Anti-discriminatory practice is the main strategy in combating discrimination. It is action taken to prevent discrimination on the grounds of race, class, gender, disability etc. and takes into account how we behave towards other individuals As teaching- and support staff, we have an important role to play in combating prejudice and discrimination among children. We are significant and influential people in children's lives. We have an opportunity to make a real difference by: • Making sure we show our own disapproval of any prejudice or discriminatory behaviour; however, we need to condemn the attitude or the behaviour rather than the individual personally • Setting a good example for children through our own attitudes and behaviour towards …show more content…
others • Talking to children about prejudice and discrimination and getting them to think about their attitudes and the way they treat others • Giving children support and encouragement if they experience prejudice and discrimination Every member of staff is responsible for ensuring that anti-discriminatory practice is endorsed in school and to identify when discrimination is occurring. The Children Act 2004 requires settings to promote an anti-discriminatory practice and settings should aim to achieve the five Every Child Matters outcomes. In order to promote an inclusive environment we need to make sure people have a positive attitude toward other cultures, races, sexualities and faiths. By educating children in school about being a part of the many different cultures and faiths of our varied society and encouraging them to think of other people’s feelings and how they would feel if they were the one who was being discriminated against, we hope to instil tolerance and understanding. Being aware of how hurtful and unfair discrimination is, will benefit us all as human beings and enable us to work together much better. When working in a school that has pupils from diverse cultural backgrounds it is vital that a genuine interest is shown in a child’s lifestyle in order for the child to feel appreciated and valued and to recognize the differences in cultures as well as sharing possible comparisons. Children in all key stages learn about many different cultures, celebrations and festivals such as Diwali, Ramadan, Eid, Hanukah and Christmas. Parents may visit school during these festivals and give children an insight into what their child may do during these religious events. We don’t need special skills to talk to children about prejudice and discrimination.
All we need to do is to be open and relaxed, listen to children, take them seriously and ask them questions. The more we do this, the more we will gain their trust and allow them to talk about and explore what they are really thinking. Also, helping children to think about their views will develop their intelligence and social skills. There are plenty of opportunities for us to talk to our children about prejudice and discrimination. Children may be on the receiving end of it or we may see them behaving in an unfair way to someone else. We may not respect what they are saying but we must respect their right to say it. Unless they feel that we are really interested in their point of view and are willing to understand them, they are not likely to bother telling us what they really think. If children hold certain prejudiced views, we won’t be able to persuade them immediately to change their attitudes. It takes time to build up children’s trust and confidence so that they can honestly and openly talk to us about their own views. It also takes time for the things that we are discussing to sink in. We need to give children time to think through what we have talked about and mull it over. All we can do is to lay the right
foundations. Every school should ensure that all children are given equal access to that school’s curriculum and every child within the school is encouraged to fully participate in all the activities whatever their gender or ethnic background, and when for instance children use English as an additional language, it is important that communication is effective by taking into account the child’s age, culture and understanding. Because each child’s situation will be different, there are no simple answers as to what we should do to support each individual who has been hurt by prejudice and discrimination. However, there are a few general guidelines to bear in mind. • Give comfort (physically, if appropriate) to children if they are discriminated against. We should make sure they know that they are loved, wanted and that they are important. • Always be positive about their identity. We can praise who they are and give them strong support by pointing out role models and examples of powerful figures who share their identity. • Listen carefully to what they have to say and give them the space to explain how they are feeling and what their fears and anxieties are. We need to help them to work through how they might best deal with the situation.
... practices could be put into action, to build towards an anti-biased curriculum and inclusive environment.
When promoting anti-discriminatory practice, I feel, it needs to be done by having a positive relationships with all the children and young adults, by showing respect to each and every child that needs to offer their opinion by communicating with them, supporting the children with SEN same way with other normal children, I encourage all the children to express their beliefs with other children and allowing them to explore this in order to make them gain an understanding and challenge towards any discriminative behaviour if occurs and promote
Children grow up with the ideas that the child’s parents influence on them. this may sometimes led to a misunderstanding. In To Kill a Mockingbird Scout and Jem also have misunderstandings. Atticus, Scout and Jem’s father, has taught and educated them well, but people like Cecil Jacobs don’t understand what Atticus is doing for Tom. In the world people have been taught to judge someone who is different. Racism is very common, and people are judged by religion, sexuality and skin
In the initial phase of the study, parents were asked to share their views about engaging children less than three years in conversations about race and ethnicity. Assignments were created that enabled the researchers to examine young children’s cognizance concerning “phenotypic differences in play” (p. 557).
