Australian Multicultural Policy and Early Childhood Education Analysis

This essay provides an evaluation and analysis of Australia's Multicultural Policy and the early childhood education framework. It discusses the evolution of multicultural policies, highlighting the government's efforts to promote equality and address issues such as terrorism and refugee integration. T...Read More

Running head: CULTURAL POLICY OF AUSTRALIA
Cultural policy of Australia
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

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Introduction
The aim of the essay is to evaluate and analyse the Australian Multicultural Policy
and the early childhood policy framework. This has been divided into four distinct parts, while
the first part of the essay deals with the introduction to the multi-cultural policy of the
Australian government and the early childhood education. It is important to note that Australia
has been a land of multiculturalism. It is one of the places of the world which has a large
concentration of tribal and aboriginal people. After long period of neglect of the aboriginal
people, the government as come up with a framework of multicultural policies. The rationale
behind developing this framework is to create the equality of and eradicate all forms of
discrimination. It has been estimated that over 26% of the total population of Australia are
born overseas, while the aboriginal population of 2.5% of the total population (Acecqa.gov.au,
2019). Hence it is imperative to note that the population of Australia is not homogenous rather
it ids heterogenous in nature and it is the responsibility of the country to cater to the interest of
this population.
Discussion:
Overview:
There have been certain changes in the multicultural statement of the Australian
government. It has been observed that multicultural policy is focused on some of the issues
that it has earlier ignored (Elango et al., 2015). For example, it has been observed that major
changes took place in the statement in 2017 after the Julia Gillard’s version of 2011. It is
important to note that the respect for the multicultural ethos is old and it has been practising
the same for ages. The new multicultural statement promotes the message of democracy,
freedom and rule of law (Homeaffairs.gov.au, 2019). It provides equal place to the traditional

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aboriginals as well as the new migrants. Some of the most important changes in the recent
statement is the concern for the rising terrorism at the international level. While at the global
level it is more focused on the issues of improvement of the English language and the
educational and employment opportunities of the refugees. It also recognises the British and
the Irish settlers in the land of Australia as part of the multicultural Australia. Along with the
Nigeria, Serbia and Taiwan, it shows immense respect to the migrants of other countries.
Hence it is to be argued that the country practices the multicultural outlook in all aspects
(Ro.ecu.edu.au, 2019).
The early learning childhood education framework of Australia is the set of process
and principles that supports and enhance the learning ability form the infancy to the age of
five. It is the key component of the National Quality Framework for the early learning care of
the children of Australia (Education.gov.au, 2019). This focuses on some of the important
components like the consultation process, the national symposiums and the National Public
consultation Forum. It is concentrated on the motto of engagement of all children for the
better successful future (Watkins et al., 2016). This framework ensures that children of all
background het the qual change and benefits in terms of educational opportunities. One of
the common features of both of the policy statement is that the educational framework has
enough provisions for the educational benefits to the children of the Australian aboriginal and
the Torres straits Islanders people (Education.gov.au, 2019). The multicultural policy
framework is the set of guidelines for the proception of the rights of the people with diverse
cultural; background. It is the duty of the early educators to focus in the issues of culture with
greater concern since it is argued that the acceptance of the cultural identity of the broader
community is important to develop a mechanism that focuses on the assimilation of the
cultural identities of people. Hence the new statement has focused on the issue of developing
a cultural competency. The early educators are assigned with the task of effectively

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interacting with the students across culture and developing positive outlook towards the
cultural differences of the students (Ng et al., 2015).
Critical evaluation:
One of the issues associated with the early years learning framework which is a part
of the national quality standard is that it entrusts the teacher the responsibilities enlisted in
then framework, however it is not to deny that the teachers are interested even though most of
them do not poses the experience required for it. According to findings, it has been observed
that the educators at the remotest corners of the country top not have the necessary
information for the implementation of the project. It is also argued that the jurisdictional
variations are large when it comes to the effective implementation of the programs it is
further argued that the statement do not clearly specify the required infrastructure for the
improved services to the vulnerable population. hence it creates significant challenges to the
professional values and concern to the educators for implementing the new curriculum. In
case of the multicultural policy of the Australian government, it can be argued that the
infrastructure required for the development and implementation of other policy framework is
not sufficient. There is also a requirement for developing enough a capacity building of the
authorities to implement the policies. However, it is not to deny the fact that the
multiculturalism has been successful in bridging the gap between the aboriginals and the
native people of Australia. It is important to consider the fact that the policy has become
successful irrespective of the flaws due to the factors like the financial assistance to the
people who are migrants and the hew arrivals for the development of the infrastructure. It
also opens up the opportunities of developing the faculty of sports as there are separate
financial assistance to sports activity.one of the major difference of the early learning
frameworks and the multicultural policy framework is that it works as the assistive support to

