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Alia Imtoual
School of Education, Flinders University
Barbara Kameniar
Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne
Debra Bradley
School of Education, Flinders University
Developing successful schooling sites in multiracial regional town contexts can often be quite challenging. This paper examines the work done in one such pre-schooling context in a medium-sized regional town where racial and ethnic tensions are high and where many families struggle with social/emotional/economic challenges. This pre-school setting has been identified in the community and within bureaucratic structures as being successful with regard to a high level of parental engagement and a positive management of racial tensions. In order to describe this success we identify a range of practices which distinguish this educational setting from others in the town. Primarily we focus on the notion of hospitality and the practice of yarnin'. This analysis arises out of ethnographic work at the preschool.
Introduction
In early 2007, we began a five-year ethnographic study based at a multi-racial kindergarten in a regional town located one hour's drive from a major Australian city. This project arose out of discussions with the district coordinator of the state government department responsible for education who identified this kindergarten as exemplary with regard to student learning and community engagement. The district coordinator invited us to undertake some work into what makes this kindergarten successful, while other educational sites in the town had been identified as facing some significant challenges around issues related to race, income, and poor educational outcomes for certain identifiable groups of children. One educator familiar with the context described the town as 'a racial powder keg just waiting to go off' and each of the educational sites in the town were said to be 'hotspots for community tensions'.
The district coordinator's vision was that a study at this site may elicit some ideas on how to transfer what works there to other educational sites in the town. She said she wanted to 'bottle the good stuff'. Subsequently we began conversations at the kindergarten, where it became clear that the staff were equally as interested in sharing their stories. We formally commenced the study in the second part of 2007. A draft of this paper was sent to participants for comment, and changes were made in response. Participants have requested that their anonymity and that of the kindergarten and town be maintained.
The site for the study is a government-funded kindergarten of 61 children, approximately half of whom are Aboriginal. The teaching team is headed by a non-Aboriginal director, 'Lyn', and is made up of seven other staff members. The staff team includes a full-time teacher (in addition to Lyn), a full-time Early Childhood Worker (ECW), three 0.5 f/t ECWs, a 0.5 f/t teacher, and a 0.8 f/t teacher. Some of the staff are Aboriginal, some are non-Aboriginal. The staff-student ratio at this kindergarten is lower than at most other kindergartens in the state, and lower than the official formulas employed to decide upon staffing levels. This is largely the result of endless hours of grant writing, negotiations and arguments around the needs of the children, and the kindergarten's participation in a number of specialised programs. However, the staff have committed to lower child-staff ratios in spite of the additional work this entails because of their belief that this is a key characteristic of quality preschool education (Biddle, 2007) and because of how it enables quality relationships to be formed and maintained.
In our conversations with the staff at the kindergarten we have, to date, identified three broad themes that interlock to create a picture of what makes this kindergarten successful. These themes are:
- Structural issues
- Curriculum issues
- Relationships
Some of the structural issues relate to governance and forms of authority taken up within the kindergarten (Kameniar, Imtoual & Bradley, 2010, 2008), and resourcing, including funding regimes, staffing, and approaches to maintenance of the property and grounds.
Curriculum issues relate to issues of engagement, participation and continuity, the inclusion of Indigenous language, the kindergarten having few explicit rules, a child-directed curriculum mediated by adults (Martin, 2007), and learning that is contextual, incidental and opportunistic.
In this paper we focus on two practices, hospitality and yarnin', which relate to the third theme; relationships. This paper aims to illustrate how these two practices exemplify a broader ethos of inclusion and care that enhances the learning of all members of the kindergarten community – children, parents, teachers, support staff and incidental others. In short, these two practices are a key part of 'the good stuff' that may provide a way forward for other kindergartens and early childhood settings with similar complex issues. We commence the discussion by outlining what we mean by the term 'relationships'. We then examine some of the relational practices at the kindergarten through the lens of 'hospitality' (Derrida, 2000) before discussing the centrality of the practice of yarnin'.
Relationships in context
In this paper we use 'relationships' to signify negotiations between individuals as well as negotiations of individuals and groups both within, and with, social and cultural contexts (Kelley et al., 1983). We also use it to refer to interpersonal feelings of warmth and acceptance, and the values of 'caring, sharing and respect' (Townsend-Cross, 2004, p. 2).
