Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T02:26:58.489Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Disrupting normalised discourses: ways of knowing, being and doing cultural competence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2019

Karen Sinclair
Karen Sinclair*
Affiliation:
School of Creative Industries, University of South Australia, St Bernards Road, Magill, SA 5072, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Karen Sinclair, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The concept of cultural competence is a multifaceted construct that requires careful consideration as it raises questions as to whose ‘truth’ is being advocated. This paper draws on findings from a qualitative study which used an indigenous methodology of yarning to investigate early childhood educators’ understandings and perspectives of cultural competence. Adopting a poststructuralist approach to grounded theory, data were analysed to identify themes that reflected educators’ understandings and perspectives. This paper presents a snapshot of these themes along with a framework of positioning self in relationship to ways of knowing, being and doing cultural competence. I conclude by suggesting that this framework can provide opportunity for educators to disrupt normalised discourses and re-conceptualise cultural competence.

Keywords

Cultural competencediscourseearly childhoodregimes of truthyarning
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , August 2021 , pp. 203 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bainbridge, R, McCalman, J, Clifford, A and Tsey, K (2015) Cultural Competency in the delivery of health services for Indigenous people. Canberra: Closing the Gap Clearinghouse, Issue Paper No. 12.Google Scholar
Barker, C and Galasinski, D (2001) Cultural Studies and Discourse Analysis: A Dialogue on Language and Identity. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Bennett, MJ (1993) Towards ethnorelativism: a developmental model of intercultural sensitivity. In Paige, RM (ed.), Education for the Intercultural Experience. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press, pp. 21–71.Google Scholar
Berger, PL and Luckmann, T (1966) The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. New York: Anchor.Google Scholar
Bessarab, D and Ng'andu, B (2010) Yarning about yarning as a legitimate method in Indigenous research. International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies 3, 37–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowes, J, Kitson, R and Burns, N (2010) Quality in children's services: ‘yarning’ with parents in the Indigenous child care (ICCC) study. Paper presented at the AARE International education research conference, Australian Association for Research in Education, 28 November–2 December, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Braun, V and Clarke, V (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3, 77–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burgess, C and Berwick, C (2009) Aboriginal peoples’ perceptions and beliefs about quality teaching. Refereed paper presented at AARE International education research conference, Australian Association for Research in Education, November–December, Canberra.Google Scholar
Campbell, S and Page, J (2003) Curriculum contexts: becoming an early childhood professional. In Mac Naughton, G (ed.), Shaping Early Childhood, Learners, Curriculum and Contexts. UK: McGraw-Hill Education, pp. 282–301.Google Scholar
Campinha-Bacote, J (2002) The process of cultural competence in the delivery of healthcare services: a model of care. Journal of Transcultural Nursing 13, 181–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Castagno, AE (2014) Educated in Whiteness. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, L, Manion, L and Morrison, K (2000) Research Methods in Education, 5th Edn. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.Google Scholar
Council of Australian Governments (COAG) (2009) Investing in the Early Years—A National Early Childhood Development Strategy, an Initiative of the Council of Australian Governments. Canberra.Google Scholar
Cross, T, Bazron, B, Dennis, K and Isaacs, M (1989) Towards a Culturally Competent System of Care, vol. 1, Center for Child Health and Mental Health Policy. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Child Development Center.Google Scholar
Dahlberg, G, Moss, P and Pence, A (1999) Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care: Postmodern Perspectives. London: RoutledgeFalmer.Google Scholar
Dahlberg, G, Moss, P and Pence, A (2007) Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care: Languages of Evaluation, 2nd Edn. London: Falmer Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dean, R (2001) The myth of cross-cultural competence. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services 82, 623–630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dean, C (2010) A yarning place in narrative histories. History of Education Review 39, 6–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (2009) Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (2010) Educators Belonging, Being and Becoming: Educators’ Guide to the Early Years Learning Framework. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Fisher, R (2005) Teaching Children to Learn. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.Google Scholar
