Early childhood teacher cultural Otherness and belonging

Early childhood education settings are arguably places of community, togetherness and belonging. But what if they are not? What if individuals’ senses of identity, place or reality clash, do not fit or, worse, repel or offend? This article picks up on the largely under-researched area of teachers’ belonging and sense of cultural identity in early childhood settings. It argues for the critical importance of elevating and paying attention to teachers’ subject formation and identity. Drawing on some of the concerns and common conceptions of cultural Otherness in early childhood education, the article uses Kristeva’s foreigner lens and her theory on the subject in process to argue that teachers’ sense of belonging, of their own cultural identity and place, in their teaching team and in their early childhood setting is critical for an overall sense of openness and belonging throughout the setting. Teachers are commonly called on to nurture children’s and their families’ cultural identities. The sense of belonging intended through such practices depends on teacher attitudes and orientations to cultural Otherness that go beyond the surface – that allow for the difficult, complicated, unpredictable processes of becoming part of a centre community. This article offers a challenge to rethink teacher Otherness, for the (re-)elevation of their own sense of belonging in early childhood settings and teaching teams.