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Early Childhood Australia: The Australian Early Childhood Advocacy Organization@ http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Early Childhood Australia is the peak early childhood advocacy organization, acting in the interests of young children, their families and those in the early childhood field. The mission of Early Child Australia is to advocate to ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years. I liked this organization’s mission statement and principles on social inclusion and diversity.
Principles

1. Our position is also based on principles that are particularly relevant to the inclusion of young children with a disability in ECEC. They provide a framework for assessing policies, services and actions.
2. Importance of families: children’s growth and learning occurs mainly in the context of their primary relationships in their families and partnerships between ECEC, support professionals and families are essential.
3. Social inclusion: every child has the capacity to make a unique contribution and to participate in a wide range of activities and contexts as a full member of a family, communities and our society.
4. Diversity and difference are valuable in their own right, as are the commonalities among people. Understanding the practices, values, beliefs and cultures of families and acknowledging difference is fundamental.
5. Equity requires that each child receives the support and resources needed to participate, engage and succeed.

 I learned that successfully navigating diversity and differences is a time of celebration for children, their families, teachers, and programs. Professionally, this is an important issue to me because of the increasing diversity of children and families that are served in all 15 of our Head Start classrooms. Every year the number multiplies.  We all come with deeply felt cultural traditions, and viewpoints, and more often than not they are not the same. That is the beauty of diversity because it provides an avenue for learning a whole different world.  

 Educators who are committed to creating culturally diverse classroom settings understand our differences and view them as an asset that allows children full participation to obtain success. When educators connect with children and families in ways that recognize cultural identity with honesty and respect, it is an experience that benefits everyone involved.