Early Childhood Multicultural Education in Australia: An Overview

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of early childhood multicultural education in Australia, highlighting its significance in preparing children for a globalized world. It emphasizes the lack of a specific framework for early childhood multicultural education in Australia, despite the benefits of such education in enriching children's knowledge, cultivating social skills, and fostering cultural understanding. The essay reviews current government policies and frameworks, identifying a focus on primary and secondary levels, and argues for the development of a dedicated pedagogical framework for early childhood. It recommends creating a multi-educational environment, developing curriculum resources, and implementing diverse multicultural activities. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of multicultural education in Australia and the need to develop a framework that promotes cultural understanding and respect.

Running head: EARLY CHILDHOOD MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AND CARE
Early Childhood Multicultural Education
Name of Student
Institution of affiliation
Date

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Early Childhood Multicultural Education in Australia
Significance of the topic
Although early childhood multicultural education is the basis for nurturing children to
match the era of globalization, Australia has not given much attention to early childhood
multicultural education. Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that
the purpose of multicultural education for children should be to cultivate the parental identity
of children, their own cultural identity, language and values, and the country in which the
child resides (Schoorman, 2011). It also fosters children's understanding, tolerance , and
friendship between peoples from different religious and ethnic backgrounds (King, 2015).
With the globalization of the world economy, politics, and culture, any country and nation
will inevitably have to deal with people from different cultural backgrounds. The implication
of this is that Australia needs to strengthen communication and cooperation consciously.
Since multicultural education is essentially a process of recognizing cultural pluralism in
society, multicultural education during early childhood is indispensable for reaching the
world and the nations and nations (Bentley, 2012). Early childhood education as the
foundation stage of lifelong learning, early implementation of multicultural education has a
positive effect on helping young children to establish an open and diverse cultural outlook
and enhance international understanding (Ponciano & Shabazian, 2012). Through the
implementation of multicultural education, young children can realize that no nation in the
world can live. In his own national culture, he must live in the context of the world's
multiculturalism. Different ethnic groups need to conduct economic and trade and cultural
interactions, and the cultures of different ethnic groups need to be exchanged and updated.
According to the Education Committee of the 21st Century, the mission of multicultural
education is to educate students to understand the diversity of human beings. Early

EARLY CHILDHOOD MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AND CARE 3
multicultural education should make children aware of the similarities and interdependence
of all people on the planet." (Australian Human Rights Commission 2015). However,
Australia has not yet achieved much as far as early childhood multicultural education is
concerned.
Importance to Early childhood Multicultural Education and Care
Australia must implement multicultural education during early childhood because it is
associated with many benefits. By adopting the multicultural education during early
childhood, the Australian government will be able to enrich children's historical and
geographical knowledge. It will also cultivate children's social skills and cultural skills to
help children understand the relationship between humans and society. By doing so, children
can be fully developed in terms of language, emotion, society, spirit, morality, and culture.
They will lay a solid foundation for a society in the future (Schoorman, 2011). The
multicultural education implemented in early childhood should be a kind of world cultural
enlightenment education. Through the implementation of multicultural education, it helps
children to recognize their culture and other cultures. It also helps them realize their national
customs and different national cultures can learn from each other (Hyland, 2010). Culture is
closely related to the development of human beings. The process of cultural evolution is a
process of consciously or unconsciously, actively or passively shaping people and promoting
human development (Souto-Manning & Mitchell, 2010). The essence of multicultural
education during childhood is to help children realize that they are not only nourished by
their own cultures, but also by other cultures. This is crucial even if this influence is
sometimes indirect and implicit. Through multicultural education, young children should be
able to stand on their own country and their own culture, and look at the diverse cultures of
other countries and other countries with an inclusive attitude and appreciation, and treat other

EARLY CHILDHOOD MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AND CARE 4
states and national cultures amicably (Australian Human Rights Commission 2016).
Multicultural does not only to make young children aware of the rich diversity of the cultures
of countries and nations in the world but also to make them aware of this. The variety of
culture has essential value and significance for the continuation and development of culture
(King, 2015). Young children need to gradually realize that the diversity of lifestyles of
different countries and societies is a reasonable choice for people of these countries. They
also ought to adapt to the natural environment and social environment, and the inevitability of
their existence, and their accumulated experience and experience. Culture is a contribution to
the development of human society and the world (Ang, 2010).
Current government policies and frameworks
Australia's goal of children multicultural education in primary and secondary level is
to guide children to accept and evaluate each individual's uniqueness. It also serves to
increase children's understanding of human identity and gender. Additionally, it helps
children understand their own culture and other people's culture and cultivate children's own
culture (Australian Government 2011). Positive awareness and pride, sensitivity, and
recognition of other people's values, promotion of children's communication, self-control, and
independence.
However, a closer look at Australian early childhood multicultural policy shows that
the country lacks specific strategy for early childhood multicultural education. The existing
systems focus on primary school and secondary schools. This is a concern because early
childhood stage is the best stage for cultural development (Megan, Garth & Greg 2016)..
Australian educational framework
The diversity of the Australian population can be a paradigm of global population
movement. To face the trend of globalization and multiculturalism, Australia is actively

