Social Justice Early Childhood Education â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Social Justice In Early Childhood Education And Care? Answer: Introduction The growth and development stages of a child are very important in their transition to adulthood. Children learn best from the environments they are exposed to and from the people surrounding them. Therefore since most of the critical years of growth in the life of a child are spend in school and with their educators it is important to note that these educators play a vital role in their development and how they view the issues they face or likely to face in the world (Adams, 2016). Most important is to understand the social justice issues in their early development which are passed during their early childhood education and care. It is therefore important for educators to understand and teach children concerning such the issues to the children. Parents also play a greater role in the growth and development of the lives of their children and therefore should be in fore front of addressing these issues in their life. The understanding of social justice is based on the concept of understanding human rights, equity and a just and equitable society. However, children at their early childhood and also individuals at higher growth and development levels find it hard to understand what fairness or fair really mean (Adams Bell, 2016). This essay will, therefore, provide an understanding of what really it means to be fair in line with the social justice advocacy in early childhood and care as well as provide recommendations which can be used to promote positive social change for equity childhood. Programs in early childhood adopt social justice and ecological coaching as a front issue in ensuring effective early childhood development. They prioritize culturally sensitive and anti-bias learning and coaching with the aim of addressing issues of fairness and unfairness among children. The essay hence evaluates and clearly presents the aspects of social justice in relation to early childhood development. Th e essay identifies different aspects and issues that have both direct and indirect effects on various facets of social justice among children with a primary focus on the meaning of fairness. The theory of cognitive development by Jean Piaget as well as the Social learning theory by Albert Bandura plays a vital role in the understanding of early childhood behavior as they form part of the early childhood education and care through their educators and parents (Demetriou et al. 2016). The theory of cognitive development helps us understand that children development occurs through information processing, through conceptual resources, language learning as well as through other aspects of brain development. While on the other hand, the social learning theory argues that people tend or usually learn from one another through observation, imitation and also through modeling (Rosenthal Zimmerman, 2014). Children are therefore believed to interpret or make sense of things or the world around them by observing and interpreting the environment and the people in it. In a social world that is characterized by inequalities resulting from race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, rel igion among other inequalities which have been used to group individuals children grow up accepting these ethnic backgrounds, the religion they find their parents in, the socio economic status and family structures as well as the communities they grow in (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al. 2015). This forms the basis of their judgments as they make their judgments based on what they see in the world around them. It has been a common phrase to many people in the modern society today that life isnt fair perhaps this makes us question what fairness means and why is it that almost everyone wants fairness or to be treated in a fair manner. How can educators help children understand what is fair and just? Fairness is something that every individual wants in our daily interactions and something that children need to learn (SensoyDiAngelo, 2017). To children it can mean so many things including sharing with others, playing a game with the rules, taking turns when talking or even playing, listening to others and seeing many sides of one issue. If understood from that children view it would be easier for educators to teach to them what really means to be fair and just. Good character traits in individuals dont just happen they need to be taught and nurtured in children. Social justice in early childhood education and care aims for better participation in alignment with and adherence to international h uman rights and therefore works with the groups interested in the rights of children. Many people find it hard to understand fairness as it is commonly and in most cases misunderstood for equality or being equal. However fair does not mean equal. Children in early childhood education as said earlier provide the basis of understanding of the understanding of the social justice in the world. Due to the inevitable human nature, we all have a likelihood of being selfish and therefore that makes us want everything to work to our benefit or to our good and so it does to children (Pianta et al. 2015). It becomes difficult to see the other side of an issue as we are so filled or preoccupied with our self-being. Fairness in general terms can be said to be the impartial or just treatment or behavior without favoritism or discrimination. Early childhood education provides the best platform therefore for teaching fairness and justice and developing a generation that is conscious of its behavior or treatment to other people (Bloch et al. 2014). Through playing together, sharing of items, taking turns or even observing certain game rules act as a foundation of teaching and learning fair and just treatment for others. The importance of the meaning of fairness or the fair concept in early childhood education and care can be seen through the understanding of the anti-bias education curriculum in school. This is an approach that has been developed for early childhood education to set forth value based principles as well as methodology designed in support of respecting and embracing differences and acting against bias and unfairness (Nucci et al. 2014). It is important in early childhood development as it creates a climate of positive self among the children as well as group identity development through which every child will be in a position to achieve his or her fullest academic and social capabilities and potentials. Since children make comparisons among themselves by looking at ways through which they are similar and different to each other they learn that differently is okay and it is not good to use their differences to discriminate against each other or create some inequalities. This creates th e foundation for respecting and valuing differences among themselves or evident in their social groups beyond their own families and communities. The curriculum aims at teaching for change which focuses on social justice in education. The understanding of fairness or learning to be fair in early childhood education through the anti-bias education is important as it provides an opportunity for each child to demonstrate self-awareness, confidence, have pride in his or her family and develop positive social identities. Dermas sparks also argue that it provides a platform where children can express comfort and joy with the human diversity as well as recognize unfairness and