Australia is an increasingly multicultural nation, with recent Census data indicating almost one third of Australians were born overseas and 22% of people speak a language other than English at home (ABS, 2021). At the same time, our ECEC workforce is grappling with severe staff shortages, with national demand estimated to increase 17% by 2025, Emily Campbell writes.
Professor Marilyn Campbell, from Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education has looked at the urgent need for greater diversity in Australia’s ECEC workforce and why we must increase efforts to support culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) preservice teachers to thrive in the profession.
CALD families face barriers
Along with her PhD student Yan Qi, Professor Campbell recently wrote a paper exploring how greater diversity among ECEC staff can address the twin problems of sector staff shortages and unmet multicultural family needs.
“It is recognised that early childhood education is critical for the health, education and welfare of all children,” Professor Campbell said.
“Research from the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) shows that children from CALD families are less likely to attend an ECEC program than children from English-speaking families, which can negatively impact their academic outcomes,” she said.
The reasons for this are varied and complex, ranging from financial disadvantage experienced by refugee and CALD families to language barriers like non-acceptance of bilingualism and a lack of interpreters to assist CALD parents with minimal or no English.
Professor Campbell said in addition to language barriers, cultural barriers presented challenges to children from CALD families transitioning smoothly to ECEC settings.
“Unfamiliarity with the English language, cultural practices of eating and sleeping, differences in play with peers and divergent expectations from adults can all exacerbate the transition,” she explained.
“CALD parents can have difficulty too, and there have been studies which show sometimes they will struggle with sending their children to an ECEC centre,” Professor Campbell said.
Logistical tasks and knowledge that English-speaking parents might take for granted can prove challenging for CALD parents unfamiliar with how ECEC centres operate.
“These parents may need assistance with administrative tasks like enrolling their children and might be unfamiliar with what needs to be packed in a child’s bag to attend kindergarten, pick up and drop off times,” Professor Campbell said.
“Additionally, CALD parents may have different expectations or values which might not align with what is being taught.
“For example, in some cultures, parents place higher importance on their children learning to conform, whereas many English-speaking Australian ECEC teachers value children’s creativity, individuality and celebrate difference.
“The cultural difference in child-rearing and education can be complicated for parents to grasp, and if they do not speak or understand English, this can be difficult to explain to them.
“It may even lead CALD parents to withdraw their children from ECEC programs,” she said.
Diversity benefits everyone
Professor Campbell said the logical solution to this problem is to train and employ more ECEC professionals from CALD communities.
“Not only would it help create culturally safe places for CALD families to confidently bring their children, but it could provide relief to staffing pressures,” she said.
“A culturally diverse workforce would be beneficial by allowing CALD children who attend to identify with staff and develop their own identity.
“Not only for CALD children but also children from English-speaking homes, who also must be brought up in and exposed to the multicultural society they’ll be living in.
“It is important for children to observe people of all cultures working together.
“If children don’t see people of their own ethnicity or speaking their language in positions of trust, love, protection, and power in society, what are they going to think?” she said.
Professor Campbell said some of the existing ECEC staff from CALD backgrounds chose to work in the sector because their higher qualifications in another field, such as engineering or medicine, were obtained overseas and are not recognised in Australia.
This is problematic, as a lack of formal qualifications and career paths for staff in the field can compromise the provision of high-quality ECEC.
“It would seem prudent to train and employ more CALD ECEC staff to alleviate some of these problems and bolster the qualified staff available to work in the sector, given the quality of teachers is widely considered to be the single most important educational variable influencing student achievement,” Professor Campbell said.
“The increasingly demanding nature of their work coupled with the fact that ECEC workers are the 13th lowest paid workers in Australia, has largely contributed to the sector’s staff shortage crisis,” she said.
Professor Campbell said to effect change, there needs to be a cultural shift in how ECEC workers and their contributions are perceived and valued.
“Our culture seems to value university and tertiary level academics by paying them substantially more money and recognition than early childhood teachers.
“While university lecturers are guiding people who already know how to learn, ECEC staff are doing the heavy lifting and have the most effect on shaping children’s development,” Professor Campbell said.
Supporting CALD preservice teachers
While extra funding to increase wages and more staff to alleviate the heavy burden could help overcome some of the staffing issues, the training problems are more complicated to address.
Professor Campbell said the growth of CALD domestic student enrolments in Australia has increased, and this cohort of students faces additional barriers to successfully completing their initial teacher education (ITE) programs.
“Unfortunately, these students tend to fail the practicum components of their ECEC teaching degrees more frequently than their Anglo-Australian peers,” she said.
“Educational practices are often very different from the country of origin, so they can have difficulty navigating tertiary study.
“Many of them experience concerns related to their English language proficiency and how to speak to the parents and carers of children they are teaching.
“The English language is so nuanced and difficult, and not just the grammar – native speakers pick up on nuances, but missed nuances, particularly during practicums, can lead to huge misunderstandings.
“In some cultures which value conformity, students may not be seen to take initiative because they were not given explicit permission or instructed by the supervising teacher to do something, like getting paint supplies from the cupboard ahead of an art lesson.
Steps to support
To better support CALD preservice ECEC teachers and help them thrive in the classroom, Professor Campbell and Yan Qi’s paper suggests the following ways to enhance ITE:
•pre-practicum programs for CALD students
•training for practicum supervisors
•cultural competence teaching for all, and
•inclusive education experienced by CALD students at university.
“Cultural competence training, for both university staff and practicum supervising teachers, would allow diversity to be embraced and viewed as a strength, rather than a setback,” Professor Campbell said.
“Although existing pre-practicum programs to assist CALD students have reportedly been beneficial, many of them, paradoxically, try to have students change to fit in, as though they are a problem to be fixed.
“To be culturally competent, one must be aware and respectful of cultural differences and skills shown through behaviour and attitude to teaching students from different cultural backgrounds,” she said.
Professor Campbell said more research is needed into the experiences of and barriers faced by CALD workers in the ECEC sector.
“As acknowledged by the Productivity Commission, we need to promote and support a diverse and educated ECEC workforce,” she said.
“In such a multicultural society like Australia, it has to be a given,” Professor Campbell said.
Read the full research paper at:journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/18369391221104353
Reference
Qi, Y. and Campbell, M. (2022). Encouraging diversity in the early childhood education and care workforce. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 47(3), 233–240. https://doi.org/10.1177/18369391221104353