C O U R S E   5   -   7   M A R C H   2 0 2 3

Inclusion and intercultural competence

Two types of inclusion

• At the door (acceptability) » who can enter, who can participate?
  • Equal access for everyone
  • Exclusion can be deliberate » it can be a choice. Someone (e.g. the state) can decide for you whether you can participate or not
  • Exclusion as an implicit consequence (e.g. buildings with only stairs or paid access to extracurricular activities)
• Behind the door (belongingness)
  • Two main elements:
    
    • Related to diversity (positive attitude towards diversity)
    • Related to well-being (sense of belongingness)
  • Pastori et al. (2019) defines it as a four-step process
    
    • Inclusion as acknowledging diversity » acknowledging differences
    • Inclusion as valuing diversity » positive attitude towards diversity, viewing it as a good thing
    • Inclusion as accepting diversity » when we acknowledge and value differences, we can accept people for who they are
    • Inclusion as well-being 

What is important to children?

• Language use
• Safe spaces for learning
• Competent professionals

Language use

• Also called: mother tongue, L1 (first language)
• In the Netherlands, 1 of 5 children grow up in multilingual households with Dutch as L2
• Predominant focus on majority language in Europe. Teachers find it very important, they have strong monolingual beliefs (they value the majority language the most)
  • Multilingual beliefs and practices cause shared understanding among teachers (at a local and national level)
  • Multilingual beliefs are stronger for professionals who work with younger children » the professionals who work in e.g. daycare are more positive towards the children’s home language than professionals working with older children
  • Focus on the majority language has led to a devaluation of the home language (teachers say the home language is not as important as the majority language)
    
    • Use of home language is actively banned in (pre)schools
    • Differences  in appreciation related to cultural-ethnic background and social class
  • Language has a cognitive and social-emotional function
    
    • Easier to express emotions in L1
    • Language is part of your (social) identity
    • When there are positive multilingual practices and beliefs, it improves children’s well-being
  • Why is inclusion of home languages not common practice in schools?
    • Misconceptions about multilingualism and language development. Teachers believe there are different ‘boxes’ for different languages (parallel monolingualism) and home language portrayed as a barrier to success (deficiency perspective
    • Professionals feel ill-prepared to teach multilingual children. They lack knowledge, skills and tools to effectively support multilingualism.
• Proficiency in home language of children is related to/has a positive effect on proficiency in majority language

Safe spaces for learning

• Freedom to determine the time, space and content of activities (e.g. social interaction). (pre)schools are spaces that are co-owned by children » it’s not about us building schools and drop those kids there, it’s about ‘co-owning’ the space to feel safe
• Bridging between home context and school context
  • Crossing boundaries are harder for children from cultural minority backgrounds
  • Cultural barriers even hinder participation in ECEC
  • We should help children in this bridging process, so they feel represented
  • (Pre)schools should help children in the bridging process, they should represent important parts of children’s identities (themselves and their families and cultural customs)
• How can we assure all children feel represented in the classroom?
  • Role models » diverse staff in school (teachers, other professionals)
  • Materials
    
    • Books, stories and instructional materials » diversity in people in the books (gender, skin color, age, ability), also diversity in the heroes/main characters in the book, diversity in families, diversity in stories, stories that talk about valuing/accepting diversity
    • Materials for (role)play » diversity in figures in attributes
    • Materials for realistic crafts » children are often asked to recreate themselves or people close to them, material should give them the same possibilities
    • Decoration that represents different backgrounds » pictures or drawings of (extended) families, attention for children’s backgrounds and art, symbols and materials that they recognize from their homes.
  • Activities that actively teach children to acknowledge, value and accept diverse customs
    
    • World orientations (differences and similarities)
    • Celebrating (customs, food, holidays)
    • ‘difficult’ topics (starting at a young age)
• On average a low regard for diversity in Dutch classrooms » that’s problematic for several reasons:
  • Not all children are represented > negative impact on inclusion
  • Segregation: first step inclusion (recognizing diversity)
• No regard for step 2/3 (valuing and accepting)
  • Telling all children there is just one story

Interculturally competent professionals

• Children want competent professionals that make them feel welcome and valued (also their family) » intercultural competences (professionals’ intercultural knowledge, skills, belief systems and actions from a human rights perspective in which diversity is highly valued)
• Are professionals interculturally competent?
  • Professionals feel ill-prepared in dealing with cultural and linguistic diversity in the classroom
  • Need for professional development to strengthen competences
• Importance of belief systems (= set of developed assumptions, beliefs, attitudes and values)
• Beliefs systems and practices/behavior are related. The relationship is complex and often implicit. What you explicitly believe about something does not always align with how you behave
• Belief systems that play a role in inclusion:
  • Color-blindness
  • Bias
  • Self-efficacy

Color blindness

= Seeing beyond ‘color’ (and cultural differences) when interacting with people from different backgrounds

• It emphasizes the importance of treating all people equal
• Dominant perspective in schools across Europe (and other sectors)
• Color-blind beliefs are problematic (≠ inclusion)
  • Ignorance to oneself
  • Ignorance to the other » equality as sameness

Bias

= Disproportionate weight in favor of or against an idea, thing or person

• Teacher bias in schools: teachers’ expectations of students that are based on factors other than prior (academic) achievement (e.g., gender, race, SES, info from other teachers/parents)
• Common biases (implicit)
  • “Boys are better in science and technology”
  • “Ethnic minority children are less intelligent”
  • “Black boys show more problem behavior”
• Common behaviors and practices
  • Teachers respond more positive to constructions build by boys
  • Less interaction and lower quality feedback
  • More disciplinary referrals for black boys
• Bias in child welfare systems: professionals’ positive or negative attitude, assumption, or judgment of any particular racial or cultural group that affects child welfare decision-making practices and policies
  • Negative perceptions about persons of color » disproportionate representation (of children of color)
  • Individual bias «» systemic bias
    
    • Reciprocal relationship between individuals and system policies
    • Similar mechanism in multilingualism
    • The system in itself also has the bias that it favors some people more than others

Self-efficacy

• Rooted in social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1977)
  • Motivational construct: not how competent you are, but how competent you feel
  • Domain specific: differences in context, subject, populations
• Cyclic relation with experiences you have and practices you engage in
  • Self-fulfilling prophecies » if you have an experience with success it builds you self-efficacy, which makes you more likely to engage in such experiences again (and vice versa)
• Self-efficacy in ECEC/PE related to inclusion
  • General (how competent teachers feel about themselves) vs diversity-related (how competent teachers feel while dealing with children from different backgrounds) self-efficacy
  • Classroom diversity (how much experience do teachers on a daily basis have with diverse children) and multicultural practices (e.g. celebrating holidays, adjusting lessons to represent all the children)
• Direct effects
  • Multicultural practices are more present in diverse classrooms
  • Multicultural practices more used by teachers with high diversity-related self-efficacy (not general self-efficacy)
  • Diversity-related self-efficacy is higher in diverse classrooms (similar results in high schools)
• Indirect effect through diversity-related self-efficacy
  • Self-fulfilling prophecy (cyclic relation)
  • Raising self-efficacy by creating opportunities to experience diversity

Professional development

• How do we make professionals better?
  • All actions and activities focused on education, training and development opportunities for professionals with the ultimate goal of improving children’s development and educational outcomes
• PD can be effective to improve intercultural competences, if…
  • Embedded and contextual approach
    
    • Not one size fits all
    • Needs assessment on the context
    • Including key persons in the organization (e.g., managers, counselors)
    • Resources (time and materials)
    • Policies can hinder or support (e.g., multilingualism)
  • Guided critical reflection
    
    • Reflection as intellectual and affective activities in which professionals explore their experiences in order to create new understandings and appreciation (Boud et al., 2013)
    • Not all forms are equally effective
      
      • Critical reflection (deeper level of understanding) is a skills
      • Not all professionals possess such reflective skills
      • Process should be triggered (e.g., new knowledge/views)
      • Process should be guided
      • Reflecting together in diverse teams seems promising
  • Sustainable enactment
    
    • Enactment is a mechanism that goes beyond merely ‘acting’, it’s the translation of a belief, knowledge or experience into action (Clark & Hollingsworth, 2002)
    • Important for sustainable change (i.e., impact on child outcomes)
      
      • Merely changing beliefs is not enough
      • Active process of creating new inclusive practices
      • Both young and experienced professionals find this hard

Summary

• Inclusion is important for children’s well-being
• Our (early) childcare and education systems are not that inclusive (yet!)
• More diversity in teams and materials
• Organization policies that value and celebrate diversity
  • Not color-blind
  • Positive towards multilingualism
• Invest in professionals (professional development) by targeting beliefs and practices through reflection and enactment