Cultural diversity

Embracing, embedding and expressing cultural diversity in early childhood By Dr Red Ruby Scarlet

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• published: 14 Mar 2016
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This session is presented by Dr Red Ruby Scarlet (Miriam Giugni), Creative Director, MultiVerse Creative Dr Red Ruby Scarlet (Miriam Giugni) began her life in the early childhood community as an untrained assistant. She has an Associate Diploma in Social Science (Child Studies) from Moss Vale TAFE and a Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood (Honours) from the University of Western Sydney. She then graduated with her PhD from the University of Melbourne. Miriam or Ruby, as she prefers to be called was a key contributor and author of the EYLF. She has been engaged in performing arts for her entire life and has qualifications in drama, performing arts, ballet and Irish dancing from Trinity College, (EDTA and AMEB). She has worked with children in centre based educational settings for 25 years and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Canberra. Red Ruby (Miriam) is currently an Artist in Residence at Middlesex Metropolitan University and has a Studio in Residence at 107 Projects in Redfern. She is an independent consultant in education, arts education and social justice and plays a leadership role in the Social Justice in Early Childhood Group in Sydney Australia. She is currently teaching at the University of Sydney and is the Creative Director of MultiVerse Creative - an education and arts consultancy. Red Ruby (Miriam) has published internationally from practice and research and is the co-editor of Talkin’ Up and Speaking’ Out: Aboriginal and Multicultural Voices in Early Childhood published by Pademelon Press: Mt Victoria. Her forthcoming publications with the same publisher include Becoming with Art: Belonging in Early Childhood, (2015), Australian Architecture for Children co-authored with Sarah Scott and Anti-Bias Approaches in Early Childhood (Ed) (2016). This session is titled: Embracing, embedding and expressing cultural diversity in early childhood By Dr Red Ruby Scarlet (Miriam Giugni), Multiverse Creative Embracing, embedding and expressing cultural diversity in early childhood is an everyday practice that can easily become tokenistic. In this workshop, we will engage in an arts practice of storytelling to help shape the ways in which we might engage with each other in reflective practice (if we are in services and settings), how we might engage with children through storytelling and how we might engage with community to wind and weave stories of our shared everyday lives and embrace, embed and express difference in our own words that can help build a shared language to learn from and live by in equity, inclusion, toward another kind of worldliness and social justice. The Embracing Cultural Diversity in Early Childhood Conference was held at the Brisbane International Hotel, Boondall on the 17th and 18th November, 2015. The conference brought together program decision makers and practitioners from the community and early childhood education and care (ECEC) sectors with the aim of meeting the objectives of the EMBRACE program listed above. It is the second conference of its type organized by the EMBRACE team, the first EMBRACE conference was held in June 2014. Over 100 delegates came together to celebrate the achievements of the DET funded pre-kindergarten grants project partners to date and to identify gaps and opportunities for increasing participation of young children and their families from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds in kindergarten, early childhood settings and family support services. Conference themes included: • Embedding cultural diversity in early childhood education and care (ECEC); • Ensuring the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and culturally and linguistically diverse families are met; • Showcasing our collective success; • Identifying gaps in service provision; • Creating a platform for sustainability and informed advocacy. Find more information on this conference here: (http://embracekindy.com.au/news/embracing-cultural-diversity-in-early-childhood-conference-2/ ).