A popular scientific belief is that children can express racial preferences around the age of 3 or 4. Mahzarin Banaji, a Harvard University psychologist and racism and physical prejudice expert, suggested that even though children may not understand why they feel this way, being exposed to racism normalises these thoughts as early as 3 years old. “In today’s climate of rising Islamophobia, bigotry and nationalist movements, I shudder to think of the negative impact on the hearts and minds of young children who hear, hatefully, “You do not belong here”. (Aisha Novakovich via Sydney Morning Herald, 2016). The children that retain negative views towards ethnically and religiously diverse members of
In 1995, the Carnegie Corporation commissioned a number of papers to summarize research that could be used to improve race relations in schools and youth organizations. One way to fight against racism is to “start teaching the importance of and strategies for positive intergroup relations when children are young”(Teaching Tolerance,). Bias is learned at an early age, often at home, so schools should offer lessons of tolerance and
Sometimes you assume that children do not comprehend race or class problems. But we can never be certain of what outside issues they are going to be faced with. According to this article, they think that talking to your children about racism in Kindergarten might be the right time because that way it will prevent them from issues they might be face later on in their lives. It’s never too early to explain to them that other people might act different towards them because they’re being racist. You don’t want your child to feel like they’re worthless or harmed just like Marley and her experience during recess. She had no idea this was going to happen because fact her school is diverse, but the majority of students are still white.
A study showed that specific cross racial training made a difference in opinions during 1st grade but made little impact during a 3rd grade period. It is suggested that discussing race early and directly is what considerable decreases racism in children. Bronson and Merryman’s research revealed that white parents were too ambiguous when talking about race with their children. Parents would use phrases like “Everyone is equal” and would not directly discuss racial differences. However, children do not understand the true intention of what the parent is saying because the message is too vague. Therefore, the parent believes they are teaching their child equality when in reality the child is not able to fully comprehend what the parent is
...er how hard teachers try to make students learn, if the students don’t want to, then they won’t. The only sure fire way to decrease the so-called discrimination is to make students dedicated to learning and thus make it one of their top priorities. If not, then there will continue to be many problems and an increasing number of cases concerning discrimination within the education system.
It is an educator’s job to embrace and acknowledge the rich diversity all the children collectively bring to the classroom, while understanding that the children do not need to be treated the same because they are not the same as each other, but be respected and accepted for their differences. Inclusion is an essential; plank in the broad platform of social justice and raising achievement is a goal which all educators much hold for their pupils, It is important that early year professionals are aware of all different ways in which society constructs (Neaum 2010) this involves taking account children’s social cultural and linguistic diversity and including learning style, family circumstances, location in curriculum decision making process so all children are recognised and valued (Nutbrown and Clough 2006)
Prejudice and hate have always been prominent issues in society. Their roots extend from European concentration camps to American issues of civil rights (Kleg, 1993, p. 18). Not only were feelings of prejudice seen within ethnicities, but also within gender and socioeconomic statuses. Eventually each case has diminished through appropriate regulations and education. It is no surprise that in the twenty-first century, prejudice and hate is still prevalent in society, and more importantly, in the classroom. Yet, just as in years passed, prejudice in the classroom can be reduced through regulations, education, and by other means. Thus, prejudice can be reduced or prevented, if the proper precautions are emplaced.
Affirmative Action is not basically a single thing, but it is a combination of many things and it has different meanings according to the person who uses it and also it depends on the case that it used for. Usually when Affirmative Action used in daily speech, it has no specific meaning. It is summing up the case against minorities such as black people and sometimes women for taking jobs. In real life we can’t determine the meaning of Affirmative Action, but this doesn’t mean that the phrase has no meaning instead; we can say that it does not have a common meaning.
In conclusion children are not inherently racist in nature but are highly curious and impressionable. Therefore it is the environment and socio-cultural condition that influence their biases and prejudices. While migrant children would find it challenging to assimilate in to main stream society it is far less pronounced than in adult migrants. As in most biases or prejudices the issue is the fear of the unknown and when the same concern becomes familiar the prejudices also tend to disappear. While most studies are to do with white prejudices towards children from other cultures it is timely to take a look at biases of children without prejudice.
The background life of a child makes them who they are. A child’s beliefs and thoughts come from their parents. If a parent reacts harshly towards someone of a different race, the child will think that racism is okay. Often, parents don’t realize that children are constantly watching and processing all positive and negative events as they grow up. Family showing hate towards other races, it is hard to change for children being brought up that way. When strict cultural and ethnic practices are taught at a young age, children are forced to believe that anything against those practices are
As a teacher, I should completely understand how to really teach my students well without any prejudices or stereotypes whatsoever and encourage them to keep learning despite the hardships they can possibly face related to either how hard they might think of the learning material is or how influential their extrinsic problems are. It is in order to make sure that they can acquire something useful from my classroom successfully. That so-called notion of teaching becomes more obvious after I encountered several affecting moments in my life. Reflecting on those experiences, therefore, I would like to share the significant occurrences in my life related to injustice and discrimination, which later on contributing to the way I learnt one particular