In the Loop Winter 2016

JUNE 2016 MARKS THE END OF THE BICULTURAL
SUPPORT SERVICE (BSS) AT MDA WHICH HAS BEEN
DELIVERED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE WORKFORCE
COUNCIL SINCE 2007.
We have been privileged to spend these almost ten years
working hand in hand with educators, children and families.
The goals of the program have been to increase the capacity
of ECEC services to engage and meet the specific needs of
children and families from culturally and linguistically diverse
(CALD) backgrounds. The program has aimed to achieve this
though mentoring, role modelling, workshops and practical
support, enabling services to gain skills, knowledge and
confidence to successfully include children and families from
diverse backgrounds in ECEC.
In this time several hundred educators have invited us to walk
alongside them as they have journeyed along their own path to
greater cultural competence. They have offered us the privilege
of supporting them as they have built more culturally inclusive
services.
The heart and essence of this program has always been the
unique cultural knowledge, insight and perspective that our
pool of 290 CSWs have so generously shared. To our CSWs
we say; it is impossible to overstate how crucial that your skills
have been to this program. Without exception, each one of you
have brought so much more to this role than any job description
required of you. Thank you for taking the hands of children,
educators and families and wrapping them in a warm cultural
experience. Thank you for being our most important teachers
during this journey.
One of our greatest pleasures has been for us to watch “our”
CSWs gain valuable work experience in the sector with many
going on to begin child care qualifications and ultimately
become employed as educators. The economic participation of
these motivated and deserving people with uniquely valuable
skills is one of the unmeasured achievements of the program.
If CSWS have been our greatest teachers, educators have
been our greatest inspiration. As we have witnessed the
joy and satisfaction of educators and directors as they have
forged connections with children and families from diverse
backgrounds, the most important stories of this program have
been revealed. Those of children and families who, as a result
of the support and friendship shown by the ECEC service,
become empowered members of the community. These stories
of success have also provided us with the evidence that has
helped to direct and refine the bicultural support program.
Thank you to the inspirational educators that we have had the
pleasure to journey with.
Our experience has shown us that educators own lives are
enriched by embracing culturally diverse families who are
often new and on the fringe of the community. Educators have
shared with us their stories of how the gratitude of families has
been humbling and enriching for them but has also broadened
their world and opened the door to new communities. These
communities are now an important resource for those educators.
“I know how scary it can be in another country,
with different foods, smells and systems of work.
One of my priorities is always to establish rapport
and make families feel welcome. A few words
of greeting in home language can make all the
difference in putting someone at ease and showing
that we respect and are interested in their culture”
EDUCATOR
It is likely that the most meaningful achievements of this
program have not been measured, reported or documented.
For there is no way to measure how valuing a small child’s
cultural identity may affect the trajectory of their life. There
is no easy way for us to measure how raising a generation
of culturally sensitive children will affect the way our society
looks in the decades to come. However, the stories shared by
educators do give us some insights into how this important
work may be helping to achieve a unified, tolerant society.
Teach them well and they lead the way.
WHITNEY HOUSTON
The Culture in Practice book produced in 2015 was born
out of a desire to capture; in a meaningful and lasting way,
some of the many successes that we have witnessed when
educators further open their hearts and minds to diversity. It
is important that all children and educators understand the
importance of respect for and acceptance of our diversity
so that the future of multicultural Australia is a bright one.
Our hope was that this publication would inspire others to
understand the importance of embedding language and
culture into early education programs so that children from a
CALD background are able to thrive. We were delighted and
proud to produce this publication.
The Cultural Expo held in 2014 was a proud moment
where we got to watch our CSWs in action as they met
educators and gave them a taste of our program. Many
new services were introduced to the program on that day in
a colourful, flavourful, musical, visual bazar of culture and
storytelling. A lasting memory is of educators, ISFs and CSWs
in traditional cultural clothing dancing together to Persian
music. Feedback was rapturous and educators left the day
with great enthusiasm for reviewing their practice, for BSS
and genuine warmth toward the CSWs and communities
represented. ‘I came home with a load of resources and an
abundance of enthusiasm to embed culture into our program. I
have been raving about the expo.’ From this began wonderful
collaborations between BSS and several services.
WORKFORCE.ORG.AU 5