Diversity in teaching and learning:
Practitioners' perspectives in a multicultural early childhood
setting in Australia
Sylvia Buchori
Toni Dobinson
Curtin University
ENCOUNTERS WITH DOMINANT sociocultural values begin with the early childhood classroom
setting.This qualitative study reported the perceptions that early childhood educators in an
Australian setting had of their culturally diverse classrooms and the pedagogic practices
they implemented to address the needs of the children from diverse cultural backgrounds
in their care. Findings highlighted the dilemmas that teachers face in trying to value and
preserve children's background cultures while at the same time enabling transition into the
new dominant culture.Teachers in the study sometimes viewed children's previous cultural
backgrounds as a burden, being preoccupied with conformity into the dominant culture. At
the same time, they were concerned for students who were not performing to curriculum
standards and fearful of not meeting their own expectations, those of the system and those of
the children's parents