Transition to child care for children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds

Abstract

Children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are particularly vulnerable to stress when beginning child care. High stress levels not only impact on children's transition into child care, but can have undesirable long-term consequences if not handled appropriately. In Australia, there is provision for specialist personnel (called bicultural support workers in this study) to facilitate the transition into care of children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. This paper reports data from interviews with parents from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds whose children attended child care, caregivers in centres who worked with children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and bicultural support workers. Recommendations are made for quality practice during the transition phase into child care services for children and families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. For young children the transition between home and child care is a difficult process. Child care represents a new environment, with new people, new routines, new play opportunities and unknown peers. Ensuring the transition is a positive experience is crucial for children's development. Children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds enter child care unfamiliar with many components of Australian culture and child-rearing practices. The environment is unfamiliar and often they cannot communicate with the adults and children they encounter, especially if verbal and non-verbal communication are different between cultural groups. Play experiences may also be new to them, and for some children there may not be one aspect of the environment (human and physical) which is familiar. This means there is a much higher risk that children from CALD backgrounds will experience a difficult transition into child care. A difficult transition experience means children are likely to feel less secure and more stressed, which may lead to difficulties participating in learning opportunities. They may also be less likely to develop secure attachments to caregivers, which puts them at risk of social isolation and developmental disadvantage. Recent biological research indicates that children experiencing high stress levels are more at risk of impaired neurological development. Facilitating positive transition experiences for children from CALD backgrounds is important. This study investigates transition for children from CALD backgrounds, and makes recommendations for practice.