Page 328 - Pedagoška vizija / A Pedagogical Vision

Blaž Klasinc and Mojca Žefran

tic and cultural diversity and develop linguistic and cultural awareness as
early as kindergarten.

Multilingual and Multicultural Content at the Preschool Level
Multilingual and multicultural education is a topic widely addressed by many
authors. Banks (2014) defines five dimensions of multicultural education:
content integration, knowledge of the construction process, prejudice re-
duction, an equity pedagogy, and an empowering school culture and social
structure, and argues that one of the main aims of multicultural education
is ‘to provide all students with the skills, attitudes, and knowledge needed
to function within their community cultures, within the mainstream culture,
and within and across other ethnic cultures’ (Banks 2014, 4).
One of the principles of the Slovenian Kindergarten Curriculum (Min-
istrstvo za šolstvo in šport 1999) is also the principle of multiculturalism by
creating equal conditions for the development of all children regardless of
their individual differences (such as gender, social, cultural or linguistic back-
ground) on the one hand, and considering multiculturalism at the level of de-
sign and implementation of content, activities and materials on the other. It
offerssomeexamplesofactivities,suchasdiscussions,songs,rhymes,chants,
games, word plays and fairy tales related to various cultures and addressing
topics like traditions, celebrations and cultural heritage, as well as pointing
out the importance of challenging prejudices and stereotypes and encour-
aging tolerance and respect towards others. However, while the Curriculum
does encourage the promotion of multilingualism and multiculturalism, it
does not provide specific guidelines for teachers in terms of content and
activity design, which was also confirmed by Vah Jevšnik (2010), who sug-
gests that multiculturalism should be reflected in both the organisation of
the playroom as well as in the educational process.
Numerous researchers exploring multilingualism and multiculturalism
in preschool settings (Phoon, Abdullah, and Abdullah 2013; Mertelj 2017;
Kitzinger 2019; Yörüko, Özel, and Dalgar 2024) agree that while these top-
ics are outlined in various national and other documents, in practice the
responsibility for their implementation falls on the teachers. There is a press-
ing need for comprehensive guidelines for teachers to rely on and in re-
cent years there have been initiatives to address these issues. Bratož and
Sila (2022a), for example, have developed a pluralistic approach for develop-
ing plurilingual and pluricultural awareness at preschool and lower primary
school level. Their DivCon model (Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Con-
text), which was developed within the Languages Matter project, is based

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