In constructing 'relationships' in this way we draw on a number of prior studies that have examined some of the specificities of early childhood education where significant numbers of children and most of the staff have been Aboriginal. We have done this as a way of identifying what we can learn from Aboriginal approaches to early childhood education rather than learn about them. In using the heuristic, 'an Aboriginal approach', it is not our intention to represent 'an essentialist Aboriginal approach' (Fasoli & Ford, 2001, p. 18) to early childhood education. Such an approach is highly problematic in any study but is certainly compounded by the multi-racial construction of this particular site and the fact that the director is non-Aboriginal. It is also important to note that all of the staff at the kindergarten resist naming it an 'Aboriginal kindergarten', instead preferring to name it a government-funded and public kindergarten.
However, the ways each of the staff approach the children and families who attend closely resembles the techniques described by writers who have undertaken research in Aboriginal contexts where 'relationships' are described as central to successful care and learning (Fasoli & Ford, 2001; Mac Naughton, 2004; Martin, 2007; Townsend-Cross, 2004). According to Townsend-Cross, Indigenous cultures are holistic and 'based on the underlying principles of relationships and balance. Everything and everyone is connected and balanced through relationships' (2004, p. 2). Fasoli and Ford argue that many Aboriginal parents construct the relationship between a child and an early childhood worker in a qualitatively different way than that of many non-Aboriginal parents.
The act of giving a child over to the carer means 'I am trusting you to look out for my child and I expect you to be the main carer'. The act of taking the child from the parent means 'I personally have made a commitment to this child and will look after him until you return' (Fasoli and Ford, 2001, p. 20).
The approaches utilised at the research site are the result of ongoing negotiations between the Aboriginal staff and families who come to the kindergarten and the non-Aboriginal staff, who are very aware of their whiteness, including the invisible privileges conferred through this racialised category. The approaches are also negotiated with the non-Aboriginal families who choose to send their children to the kindergarten. The staff at the kindergarten work actively to create a homely atmosphere that is not just about warmth and openness but also the careful management of relationships so that the dignity of all is maintained. This homely atmosphere includes, in the first instance, hospitality.
Hospitality – the importance of invitation and the anticipation of visitation
In Of Hospitality, Derrida (2003) outlines relationships that may be possible between a host and a guest. He argues that these relationships are determined in one of two ways: through cultural practices (what he calls 'laws of hospitality') and through 'the law' of hospitality. That is, the law as the categorical imperative of unlimited and unconditional hospitality. He argues that 'the law' of hospitality precedes and gives meaning to the 'laws of hospitality' while simultaneously existing with and relying upon culturally determined rights and duties that are always conditioned and conditional.
According to Derrida, 'laws of hospitality' are always limited and limiting. They are determined through a logic of 'invitation' which valorises the host and is always conditional. However, 'the law' of hospitality requires a host to extend unconditional hospitality to whomever arrives. According to Derrida:
…pure or unconditional hospitality does not consist in … an invitation ('I invited you, I welcome you into my home, on the condition that you adapt to the laws and norms of my territory, according to my language, tradition, memory, and so on'). Pure and unconditional hospitality, hospitality itself, opens or is in advance open to someone who is neither expected nor invited, to whomever arrives as an absolutely foreign visitor, as a new arrival, nonidentifiable and unforeseeable, in short wholly other. I would call this a hospitality of visitation rather than invitation (Derrida, 2003, p. 128-129,).
The kindergarten practises hospitality whereby families are invited to attend and welcomed when they arrive. This invitation can be structural and/or personal but it is always relational. It is structural in terms of a general openness to pre-school children that marks the state-administered kindergarten sector which provides both general and inclusive programs for all pre-school aged children. Furthermore, it is personal in terms of openness to the differing stories that people tell about their lives and the differing stories that circulate throughout the community about this particular kindergarten.
A hospitality of invitation has a long history at the kindergarten. We had heard stories, before we commenced the fieldwork, of an Aboriginal early childhood teacher who would stand at the fence and call out to Aboriginal mothers as they walked past and invite them to bring their children to the kindergarten. At that time, the kindergarten was 'very middle-class' and very few Aboriginal mothers were bringing their children. There was a general feeling of mistrust for institutions within the community, not least educational institutions.