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the educational development of the children with different cultural background. Hence it
could be argued that the multicultural policy framework has been successful in the past
endeavours due to the positive attitude towards the assimilation of the multiple interest of the
ethnic minorities. However, it is not to deny that the implementation of the early learning
framework has certain shortcomings in terms of the infrastructure required to implement the
policies.
Recommendations
It is crucial to develop the infrastructures and institutional assistance for the
implementation of the cultural policy at practice. It is to be noted that the idea of
multiculturalism is the issue of paradoxes. It is the positive attitude of some people of the
diverse cultural background which binds them together for the longer run. However, it can
be summed up from the above a discussion that the early learning framework and the
multicultural policy statement has the inherent issues with the combination and coordination
between them (Docs.education.gov.au, 2019). It is important for the early learning teachers
to focus more on the cultural background of the children a with the need to develop the
required infrastructure for the implementation of the multicultural framework, there are
certain issues with the teachers at the early stage of formative education which is lacking the
basic structure for the implementation of the multicultural policy. Hence it could be argued
there is a need to enhance the consciousness of the government in issues of multiculturalism
and the acceptance of the children from diverse cultural background at the initial level.
Secondly, it is important to develop a multicultural classroom for the child at the
initial formative years to adapt the attitude of assimilation and accommodation. It is also
suggested that the teachers at the early years have pre-training for the development of the

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essential skills to respect the multicultural background of the students at the classroom. It is
further important to contribute to the fact that the teachers should be given the curriculum
which enough scope for the development of the ideas about the multiculturalism both for the
teachers and the students.
There should also be further development for the financial assistance to the schools at
the formative years to develop the required infrastructure. It should be substantiated with the
effective training of the teachers. It is possible to bridge the gap only when the issue is
addressed at the ground level.
Conclusion
It has been observed that both of the policies and the statement are supportive for the
cause of multicultural existence. It is the constant effort of the Australian government at the
local and the national level to assimilate the cultural diversity of the country since it is an
accepted fact that Australia has one of the largest diversities in terms of the presence of the
aboriginal and Torres people with a large number of migrants. It has been found that the
multicultural policy statement of the Australian government highlights the message of one
united, strong balance of Australia’s multicultural past with the rest of the population. This
also provides the strategic plans for the government in the coming years to cater to the needs
of the people with multicultural background. While the early learning framework of the
government is the integrated statement of the different nuances of the issues of the education
of the children with the special focus on the cultural aspect for the same. It is crucial to note
that this statement is centred of bridging the gap between the educational achievement of
aboriginalpouplation and the people with multicultural background with the rest of the
population. Therefore, it could be concluded from the above discussion that the centre of
attention for both of the document is different and similar to many aspects. It is primarily

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focused in the issue of multiculturalism even though the issue is indeed a contested one. The
idea of multiculturalism is not uniform hence it requires separate attention for each of the
issues.

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References
Acecqa.gov.au. (2019). [online] Available at:
https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-02/belonging_being_and_becomin
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Docs.education.gov.au. (2019). Early Childhood Education and Childcare | Department of
Education and Training - Document library. [online] Available at:
https://docs.education.gov.au/taxonomy/term/4973 [Accessed 19 Mar. 2019].
Education.gov.au. (2019). Early Years Learning Framework | Department of Education and
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framework-0 [Accessed 19 Mar. 2019].
Elango, S., García, J. L., Heckman, J. J., & Hojman, A. (2015). Early childhood education.
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Ng, E. S., & Metz, I. (2015). Multiculturalism as a strategy for national competitiveness: The
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