Lansvale Public School Preschool has a strong focus on respecting children’s rights and celebrating diversity. We acknowledge that each child is a unique and valued individual, bringing with them their diverse life experiences, cultures, passions, knowledge, languages and abilities (Lansvale Preschool Philosophy, 2016). Our commitment to helping our children feel good about the uniqueness of their family and helping them learn to accept, respect and include people whom they may experience as "different“ is what makes Lansvale Preschool exemplary in terms of culture and practice. “The language models and practices applied in classrooms are typically not static but dynamic, re-negotiable and complex, and they should be examined as such” (Schwartz & Palvainen, 2016).
The following two Learning Stories illustrate how our educators seek to promote children’s cultural competencies. These vignettes not only encompass the ability to gain knowledge of different cultural practice but also includes developing a positive attitude towards cultural difference.
When interacting with people whose culture and background are different from their own, children need to learn how to respect and accept these differences, otherwise they risk becoming adults who contribute to problems brought about by discrimination.
At Lansvale we believe that it is our responsibility to actively discourage the development of bias in our children. Working collaboratively, our exceptional educators advocate for cultural acceptance in the hope that our children grow up and contribute to a society that accepts and respects cultural difference as part of a productive and contemporary national community.
Lansvale preschool believes that communication is crucial to our children’s belonging, being and becoming. With approximately 96% of our children learning English as an Additional Language/Dialect. We believe it is imperative that we acknowledge our children’s first language, as extremely important as it forms the foundation for all later language development. We provide opportunities for our children to use their first language by incorporating children’s cultural backgrounds into our program and establishing a supportive environment, which affirms children’s right to use their home languages.
We have a quality community language program that supports our bilingual children in Chinese, Vietnamese, Khmer and English. Our community language teachers contribute to the preschool program and adapt learning goals. For instance, they taught the children how to 'Get down low, and go, go, go!' in Vietnamese to extend on a fire brigade visit. They also provide a range of speaking and listening activities which include reading and telling stories, sharing simple rhymes, songs and games, introducing new vocabulary and modelling conversations.
The aim of our community language program is to ensure our children feel secure, respected and their voice is valued at all times. Furthermore, we encourage and reassure our parents to use the first language at home in order to provide a good foundation for learning English.
Our exemplary educators also adapt the preschool program by using many visuals to support our children who are learning to master the English language. Working collaboratively with our families, our educators also learn key survival words in the children’s home language to further develop their sense of belonging.
Lansvale’s exceptional practice demonstrates our commitment to our children as bilingual learners, who are expanding their competence in both languages to maintain family connections and develop a sense of identity that pays homage to both their adopted and home cultures.
At Lansvale we believe we have a responsibility to celebrate diversity and to help our children respect and accept each other's differences. We encourage cultural competence for our children and their families by celebrating a number of events at Lansvale such as Vietnamese/Chinese/Cambodian New Year, NAIDOC week, Ramadan, Eid, Harmony Day, Orthodox Easter and Multicultural Day. It is part of our daily repertoire to value culture and diversity as we cultivate a culture of respect, care and inclusion of difference amongst the whole school community. These social opportunities develop reciprocal relationships among our families, children and community. By exposing our children to the differences and similarities of our cultures, we are building mutually respectful relationships with each other. An example of cultural competence in practice was when a child asked our Bulldogs Educator Mr James, why he had dark skin. James explained that he came from an Aboriginal background where he and his ancestors all had dark skin. We harnessed this opportunity to explore our diversity and our stories. James painted some Aboriginal dot paintings with the children. One of his paintings features a dark and white man holding hands together. James explained to the children that the painting represents people getting along no matter what colour their skin is. He also showed us some videos of how Aboriginal people use to hunt for food with spears and boomerangs. The children all had turns making and throwing their boomerangs with Mr James.
By gaining a new perspective on the lives of others around us, our children are learning to understand and appreciate other cultures and build connectedness between families. The relationship between our preschool, families and local community has much more depth as it is “built on real connections” that involve all stakeholders that support bringing together the cultures and diversity of the community (Burridge & Chodkiewicz, 2008). Excellence is in how Lansvale provides a venue where diverse perspectives and cultures are accepted, appreciated and celebrated.
