Call for Applications – Sustainability Ambassadors Program

Claudia Diaz-Diaz, PhD, Educational Studies

Places that Speak: Diversity and Social Responsibility in Canadian
Supervisor(s): Mona Gleason
Tuesday, February 18, 2020 | 4:00 PM | Graduate Student Centre, 6371 Crescent Road, Room 200

Abstract

A multicultural approach to diversity and social responsibility still prevails in Canadian early childhood education despite the critiques of Indigenous and early childhood education scholars. Acritical multicultural pedagogies have failed to interrupt the assimilation of children’s cultural backgrounds and continue to divert attention from the legacies of colonialism and racism in contemporary society. In 2019, the British Columbia Ministry of Education launched the revamped version of the Early Learning Framework which has committed to acknowledging the impact of colonialism while fostering children’s relationships with place. In light of this commitment, diversity and social responsibility need to be reconceptualized.
This dissertation investigates how young children encounter and learn about diversity and responsibility through the places they do and do not have access to in early childhood education. Taking a critical place inquiry approach, this study examines children’s relationships with place in a childcare centre located in a highly urbanized and culturally diverse neighbourhood in East Vancouver, Canada. First, I examine the prevalent narratives and practices about diversity and social responsibility that take place in the neighbourhood as well as within the childcare centre. Then, I identify the barriers that impede educators and children from encountering diversity and engage in responsible relationships toward place.
The analysis suggests that multicultural pedagogies continue to prevent educators and children from learning about the impact of colonialism in Canada. Early childhood policies, curriculum, and pedagogies implement – to different degrees – forms of protection by setting up boundaries, although sometimes necessary, in tension with pedagogies that support diversity and responsibility. More specifically, I demonstrate that: 1) adult concerns about children’s safety may preclude opportunities for them to engage with Indigeneity in the neighbourhood reinforcing settler-colonial practices in early childhood education; and that 2) pedagogies that foster responsibility as dependent on the individual child not only limit access to certain places but also impede children’s engagement with responsible practices toward place. I conclude by discussing how the understanding of children’s relationships with place allows researchers and educators to reconceptualize the notions of diversity and responsibility in early childhood education and support educators in fostering children’s encounters with diversity through place.

Lay Summary

In the context of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Canadian early childhood education needs to rethink its curriculum and pedagogies. This study examines how young children (3-5 years old) learn about diversity and social responsibility in a childcare centre in East Vancouver through their relationships with place. The study demonstrates that critical multicultural pedagogies not only continue to prevent educators and children from learning about the impact of colonialism in Canada, but also impose key barriers between children and place. The key barriers are two: adult concerns about children’s safety and an understanding of social responsibility mainly as the child’s ability to self-regulate. Together, these barriers may preclude opportunities for them to engage with Indigeneity and a sense of collective responsibility so much needed in current times. Knowledge on these barriers allows early childhood educators to reconceptualize the notions of diversity and responsibility and foster meaningful encounters with diversity through children’s relationships with their place.