Implications poverty can cause for pedagogical practice and my final thoughts

Chances are throughout my teaching profession I will work alongside children and their families who live in poverty. As I have come to realise poverty is a huge social issue in New Zealand society which is clearly reinforced by statistics. Poverty is an issue that is evident throughout our bi-cultural society and can cause a number of implications for early childhood teachers.

One of the main concerns I have discovered throughout the research is a lack of understanding. I believe this highlights the importance of strong and open relationships with children, their parents and whānau. By developing good relationships and working in collaboration helps build successful outcomes for the child. As Te Whariki states “the health and well-being of the child [is to be] protected and nurtured” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 46).

Consequently, knowing the children and their families and having an understanding of their home environment allows teachers to promote practical solutions. For example, growing a communal edible garden not only involves children and their families but allows food to be shared amongst families.  Or, encouraging unwanted clothes to be donated and swapped between families and the local community at the centre, provides useful help for those in need.

However, not all relationships are genuine. Sometimes assumptions and judgements are made without teachers knowing the real background on a particular child. Unconsciously, teachers look at a certain situation and assume parents and whānau are not meeting the full needs of the child. However, sometimes the choices parents make may be the only way in which they can meet a certain need. Similarly, if true relationships are not formed between whānau and teachers there is likely to be missed opportunities to support families.

Within relationships implications can occur when effective communication is insufficient, as relationships rely on effective communication. This allows parents to feel comfortable when asking for help and when a teacher may be expressing concerns. “Families bring knowledge and experience of their child as an individual, and [teachers] bring [their] knowledge of children In general…” all of this information will create “the optimal experience for each child” (Feeney, Moravcik, Nolte & Christensen, 2010, p. 422).

However, having effective communication and positive relationships with a child’s family may not always ensure families will ask for help. Firstly, they may feel too embarrassed to ask, and secondly a family may not know how to ask for help. This highlights another implication for teacher’s pedagogical practice as teachers have an ethical responsibility to ensure a child’s basic needs are being met. Under the Code of Ethics and Te Whariki it clearly states that teachers are to promote the physical and emotional well-being of children (New Zealand Teachers Council, Code of Ethics for Registered Teachers, 2004 & Ministry of Education, 1996).

My final thoughts

Writing this blog and researching about the social issue of poverty has made me aware of the importance of teachers to commit to on-going learning. Ideally all teachers will be qualified and have learnt about social issues and how these effect children and teaching practice. But all teachers qualified or not, need to make sure that they stay current with the latest information, policies and statistics of the social issues in New Zealand. This way  they can make informed choices about their teaching practice when working with children and hopefully make a difference for those children in need.

Hope you enjoyed my blog

References

Feeney, S., Moravcik, E., Nolte, S., & Christensen, D. (2010.). Who am I in the lives of children? An introduction to early childhood education. (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Ministry of Education. (1996.). TeWhāriki: He Whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa/Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

New Zealand Teacher’s Council Code of Ethics for Registered Teacher’s. (2004.). Retrieved from  http://www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/required/ethics/index.stm