Building positive identities in a culturally safe space: An ethnographic case study from Queensland, Australia

ABSTRACT

The early years before compulsory schooling are crucial for children’s identities, including their cultural identities. This article reports on a community-collaborative educational program that aimed to promote children’s positive Samoan identities in a culturally safe environment. Data were collected through ethnographic methods, including talanoa (Pacific-style conversations), interviews, and participant observations, along with audio, photo, and video recordings. Analysis revealed developments in the children’s cultural identities over the seven-month study and challenges in creating a culturally safe space within an established English-dominant early childhood center. Key findings connected children’s cultural identity development to spaces that nurture children’s cultural confidence, promote values compatible with family cultures, provide a culturally safe physical environment, and encourage positive relationships. The discussion highlights the complexities of establishing culturally safe spaces in contemporary pluralist societies, and we argue for an expansion of the permissive spaces that constrain such endeavors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ The word safety was important to Ramsden because it was inspired by a Maori student nurse’s comment at a hui (community gathering) and because it maintains the original connection of this concept to others in nursing practice (i.e., ethical safety, safety in clinical practice, patient safety, legal safety etc.) (Ramsden, 2002). Importantly, the word safety keeps responsibility with nurses, avoiding the tendency to shift focus back toward patients. According to Ramsden (2002), removing these understandings of safety would depoliticize and trivialize the concept and remove the impetus for nurses and nurse educators to critically self-reflect to improve their professional practice. Parallels can be made with educators in this sense.

² The “Prep Year” was introduced into Queensland schools in 2007. Since 2017, all Queensland children are required to undertake Prep prior to Year 1.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Griffith University under an Arts, Education and Law Grant [number 18SRI, Dean Strategic Initiative Fund Fund].

Notes on contributors

Eseta Tualaulelei

Eseta Tualaulelei is a lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland, specializing in intercultural communication, language, and literacy.

Kerry Taylor-Leech

Kerry Taylor-Leech teaches courses in second/additional language teaching and curriculum literacies at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. Her research focuses on language, identity, and access to opportunity in multilingual, migrant, and postcolonial settings.