The Preschool Multicultural Support Program is designed to assist the inclusion of children from CALD and refugee backgrounds in quality preschool education and to build the cultural competency of early childhood educators. Eligible community and mobile preschool services can access 20 hours of FREE face-to-face multicultural support for any children who require assistance.
The Preschool Multicultural Support program is aimed at:
- Supporting children to transition and settle into the preschool environment and routines;
- Fostering relationships between the child and their peers, as well as educators;
- Supporting communication between the child and educators, educators and the child, and educators and the family; through verbal translations and assistance with learning keywords and phrases;
- Promoting and supporting the maintenance of home language and culture by providing linguistic and cultural activities to the whole class (in small or whole group experiences);
- Raising awareness of cultural practices, encouraging an inclusive approach among educators, and helping children learn more about each other.
- Building educator capacity and fostering their cultural competence by assisting them in finding ways to embed culture and language into the everyday program on an ongoing basis, and in finding and/or making resources that assist with embedding culture and language into the program;
- Meeting with families and educators for the purpose of sharing information about the child, their interests both at home and at the preschool, their development, strengths, and areas of need;
- Translating important documents for your families; or important sections of policies/procedures/forms etc;
- Helping to ensure better communication between children, families, educators and early childhood services;
- Supporting children in their transition to school.
To apply for up to 20 hours of free inclusion support in your preschool fill in the application around the inclusion of specific children from multicultural backgrounds, highlighting how the Preschool Multicultural Support Program will meet the unique needs of your preschool community.
To apply and for more information: Preschool Multicultural Support Program, Application Form