develop a language to describe unfairness as well as understanding the fact that unfairness hurts (Davis, 2014). The knowledge of fairness in the life of a child is also important as it helps them demonstrate empowerment and the strength as well as the skills to act with others or alone in pursuit of fairness and against prejudice and discriminatory actions or behaviors. It, therefore, leads to the development of a generation that is self-conscious of social justice and a generation that is united against inequalities, all forms of discrimination a gainst those who are systematically and institutionally disadvantaged by their race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, and economic status as well as by religion and sexual orientation. The Australian government has always seen children as the future economic resources or as the countrys future and therefore has placed a lot of importance in them by investing highly in educational development (Hawkins, 2014). In Australia schooling is seen as an educational policy rather than law and therefore the protection of children from all forms of injustices, inequalities or forms of abuse is the responsibility of everyone including the children educators, the parents, the government as well as the government? One of the policies which the Australian government has put in place to solve the issues of unfairness in early childhood education is the policy of social inclusion which acts under the principle of social justice and the human rights movements. The policy provides equal opportunity to the children with disabilities to equal accessibility to education and schooling and the right to parents to take their children to the school of their choice without any form of discrim ination. The policy has seen therefore the development of a standard form of education for students with disabilities. This has great influence to the children learning about fairness as they can observe in their classrooms despite the physical differences they all have equal opportunity (Rutland Killen, 2015). The government has also established a national framework for protecting children 2009-2020 which aims at placing the interests of children at the center of everything. The government believes that children deserve a safe and a healthy and happy childhood and therefore should be protected from all forms of inequalities by teaching them on how to be fair and just to each other. It has also supported the development of the anti- bias curriculum which has played a vital role in the development of a socially conscious and just generation. The aim of early childhood education and care is to ensure that children achieve positive outcomes. For this to be achieved, their educators must employ the effective use of pedagogy. This refers to an art or science of education which incorporates an array of teaching and learning strategies that support intellectual engagement, connectedness to the larger society, recognition of differences as well as enabling a supportive classroom environment (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al. 2015). This application can be achieved through facilitating children right to play since playing plays an important role in a child development. It can also be done through ensuring that children respect the play since many games played by children have rules designed to teach them important skills and ethics as well as behaviors and can effectively teach on the subject of fairness and justice to the children. The educators should also model inclusive behavior practice and attitudes amongst the children during times of playing and also they should ensure that they create a culture of participation in the classroom as it provides a platform for setting the appropriate classroom environment for learning (Basford Bath, 2014). The educators should also use play as a learning vehicle and therefore they should be keen in identifying the different behaviors, attitudes, talents, and character of the children at this stage which will help in understanding the children better than it is the case of classroom environment where many children are dull and fail to participate in class activities. Social justice in early childhood education is a concept that has to be taught to the children and also to their educators. The understanding of fairness as an impartial and just treatment is therefore very important in child development and to the growth of a socially just society. However, it is recommended that parents should take also a lead role in teaching their children on social justice since they also spent most of their time with them (Adams Bell, 2016). A child that observes his or her parents behaving in a manner that is not appropriate may translate that to be a positive behavior and therefore they should be careful on with the types of environments they expose their children to. It is also recommended that other than the anti-bias curriculum development, the government should also promote the development of a curriculum that not only supports the intellectual development but also the social development by providing the children through the education department an oppor tunity to engage in co-curricular activities and talent development for children who may not be good in classroom work (Schneider et al. 2014). It should also take action on the individuals caught practicing discriminatory behaviors in the society in which ever form as this will act as a teaching and learning opportunity for the children to know that these injustices are not supported in the society. The knowledge of fairness in the life of a child is also important as it helps them demonstrate empowerment and the strength as well as the skills to act with others or alone in pursuit of fairness and against prejudice and discriminatory actions or behaviors. It is therefore important to know that a society built on social justice does not only grow socially but also economically as it creates the world of possibilities and of love where everyone feels appreciated and therefore promotes integration and a sense of belonging. Conclusion Early childhood education and care have often been connected with various facets of objectives that directly or indirectly relates to social justice. In most cases, the analysis of this paper depicts that it has its roots in the education and philanthropic reforms movements with the aim of preventing injustice in the early 20th century. Many studies show that early childhood care and education have also been connected with achieving the associated aims towards redressing inequality and any other related disadvantage. Different authors point out that educational leaders have the full mandate of promoting of promoting equity in the process of articulating the needs of marginalized children who have been disadvantaged in any manner. These objectives need to be met as they work towards giving a challenge to the nature of the social order that causes inequality issues to occur. In the reference to critical theory, critically informed, strategic, and intentional leadership plays a vital ro le in creating opportunities and changed circumstances for families and children. It hence requires the distributed and positional elements articulation of beliefs and values, as well as collective action that is informed and mindful. It is hence essential to adopt strategies that can effectively ensure that objectives towards achieving social justice towards early childhood education and care are met. References Adams, M. 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