Fluckiger, B, Diamond, P and Jones, W (2012) Yarning space: leading literacy learning through family-school partnerships. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood 37, 53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foucault, M (1979) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Foucault, M (1980) Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972–1977, Trans. C Gordon. New York: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar
Furlong, M and Wight, J (2011) Promoting ‘critical awareness’ and critiquing ‘cultural competence’: towards disrupting received professional knowledges. Australian Social Work 64, 38–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gore, J (1993) The struggle for pedagogies: critical and feminist discourses as regimes of truth. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hollinsworth, D (2015) How do we ensure that the aim of Indigenous cultural competence doesn't reinforce racialized and essentialised discourses of indigeniety? Indigenous Content in Education Symposium 1, 33–47.Google Scholar
Jovanovic, S and Roder, J (2008) New frames of reference: asking questions as part of leadership activity. The First Years: Nga Tau Tuatahi, New Zealand Journal of Infant and Toddler Education 10, 8–12.Google Scholar
Keating, A (2007) Teaching Transformation: Transcultural Classroom Dialogues. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kovach, M (2010) Indigenous Methodologies—Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Kumagai, AK and Lypson, ML (2009) Beyond cultural competence: critical consciousness, social justice, and multicultural education. Academic Medicine 84, 782–787.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lampert, J (2005) The teaching that matters: merging our personal beliefs with professional practice in the classroom. In Phillips, J and Lampert, J (eds), Introductory Indigenous Studies in Education: Reflection and the Importance of Knowing. Sydney: Pearson Education, pp. 83–99.Google Scholar
Lum, D (2011) Culturally Competent Practice: A Framework for Understanding Diverse Groups and Justice Issues, 4th Edn. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar
Mac Naughton, G (2005) Doing Foucault in Early Childhood Studies: Applying Poststructural Ideas. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, K (2003) Ways of knowing, being and doing: a theoretical framework and methods for Indigenous and indigenist re-search. Journal of Australian Studies 27, 203–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merriam, SB (2002) Introduction to qualitative research. In Merriam, SB (ed.), Qualitative Research in Practice: Examples for Discussion and Anlaysis. New York: John Wiley and Sons, pp. 1–17.Google Scholar
Morris, J (2010) in-Between, across, and within difference: an examination of ‘cultural competence’. International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies 1, 315–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moule, J and Diller, JV (2012) Cultural Competence: A Primer for Educators, 2nd Edn. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Murdock, G (1999) Corporate dynamics and broadcasting futures. In Mackay, H and O'Sullivan, T (eds), The Media Reader: Continuity and Transformation. London: Sage, pp. 28–42.Google Scholar
Robertson, J (2006) Focusing the lens: gazing at the gaze. In Fleet, A, Patterson, C and Robertson, J (eds), Insight: Behind Early Childhood Pedagogical Documentation. Sydney: Pademelon Press, pp. 147–160.Google Scholar
Robinson, KH and Jones, DC (2006) Diversity and Difference in Early Childhood Education: Issues for Theory and Practice. Berkshire: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Rose, M (2013) An almost competent look at cultural competency. Indigenous Voices: Indigenous Global Leadership 2013, 21–32.Google Scholar
Saldaña, J (2009) The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Seamann, A, Proud, D and Martin, K (2012) Only seeing colour? Identity, pedagogy and ways of knowing. In Fleet, A, Patterson, C and Robertson, J (eds), Conversations: Behind Early Childhood Pedagogical Documentation. New South Wales: Pademelon Press, pp. 245–258.Google Scholar
Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) (2012) Cultural Competence in Early Childhood Education and Care Services. North Fitzroy, Melbourne: SNAICC Consultation Overview, SNAICC.Google Scholar
Sims, M (1999) What we believe is what we do. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood 24, 1–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sims, M (2011) Early Childhood and Education Services for Indigenous Children Prior to Starting School, Resource sheet no. 7. Closing the Gap Clearinghouse. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.Google Scholar
Spillman, D (2017) A share in the future … Only for those who become like ‘us’!: challenging the ‘Standardisation’ reform approach to Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 46, 137–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tervalon, M and Murray-Garcia, J (1998) Cultural humility versus cultural competence: a critical distinction in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 9, 117–125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wells, MI (2000) Beyond cultural competence: a model for individual and institutional cultural development. Journal of Community Health Nursing 17, 189–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar