Supporting Identity And Diversity In Children Essay

Implications for supporting Identity and Diversity in the Early Years.

Cultural identity should be understood as a prime area of concern for pedagogy development (Miller et el, 2014). All children and adults identify with categorised, gendered and racialized groups (as well as other groups), but what is particularly important is that some cultural identities are see as less ‘academic’ than others (often by practitioners and children) (Siraj-Blatchford (2000). We understand that children can hold views about their own previous identity and background. The child’s own culture and family may have different expectations about developing identity. It is essential to emphasise the complexity of identity formation in children (Paige-Smith (2011);‘To ignore it is to ignore the child’s individuality’ (Siraj-Blatchford, 2000, p.5). It highlights why individual ethnic or disabled children, do not identify themselves in the same way. Children from disadvantaged groups often hold contradictory positions in the classroom. Minority ethnic students are confident and academically successful, in spite of the paradigms on cultural

As a future practitioner, my main aim is to provide strategies that show children, parents, and other members of staff that inclusive practice means inclusion of ALL children. This is irrespective of their social and cultural upbringing: Including monolingual English speaking children, and children with different variations of English. This is especially important during the child’s first 3 years of life (Read, 2007). When children, their family, or guardians, are from diverse cultural backgrounds, there is a greater chance that the child may find it difficult to form an identity. In these situations adjustment between home life and entering school can be more difficult for all involved (Hatt,