However, this hospitality of invitation is not the only form of hospitality that is practised. There is also strong evidence of a hospitality of visitation. That is, an openness to receive whoever comes into the kindergarten. It is an openness to 'the absolute, unknown, anonymous other' (Derrida, 2000, p. 25), those who arrive at the site without a known history and without an invitation (Bulley, 2006). This hospitality is a 'response to an unanticipated arrival' (Barnett, 2005, p. 13) who is welcomed and included. Nouwen describes this form of hospitality as 'real hospitality…not exclusive but inclusive…[This form of hospitality] creates space for a large variety of human experiences' (Nouwen, 1975, p. 75).
Here there's a welcoming attitude. The parents love to come in and get involved. They are made to feel welcome. At no other kindy I've worked at do I see parents come in and have a chat or a cup of coffee. But here they do. At other places parents only come at pick-up and drop-off time and they barely speak to staff, but here everyone knows each other and they chat. Some parents will pop in just to say 'hi' or have a cuppa even when they have no other reason. (Sharon, staff member)
We have a sense of whole community. We see [the children's] brothers and sisters and we say hello. Saying hello is important. (Georgie, staff member)
Many of the families who come to the kindergarten with their children are Aboriginal; as well, many families show signs of struggling with mental health issues, drug and alcohol issues, family violence and poverty. The staff at this kindergarten are active in embracing whoever comes, regardless of the state they come in and what they come with. While this hospitality may have risks (Derrida, 2003), it allows for active engagement with the stranger as a 'somebody', rather than rendering them as the unknown other or 'nobody' (Barnett, 2005).
We have good families. They are troubled families but they are good families. (Georgie, staff member)
A commitment to unconditional hospitality is one of the practices that marks the kindergarten and its staff as so different from many other educational sites. We heard the story of one mother who telephoned the kindergarten in some distress because she had been trying to enrol her child into one of the other kindergartens in the town and had been told that there 'were no spaces available'. The mother was worried she would be unable to enrol her child anywhere. When Lyn spoke to her it quickly became apparent that she was struggling with more than trying to locate a place for her child. Lyn invited her to the kindergarten for a 'yarn'. While talking, she told Lyn she had schizophrenia and was struggling with a variety of issues. The child was enrolled and the family embraced. When the mother responded to the official form of hospitality at the first kindergarten she was turned away because she did not meet the unspoken conditions of entry. That is, she was not going to be easy. However, as Lyn and the other staff practise an unconditional form of hospitality, they were open to this family no matter who they were or what their story was.
When you enrol a child, you actually enrol a family. (Lyn)
After telling this mother there were no spaces for her child and she should look elsewhere, the other kindergarten subsequently enrolled other children. For Lyn this repeated a pattern with which she had become familiar – parents who come with problems, that is 'problem parents', are better avoided and moved on (Mattingly, 2008; Wilde, 2000). However, middle-class decorum requires a legitimate reason for moving people on. In this story the reason given was lack of space. 'Problem parents' are viewed as best avoided because they take time, emotional labour and different kinds of resources than most educational sites feel able to provide (Vincent & Tomlinson, 1997). This form of hospitality is conditional (Derrida, 2000, 2003). It requires the 'guest' to meet a set of predefined standards (Derrida, 2003). It is a hospitality determined through hegemonic cultural norms that circumscribes who or what is permissible, who or what is welcome (Derrida, 2003). It is an exclusive and exclusionary form of hospitality that never places the hosts at risk of becoming hostage to those who cross the threshold of their kindergarten. In addition to this it acts counter to research that indicates how important it is to include all parents of young children in early childhood education, but particularly parents with special needs. Holistic community capacity-building programs where parents are supported are more likely to enhance the engagement and success of pre-school children (Sims et al., 2008) than constructions of 'problem parents'.
There are commonalities to who comes to occupy the subject position of 'problem parent' (Vincent & Tomlinson, 1997). 'Problem parents' in the regional town where the kindergarten is situated are often Aboriginal and/or poor and/or dealing with a range of complex health and family issues. They often suffer from issues associated with dislocation in a variety of forms. As people with complex issues they enter the kindergarten and are able to locate themselves within a community. The hospitality extended to these families goes well beyond their immediate connection with the kindergarten; that is, the relationships developed at the site are deep and extend beyond the time a particular child attends the kindergarten. The hospitality practised is not a temporary or fleeting offer with an expiry date; rather it is a long-term relationship that is heavily invested in.
