Reflection on an intercultural perspective, when working with children and young people

Cultures can be different not only between continents or nations, but also within the same institution if we look at in the pedagogue’s area. Ethnical, moral, ethical, religious, historical and social classes are just some of them. Culture teaches us rules and norms that tell us how to behave inside our culture. Right now I’m a support pedagogue for 2 young boys with special needs in an institution. I have been support for one of them for half a year now and only 2 months on the other, and even though they are both Danish they are still very different and come from different cultures. Before I can be a supporter for the kids I have to have a preconception of where they are from and why they have special needs so I can understand them better and know why act the way they do. I also have to be professional even thought if I have preunderstandings and prejudices of what kind of young people I working with and realize that is my job to meet them where they are and not where we want them to be at the moment and set a side my prejudices.

My job is not just to get them to adapt to the norms and rules in the institution, but it’s also important that I improve my intercultural communication, That my effectiveness as an intercultural communicator is in part a function of knowledge of other people and their culture, but also that the more I learn about them, I also discover more about myself, which can result in an appreciation and tolerance of them and make me a more competent communicator in the multicultural perspective. One of the young kids is mostly playing alone and doesn’t understand the codes in playing with the other young kids and therefore I’m trying to make him play with other kids, but intercultural communication refers not only to the communication between individuals of diverse cultural identities, but also to the communication between diverse groups. So I’m not just working with him to adapt to the other kids, but also to make to adapt in the context they are playing in and what group they are in.