Belonging, being and becoming: Possibilities and challenges of Australia's Early Years Learning Framework supporting displaced children and families

Australia’s Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) offers possibilities and challenges for supporting young children and families who experience significant global displacement, disruption and dislocation. Tagged as... [ view full abstract ]

Australia’s Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) offers possibilities and challenges for supporting young children and families who experience significant global displacement, disruption and dislocation. Tagged as belonging, being and becoming, the EYLF provides a platform for the participation and representation of displaced children and families in early childhood education and care settings in ways that recognize and cater for their experience of displacement. Unprecedented displacement is a growing feature of both the Global South and the Global North, with new global flows of people, ideas, technologies and languages both challenging and enabling early childhood education and care to cater for the complex needs of children and families. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates the displacement of more than 25 million children (many unaccompanied by an adult) due to war and/or natural disaster, with migration experiences typically attended by significant trauma and limited access to social networks to support language and cultural practices. Against the backcloth of significant displacement of young children and families within and between the Global South and the Global North, the presentation draws upon the work of Bourdieu (1988) to consider the ways in which the EYLF can promote social inclusion and participation in sites of meaningful cultural production. While recognising the complexity of the displacement, the presentation also considers pedagogical approaches to overcoming the barriers to social inclusion and participation and working towards social justice in changing global contexts.