People even call from other town/cities to touch base with the kindy staff and update them on their lives or ask for advice or assistance. The kindy often know the life circumstances of large numbers of extended family members connected to the kindy. These relationships are maintained despite families changing shape and moving physical location. (Field journal)
As one of the teachers told us, the staff at the kindergarten 'worry about [the children and their families] long after they've moved on from the kindy'. The responsibilities of the hospitality practised at this kindergarten are not bounded by time or physical location – they are responsibilities of connections to people and communities. That is, the position of unconditional host brings with it duties and responsibilities which cannot be abandoned once the physical visitation has ended. This reflects a renegotiation of the 'delimitations of thresholds or frontiers' (Derrida, 2000, p. 47-49).
One of the ways hospitality is established and maintained is through the rich cultural practice of yarnin'.
Yarnin' – the importance of knowing/telling/hearing stories
We say yarnin'. Professionals say its building community capacity. (Lyn)
In our conversations it became apparent that the staff at the kindergarten value the practice of yarnin'. Yarnin' is an Aboriginal–English term that indicates informal but meaningful conversation. It is about sitting together and sharing stories, histories, advice, laughter and tears, and implies both active speaking and active listening. It is more than telling or retelling stories (personal stories, family stories, community stories); it is a transactional activity that involves negotiation and trust. It is democratic insofar as the stories are offered but there is no compulsion to accept or act on what is spoken. However, through yarnin', relationships, and indeed communities, are built and reinforced. Yarnin' is a space where thoughts and ideas can be shared and tested without shame.
In this paper 'shame' is used with both its Standard Australian English meanings and its Aboriginal–English meanings. Standard Australian English meanings refer to 'shame' as painful feelings of disgrace, ridicule, impropriety, embarrassment and humiliation. However, Aboriginal–English usages of the word have different resonances which encompass concepts of individual and collective dignity, community and family identity, 'fractured relationships' and 'broken connections'. Vallance and Tchacos (2001) argue that Aboriginal–English meanings of 'shame' encompass Standard Australian English meanings but also indicate an 'inexplicable' deep feeling that is difficult to define. This inexplicability relates to a deep fear of 'trespassing across boundaries that may be sacred' and 'a sense of being powerless and ineffectual' (Vallance & Tchacos, 2001). 'Shame' in this context is not an individuated internal feeling but is actively disempowering and arises 'outside oneself' (Vallance & Tchacos, 2001). 'Shame' also indicates a concept of broken bonds and 'fractured relationships' (Vallance & Tchacos, 2001). Yarnin' acts counter to this.
Yarnin' at the kindergarten happens in different ways, at different times and between different people. Some of it is structured and planned but most of it happens as a matter of course throughout the day. It occurs amongst the staff group, between staff and families, amongst families, between the staff and children, and amongst the children. Yarnin' functions to inform others of one another's stories, to teach selves and others, and to reduce shame, as shame occurs when relationships are fractured or broken – when stories are unable to be told (Vallance & Tchacos, 2001).
Lyn told us that the staff 'know each others stories'. They see this as equally important as knowing the stories of the families and the specific stories of the children at the kindergarten. As Haig-Brown states, 'stories convey knowledge within the complexity of human affairs, expanding an understanding of other people and our sense of community with them' (1992, p. 302). Time and again the staff emphasised that knowing the stories and the histories of children, families and their communities is crucial to being able to meet the educational needs of those children and their families.
Teachers and education professionals are often 'privy to many aspects of family life that [elsewhere remains] private knowledge' (Brennan, 2007, p. 2) and it is important that this knowledge is treated respectfully. It is used to build stronger families and stronger communities, and at this kindergarten staff make every effort to know the stories of the individual children and their families in order to do so:
I understand my children – I know their stories and their backgrounds. (Lyn)
We know the stories of the families. (Georgie)
Knowing each other's stories was emphasised as important because of the way it enabled the building of a deep understanding and trust amongst the staff group. During our observations, we noticed that the depth of connection amongst the staff meant that there was an implicit understanding and anticipation of one another's needs (emotional as well as professional). The staff make a conscious commitment to connect and re-connect, with each other and everyone else associated to the kindergarten, through storying their lives.
