Constructing early childhood services as culturally credible trauma-recovery environments: participatory barriers and enablers for refugee families

ABSTRACT

This holistic cross-sectoral study explored barriers and enablers to access and participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services for refugee families with three-to-five-year-old children living in Queensland, Australia. Constructivist grounded theory (CGT) methodology honoured the lived experience of participants through their words and stories. Data was obtained through interviews and focus groups with 55 participants consisting of 29 parents and 26 early childhood practitioners (ECPs) from seven community-based agencies. Findings indicate that most refugee families did not participate in quality ECEC, with key areas of exclusion being poverty, language, ethno-cultural discrimination, cultural divergence and trauma. Non-enrolment of children was indicative of systemic barriers, such as prohibitive fees. Withdrawal or exclusion once enrolled suggested that educators were not adequately prepared to work with refugees. Refugee families require services that foster culturally safe and secure environments; promote language rights; and implement trauma-informed, anti-discriminatory, culturally sustaining pedagogies.

KEYWORDS:

• early childhood education
• refugee families
• ethno-cultural discrimination
• trauma
• trauma recovery
• cultural credibility
• cultural competence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 The term ‘cultural credibility’ was derived directly from interview data using grounded theory methodology to encompass the terms ‘cultural safety’, ‘cultural security’ and ‘cultural competence’.

2 Amharic, Arabic, Bari, Bengali, Dinka, Fariatid, Farsi, Nubian, Nuer, Sholu, Somali, Swahili, Turkish, Tagrinya, Urdu and Vietnamese.

3 Kindy is colloquial for kindergarten in Queensland.

4 Eligibility is not based on country of birth.

5 It was not uncommon for mothers to refer to their children as ‘babies’, regardless of age. Additionally, many mothers (and several ECPs) were unclear about the difference between childcare and kindergarten and used the terms interchangeably.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Australian Government through a Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship.