Page 74 - PSPS: A Training guide

Different religious concepts and rules also determine the way children dress, behave,
communicate, when they eat or drink, what type of sports activities are acceptable for
whom and how, and these differences also need attention.
Many of the elements determining one culture are not explicitly talked about or visible
initially, so in order to understand the children’s needs, teachers and other
professionals need to communicate with not just parents or carers, but also with other
members of the same cultural group and other specialists. Reading about and
searching for information about the cultural norms of the group from which a child
comes can also help in understanding the child’s background and subsequent needs.

Addressing those Needs

What can help in preparation for and in the process of meeting migrant children’s
needs?

For teachers:

In order to meet a migrant child’s needs, teachers and education specialists need to
acquire knowledge about the background of the child (to know), need to feel
confident in how best to engage with a particular child (to develop strategy), need to
be willing to learn more and try more options (to have drive) and they need to act upon
gained knowledge and the strategy they have developed (to act).

Before any attempt to address the needs of a migrant child and especially the
one from a different cultural background, an honest self-assessment of a
teacher is very useful.

A teacher should self-examine his/her attitudes, opinions, (un)conscious bias,
prejudice against diverse cultures, religious beliefs and ethnicities. This exercise will
raise the awareness of personal readiness to welcome and accept different migrant
children and families, and will point to the preparatory work needed.

An assessment of the available resources (books, stories, poems, picture etc.)
to enable migrant children coming from different countries and regions to see
themselves reflected in the school environment and content is also very
important.
As part of the preparatory work, an assessment of various multi-cultures represented
in books, stories, poems or drawings/pictures is useful. Every child likes to see a
reflection of him/herself in the activities in the class. If a story has a character coming
from the same country or region of the migrant child and the character is positive, the
child will immediately feel part of the story. Simultaneously, it will increase the interest
of other children to learn more about a peer who comes from the same country as a
positive character in the story or book.