Kate came to work late and not feeling well. Lyn greeted her with an extended hug. (Field journal)
On another occasion Kate came to work with a headache. Georgie sat and yarned with her and used pressure points on her hands to try and relieve the pain. (Field journal)
Yarnin' helps the group at the kindergarten to remain strong. Through yarnin', the knowledge and wisdom of the elders in the community is shared and utilised. The younger women speak to the nannas, who listen closely before speaking themselves, and the younger women listen in turn.
A mum with tiny baby in arms came in looking distressed. Went into corner to chat with Lyn and Georgie. Got hugs and a long chat. Left looking happier. (Field journal)
Sharing stories allows not only for the strengthening of relationships but also for the '[exploration] of others' family structures and the mechanisms structuring these relationships' (Brennan, 2007, p. 4). Brennan's work in childcare centres argues that such sharing is crucial to the development of positive communities because it offers opportunities for 'learning [because] just being there involves picking up values, skills and mannerisms in an incidental fashion throughout close involvement with a socialising agent and cultural models of learning' (2007, p. 5).
At the kindergarten there is an explicit understanding that silence is linked to shame and a feeling of 'powerlessness' (Vallance & Tchacos, 2001). Yarnin' breaks the cycle of silence and shame through acknowledging that difficult issues need to be confronted and solutions worked out in supportive networks. As Lyn told us, 'we take the shame away' and 'parents deserve the truth; if there's issues there we deal with them'. The staff told us that families appreciate their honesty even on traumatic occasions when mandatory reports have to be made. Lyn said she makes a practice of having a yarn with the relevant family so they understand why it has been necessary to seek additional support. Doing this allows the kindergarten staff to continue supporting the family beyond the report. Indeed, one of the fathers commented to Lyn after a yarn of this nature that 'communication is the key'.
Staff at the kindergarten work hard to ensure there is no shame attached to any personal, community or family situation. Even very difficult issues are approached openly and with honesty and good spirit. Families are never embarrassed or humiliated by the staff, irrespective of what situation needs to be dealt with. For instance, Lyn told of the time she spoke to one dad who collected his children regularly in the family car but who also sometimes drank too much. She approached him and said, 'if I think you've maybe had a few too many drinks, do you mind if I drive you and the kids home?', and dad was fine with that. She approached this issue matter-of-factly. She did not cast aspersions on his parenting skills or his commitment to his children; she approached the situation from a care and safety perspective. She did not embarrass the father with her knowledge of his drinking habits and was not judgemental about his choices. She treated him with respect. There was no shame in the yarnin'. Such an approach can be described as 'yarning for outcomes' (Burchill & Higgins, 2005, p. 8). That is, this kind of yarnin' is about working together to create solutions to problems and to share knowledge, experience and understandings in a way that does not 'speak down' (Burchill & Higgins, 2005, p. 8) to anyone. This commitment to 'no shame yarnin'' is practised in all manner of situations at the kindergarten. Staff told us of the kindy's approach to nits as a way of exemplifying this practice.
Everything here is open. For example we talk about nits. No shame. Kids get a treatment. They talk about it and it's okay. (Sharon)
It started because one of our grannies who is blind and old and looking after a number of kids. One of the kids got nits but granny couldn't see to do the treatment. Lyn noticed and so we said to granny, 'Do you mind if we give them (the kid) a treatment.' She was so relieved and said, 'Oh that would be lovely, thanks.' So we did, and other families saw us doing the treatment and asked if we could do their kid too. And so we did. And no one is shamed. No one felt embarrassed or had to hide the fact that there were nits. It was a fact and it was being treated. End of story. That's how we do things here. (Georgie)
Understanding that 'connection and relatedness is what makes communication possible' (Vallance & Tchacos, 2001) without shame and allows for the discussion of a range of difficult issues at the kindergarten.
