PLAR # 6 Learning Outcomes

6. Recognize the importance of respecting, honoring and affirming social diversity including Indigenous and world views by demonstration of cultural sensitivity, implementing anti-bias strategies, and promoting inclusion.

Honour and affirm diversity by clarifying own biases, demonstrating cultural competence, implementing anti-bias strategies, and promoting inclusion.

I strongly believe in my professional and ethical practice, values and beliefs, I welcome, support, respect, honor, and embrace social diversity within my centre and within my own personal values and beliefs. We all, in my centre, in our community, on this island, of our country, and around the world experience social diversity. To have knowledge and an understanding about our own culture is part of our unique identity. I embrace my own country’s cultures – Canada Indigenous Culture and New Zealand Maori Culture. I enjoy sharing my cultural history with my children and families and respectful enjoy learning about their cultural history. I truly believe everyone comes from their own walk of life, have their own stories to tell, values and beliefs and a culture and background they embrace around them. I always look forward to meeting new families, to learn and understand their cultural, backgrounds, values and beliefs when they become comfortable to share their stories with me.

Social diversity has many values, beliefs, cultures, and backgrounds within its community:

Ethnicity
Religious Beliefs
Languages
Socio Economic Status
Different Race
Disability
Gender
Sexual Orientation
Geographical Locations

As an educator it is my ethical and my personal commitment to accept, appreciate, and acknowledge my children and their families and staff members from all walks of life and different backgrounds. Through an inclusive and diverse lens we can learn from one another, help each other to understand our customs – values – traditions – beliefs, learn how our families operate – function – live, and how our background shapes our own identity. Together in my centre we can become a social diverse community.

I believe in teaching children at an early age about social diversity in hopes they become open minded social diverse citizens. To empower the children with knowledge and experiences to gain a diverse understanding that will continue to evolve as they grow. Recognizing in their child care centre, their classroom, their community, their work place, and in our world our environment is made up of many different people, many different cultures, many different values and beliefs, many different customs and traditions, many different choices, many different challenges and many different languages. Giving the children in my centre an opportunity to embrace the diverse global world we live in.

In my centre I strive for a diverse and a culturally sensitive and responsive environment. Through social and emotional skill development lessons and materials we can learn together:

Books
- The Skin You Live In. By Michael Tyler
- Pink Is for Boys. By Robb Pearlman
Art
- Hand prints of different colours
- Self portrait
Language – Learning to say hello in different languages of the children and families in our centre
- English – Hello
- Chinese – Ni hao
Songs
- Everybody is Different
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=403s_HcQsa0
- Whole World
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODftYTD3Rbs
Materials
- Toy food of different cultures
- Boy and girl dolls of different ethnicities
Family and community members visiting the centre
- An Elder of the community baking bannock
- A Grandpa playing the Pipe Band snare drum
Anti-bias lessons – For All children / and families to:
- Have a sense of belonging
- Experience affirmation of their identity and culture
- Engage in play and education, to be happy and successful
- Respect and learn together in a diverse and an inclusive environment
- Have a voice
- Have rights

Together we can explore diversity and culture with our children and their families in a trusting and safe environment.

Child by child and family by family I hope through education, knowledge, and exploring, along with lessons from myself, families, and community members we are able to lessen social diversity bias, stereotyping and discriminating opinions in the future.

Together let’s embrace a more peaceful social diversity community!

J.P.B.

Managing diverse teams – culckuklieriute