and methods to a large scale stemming from a stereotype or bias, more than a disagreement of opinions, a festering negative atmosphere may cause discourse in the school. This could be transferred to the children attending the school and hinder their development of certain skills, such as conflict management, as well as also preventing families from reaching a particular goal or obtaining a positive relationship with one party because of the clear separation between the educational parties involved (Klein & Miller, n.d.).

References:
Brooker, L., & Woodhead, M. (2008). Developing positive identities. Early Childhood in Focus.
Klein, A. S., & Miller, M. (n.d.). In support of family-teacher partnerships. Early Childhood News. Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=359

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