Many educational sites put up barriers that stop children succeeding. Children become identified as 'problem children' without questions ever being asked about why they behave in the ways they do. Lyn and Georgie said they often feel frustrated when children who have been successful at kindergarten transition to school and are swiftly labelled 'problem children' or 'failures'. They see that knowing the child's story and the family's background is important in being able to tailor a learning environment to suit the child and the community they come from (Roberts & Powers, 1998). We were told the story of one child who was repeatedly being 'excluded' from school after having been successful in the kindergarten. Lyn was asked to investigate the cycle of behaviour and consequence by his frustrated mother. Lyn asked the school 'Do you know Luke's story?'. Not all educational sites understand the significance of knowing the stories of the children, their families and communities. In the busy-ness of their days they tend to live in the eternal 'now' so they are constantly dealing with immediate issues. In Luke's situation the school is identifying behaviour that is inappropriate or unsafe, and dealing with such behaviour quickly becomes the paramount priority in the overcrowded day. Finding time for a yarn where the 'bigger picture' can emerge is often difficult, and once a cycle of misbehaviour and punishment has begun so too has a cycle of mistrust and shame. Behrendt argues that 'the imposition of…punitive measures in an already dysfunctional situation will exacerbate stress in a household' (2008, p. 8) and thus add to spiral of shame, misbehaviour and mistrust. Into this context stories about complex lives and personal circumstances can be (mis)read by educational sites as excuses for inappropriate behaviour rather than as root causes.
Often situations involving complex families and their children are treated like individualised instances of inappropriateness rather than as symptomatic of structural challenges. This approach then creates shame as it locates inappropriateness in the choices of individuals who 'should know better' and who ought to be punished for their bad decision-making. In this manner shame operates as 'a form of social control that directly targets personal dignity' (Vallance & Tchacos, 2001). Yarnin', however, breaks the cycle of individualised shame and problems because it flattens out the power structures where stories are shared and put 'out there' to be talked about/through, and solutions are negotiated collectively rather than excuses or ways to blame people being looked for. This marks a difference in how stories in vulnerable communities have often been shared. As Indigenous participants state, 'They take our stories, end a project, and then we are left to deal with what is left' (Burchill & Higgins, 2005, p. 8). However, through yarnin', stories at the kindergarten are not commodities to be taken, stolen or given; rather they are treasured, shared and respected. Research by Roberts and Powers (1998) argues that such moments are crucial collaborations important to building a sense of 'community'. These moments of sharing are not about 'putting the other person down' but more often about 'identify[ing] where we can go next' (Roberts & Powers, 1998).
The staff recounted a story about a time they had observed children gathering leaves from a tree in the garden and then performing elaborate procedures with found objects such as a length of discarded hosepipe. The staff sat with the children and asked them to explain what they were doing. The children explained that they were 'mullin' the yarndie'– that is, preparing marijuana for smoking through a bong. The children were imitating, through play, tasks performed by adults in their lives . Lyn had taken a photograph of the children playing 'mullin' the yarndie' which she took with her on a home visit. Over a cuppa she showed the photograph to the mother of the children and they had a yarn about what happened. Lyn said that the yarnin' was without shame; she did not go to accuse the mother of being negligent or of behaving inappropriately but to share with her a story about her children. Through yarnin' they were able to share ideas about how families can manage boundaries around adult choices and behaviours that are positive for children to imitate. It was also a time to share pride in the observational skills, technological abilities and resourcefulness of these children – factors that in other contexts may have been overshadowed by the 'inappropriateness' of their chosen play.
Conclusion
This paper marks the beginning of our long-term ethnographic work in a multi-racial regional kindergarten. Our initial engagements centre on the questions: What is the good stuff that makes this kindergarten successful in a context where other educational sites are not? What is it that needs to be bottled? What can be bottled?
When we began the project we were a little concerned because we thought we might discover that the 'good stuff' related to individual people or individual combinations of people. This would have posed a significant problem for the generalisablility of the study because you cannot 'bottle' people! This initial concern arose from stories circulating in the community about the kindergarten, in which much of the success was attributed to Lyn and her influence. While we agree that Lyn and her team are important, we argue that successful pre-schooling is more than just people (even specific people). It is also about the choices those people make and the actions they take. Therefore, we argue, ways of interacting, ways of building relationships, approaches to curriculum and ways of negotiating structural issues are things that can be 'bottled'. With specific reference to this paper, we argue that a disposition towards a hospitality of visitation, along with a hospitality of invitation, and yarnin', are identifiable practices that can be bottled and shared amongst educational sites. These practices emphasise a community-oriented approach to pre-schooling in which complex families are valued, embraced and actively involved in the successful education of their children.
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Australasian Journal of Early Childhood – Volume 34 No 2 June 2009, pp. 24–30.
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