Cultural Competency and Ethical Considerations in Early Childhood Education

Running head: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Early Childhood Education
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
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Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................... 2
Professional Conduct and Ethical Considerations.................................................................4
Professional and Ethical Considerations for Establishing Relationships and Partnerships with Families
.............................................................................................................................. 7
Conclusion................................................................................................................ 9

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Introduction
The issue of cultural competency and cultural awareness in the development years of
a child is very crucial as in this age of childhood the a child can learn such things and it will
help them in their future as well. During this period of time, a teacher has the most important
role in creating a cultural competent behaviour among the children in their growing age. In
order to help the children in developing a culturally competent behaviour among the children,
the teachers of the children must play a crucial roles. In studies, it is reported that, children
generally have the habit of valuing others as per the race, social culture, and ethnicity. So, it
can be said that, if children have adequate cultural knowledge they may avoid the mentality
of discrimination in terms of the race, ethnicity and social position. Therefore, if a teacher has
adequate knowledge regarding the cultural knowledge and behaviour, then he or she may
contribute in the development of children’s cultural awareness and behaviour as well. So, it is
very crucial for the teachers to have knowledge of various cultural and in other words, the
teachers should have multicultural awareness (Ramos et al., 2015). In this report, the
requirements of a multicultural childhood teachers, professional codes and ethics, cultural
awareness for working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and professional
co0nsideartiosns for establishing a healthy relationship with the families of Torres Strait
Islanders are discussed in a brief manner.
Required Cultural Competence and Cultural Awareness
A culturally sensitive teacher generally refers to the teachers who are aware of
cultural and ethnic backgrounds of the students with different cultural background. As a
cultural teacher it is very important to have proper knowledge regarding different cultures so
that they can provide the support to the students in terms of social, emotional so that all the
students can participate in the learning process as well. In a classroom, the culturally

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
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competent teachers must show sensitivity regarding the cultures of the students present in the
classroom. While analysing the fact of cultural awareness and knowledge of a teacher of a
child, it can be sauid that the teacher must have the quality of effective communication so
that he or she can deliver the knowledge to the children present in the classroom. An effective
communication strategy will allow the teachers to express their view on importance of
cultural competency. According to the study of Wubbels et al. (2014), it is reported that in
order to teach students, in a multicultural classroom, the culturally sensitive teacher must
have a good communication skills. This study revealed that application of the effective
communication strategy among in the education of the children has become successful in
enhancing the knowledge of cultural competency and awareness among the students. It is
quite evident that, the different students have different cultural background and it is the duty
of a childhood teachers to create awareness among those diverse students so that they can
develop the knowledge regarding cultural awareness and competency. Along with this, as
culturally competent teacher, the teacher requires the quality of valuing the cultural diversity
in the educational sectors so that he or she can train the student in a culturally competent
ways. The ides of valuing diversity refers to the accepting and respecting the persons from
different cultures, different languages, and different tradition. According to the study of
Egalite, Kisida, & Winters (2015), it is revealed that lack of cultural knowledge among the
teachers can affect the development process of students of different cultures. Moreover, it is
reported that, the presence of racial discriminative nature of the teachers can affect the
development process in negative manner and their academic performances are also affected
due to lack of cultural competent behaviour of the teachers as well. In this study, the
researchers reported that when students were assigned to the teachers with race-congruent
they have better performance. So, it can be said that, a teachers with the knowledge of
different cultures may educate the children in a culturally competent manner as well. On the