EARLY CHILDHOOD MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AND CARE 5
thinking about multicultural issues. It hopes that ethnic groups with different historical and
cultural backgrounds can be found in Australia develop a shared sense of belonging to
Australia. Similarly, this multiculturalism in Australia is also implemented in the history
education curriculum. From the relationship between the early European immigrants and the
aboriginal history, the 19th-century Asian immigrants, the relationship between the South
Pacific immigrants and Australia, and the contemporary multi-ethnic issues, etc., are the
focus of Australian history education. However, Australia seems to place more emphasis on
multicultural education among primary schools and secondary school. As stated earlier,
multicultural education during early childhood is not appropriately covered in Australia. That
is why there is no clear framework for early childhood multicultural education. There is,
therefore, a need to develop an educational framework that will guide the multicultural
education during early childhood.
The application of pedagogical principles
The goal of early childhood multicultural education should be positioned to enable
young children to recognize the interdependence and mutual reference of the cultures of
countries and nations of the world, and to recognize the significance and value of the
diversity of cultural developments of states and governments around the world. The practice
of multicultural education in kindergartens is to create a multi-educational environment and
create a diverse cultural atmosphere. Second, it is necessary to develop curriculum resources
for multicultural education and to build a new model of garden-based curriculum. Third, it is
essential to carry out rich and diverse multicultural teaching and game activities (Bianco,
2010).
According to the age and cognitive characteristics of young children, teachers can
explore, screen and classify the content and resources of kindergarten multicultural
education. Teachers can focus on four major themes: life culture, etiquette culture, traditional

EARLY CHILDHOOD MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AND CARE 6
culture, and festival culture. A series of theme activities can be designed to help children
deepen their understanding of multiculturalism (Scarlet, 2016). Kindergarten multicultural
education should be based on activity courses, and the design and implementation of a series
of theme activities is the key to ensuring the quality of the activity curriculum. Teachers and
parents can choose content that children are interested in and easy to accept. They should let
children understand different ethnic cultures, feel the diversity and diversity of cultures, and
enhance their understanding of exotic cultures.
Recommendations
As demonstrated, Australia lacks a proper framework for multicultural education
during early childhood. To develop an appropriate pedagogical framework for early
childhood multicultural education, Australia should focus on a number of recommendations.
The first recommendation is the need to create a multi-educational environment and
create a diverse cultural atmosphere. The kindergarten's internal environment, especially the
existing design of a special environment rich in the essential elements of national culture, is a
capable carrier of the edifying children's mind (Scarlet, 2016). In the implementation of
multicultural education, teachers need to combine the creation of an excellent physical
environment and interpersonal environment, and multicultural education in the choice and
use of various environments.
First of all, it should create a suitable explicit and intuitive material environment.
To understand the culture of other countries, it is necessary to use the design of the material
environment to display the most iconic cultural elements of these countries explicitly. It is
also important to pay attention to the study of tacit knowledge and the accumulation of
experience. Have experience with other cultures. To this end, kindergartens can highlight the

EARLY CHILDHOOD MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AND CARE 7
pursuit of multiculturalism through explicit environments such as display walls, corridors,
and classroom layouts.
Second, an activity area that reflects the cultural characteristics of different
countries should be created. Under the guidance of the open, atmospheric, comprehensive
and diversified overall environmental creation goals, the ecological design of each class
should focus on the cultural characteristics of specific countries, such as the display of
different styles in Italy, the United States, Austria, Japan, South Korea, and other countries.
Kindergarten classes can express the cultural characteristics of different countries through
language zones, performance zones, and art districts. For example, in the language area,
books, magazines and audio-visual materials can be placed in different text versions. Through
reading these materials, children can learn about the customs of different countries. In the
performance area, they can provide various ethnic styles of costumes and headwear to show
the oriental countries and In Western countries, musical instruments and audio tapes can be
used by young children to play games and enjoy music. In the art district, the works of
masters of paintings from all over the world can be displayed. Children can get beautiful
infections and multiculturalism by appreciating works of art. In addition, teachers can use
environmental design to discover children's points of interest, capture valuable generation
points, and organize young children to understand and discover the characteristics of foreign
cultures (Koleth, 2010).
Another recommendation is the need to develop curriculum resources suitable for
multicultural education is an important condition for effective implementation of
multicultural education. The departments in charge of education should develop various
relevant curriculum resources and build a new garden-based curriculum model based on the
concepts of “cultural self-esteem” and “cultural respect”. If teachers design the theme
network, they should link the positive emotions of young children with the multicultural

EARLY CHILDHOOD MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AND CARE 8
experience, guide children to feel and realize the uniqueness and diversity of culture, and
learn to respect, understand and appreciate multiculturalism; In the process of education,
attention should be paid to enhancing the sense of national identity of young children and
helping young children to establish an attitude of respecting and tolerating various cultures.
This means that the content of the course should not be centered on a certain culture, but
should be inclusive of various cultures and appear in the form of theme activities (Scarlet,
2016). A number of small-themed activities form a complete thematic system, each of which
involves the physical geography, human landscape and traditional culture of different
countries and races. Teachers can choose content that children are interested in and accept,
such as local customs, food, games, song and dance, art, etc., so that children can understand
different ethnic cultures, feel the diversity and diversity of culture, and guide children in the
process of understanding these different cultures. Achieve mutual understanding, acceptance
and respect.
Conclusion
The paper has demonstrated the importance of implementing early childhood
multicultural education in Australia. Early childhood multicultural education prepares
children to fit the current global environment. Through multicultural education, young
children should be able to stand on their own country and their own culture, and look at the
diverse cultures of other countries and other countries with an inclusive attitude and
appreciation, and treat other countries and national cultures amicably It has also revealed that
there are a lot of gaps as far as early childhood multicultural education is concerned. For
example, it is apparent that Australia lacks firm pedagogical framework for multicultural
education during early childhood. The country has placed more focus on primary and
secondary education at expense of the early childhood education. That is why the paper
advocate for early childhood multicultural education. The paper has demonstrated that early

EARLY CHILDHOOD MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AND CARE 9
childhood multicultural education is a social justice that must be treated with a lot of
seriousness.

EARLY CHILDHOOD MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AND CARE 10
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