Building a Pedagogy of Welcome in practice: ways to support refugee children in early childhood education and care through examination of professional positionality

Abstract

Child displacement levels are rising due to conflict and violence; early educators often provide the first sustained contact young refugee children have with host-country culture. Sensitive pedagogical practices can provide refugee children with a sense of safety as they navigate their new world. This article shares one aspect of a Pedagogy of Welcome, which was developed through a small-scale doctoral research project and investigated the lived experience of four Syrian refugee children in ECEC. Successful models and approaches that enabled ethical power sensitive research engagement have been translated into praxis encouraging educators to deeply examine their professional positionality. This study found ways to navigate differences between Judaism and Islam utilising shared values of welcome. This Pedagogy of Welcome offers a third way for educators to create respectful spaces of welcome for both refugees and other marginalised children.