Cultural Competence for Asian Immigrant English Language Learners in Early Education

Cultural competence is discussed as education intersects with social justice and human rights. The study investigates how Asian immigrant children’s sense of ethnic and host cultural competencies are involved in acculturation processes. Purposive sampling was employed as the sampling strategy in this study. The study took place in two early childhood education (ECE) centres in New Zealand. From the first centre, three teachers, three Asian immigrant children, and two Asian immigrant parents agreed to participate in our research project. The participants from the second centre were four teachers, three Asian immigrant children, and two Asian immigrant parents. An important criterion is the linguistic diversity of the immigrant children attending the ECE centres. The findings highlight three major themes: peer pressure, ethnic identity, and the tensions between ethnocultural and host cultures. The experiences of immigrant children in New Zealand’s ECE centres illustrate how they negotiate the desire to both belong culturally and as immigrants, while preserving their ethnic identity. Researching peer interactions is the norm for fostering assimilation strategies where children choose to value host culture competence over their ethnocultural identity. Yet he does so at the expense of ethnic identity and home language use. The study also highlights the importance of educational work in shaping cultural resilience and integration for immigrant children, emphasizing the need for respectful approaches and celebrating the diverse cultural heritages of different children. This research adds to the broader discourse of social justice and human rights in education by highlighting the nexus between education, cultural competence, and identity. It underscores the importance of “cultural competency” educational practices that allow both cultural adaptation and the maintenance of cultural heritage so that all children have equal opportunity in multiculturally enriched environments.