Early Childhood Education in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities.

Autor/in	Paul, Alice S.
Titel	Early Childhood Education in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities.
Quelle	(1991), (19 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Alaska Natives; American Indian Education; Bilingual Education; Child Development; Cultural Awareness; Early Childhood Education; Educational Strategies; Parent Participation; Parent School Relationship; School Community Relationship; Young Children + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Inuit; Bilingual teaching; Bilingualer Unterricht; Kindesentwicklung; Cultural identity; Kulturelle Identität; Early childhood; Education; Frühkindliche Bildung; Frühpädagogik; Lehrstrategie; Elternmitwirkung; Parent-school relationship; Parent school relationships; Parent-school relationships; Parent-school relation; Parent school relation; Eltern-Schule-Beziehung; Frühe Kindheit
Abstract	The expansion of early childhood education for American Indians and Alaska Natives has reflected the trend in the larger society. While efforts are being made to improve early childhood care and education for all children, deeper issues must be considered by Native Americans. First among them is the long history of forced assimilation and attempted acculturation of Native Americans into the mainstream society. Native American children must be allowed to maintain their Native identities and retain the unique strengths embedded in their cultures. Programs for young Native children must be designed within the context of each child's culture, home language, and family. Successful programs encourage parent involvement, use parents and community members as resources, offer parents educational opportunities, and link home learning with school learning. The current definition of readiness focuses the blame for early school failure on the child. Instead, schools should support the culturally bound and individually determined readiness skills with which children come to school. Additional strategies for early childhood programs are: involving the community in curriculum development and educational policy formation; training more Native teachers and administrators through incentives and alternative certification procedures; supporting socioculturally relevant evaluation including cultural awareness courses in teacher training; hiring Native aides; increasing Head Start availability; and promoting Native language use. This paper contains 115 references. (SV)
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC