Language and Identity in Multicultural Settings: Ethnographic Case Studies of an Early Years Centre and Reception Classes (Online)

Occasional Paper 26
Alison Hatt and Tözün Issa
ISBN 978-1-902189-05-5

26 pages
2011

This paper reports a study on how young children’s linguistic and cultural experiences are acknowledged and embedded in practice throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage. It explores how children from a variety of linguistic and cultural backgrounds are supported through a range of pedagogical practices in an Early Years Centre and in two linked Reception classes. The authors were interested in ascertaining whether there was a continuation of practice between early years settings and reception classes regarding the support provided for young children from a range of linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds. Our findings indicate that the pressures of implementing the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and the start of the transition to the National Curriculum had a detrimental effect on the Reception class teachers’ ability to replicate the inclusive practice seen in the Early Years Centre.