Anti Bias Education

It is crucial for educators to value, understand and incorporate every child’s cultural diversity in the classroom (The Early Years Learning Framework Professional Learning Program, 2011). This means educators needs to deal with any bias beliefs they might/may hold. For example, some children might not participate in the classroom because

Discrimination and prejudice interfere with people’s rights to have access to equality of opportunity and hinder the promotion of diversity, and they should have no place in a children’s setting.

B.2.a. Within this video, the teacher took her students on a field trip to observe citizens and gauge how the rights showed individualism in America. It made them aware of stereotyping. This supports students learning about cultural diversity by showing how others were treated in history. In student reflection forms, students wrote about how color should not matter when interacting with others. People can be a good person even if they aren’t religious or believe the same way as themselves. The teacher taught the students that everyone is different and that we need to look for and identify the good qualities of others. This was an effective way to teach the students because they became more aware of the way they acted toward others.

The setting needs to make children fully aware of the impact that discrimination has on others. In early care and education, the school follows an anti-bias curriculum this ensures that the end result is creating secure, respectful and mutual relationships that value diversity amongst other people. From an early age children and young people begin to build a sense of self, gender and racial identity. Practitioners need to develop children’s identities and self-esteem, help children to feel comfortable if they are different to others, create awareness of bias and stereotypes also provide children with the tools to react appropriately to bias. Anti-bias is an effective approach to the identification and challenging prejudicial and discriminatory practices in relationships between others. The following reasons are why anti-discriminatory are so important in the setting: It sets a good example, it creates and good and comfortable atmosphere, encourages children to see themselves and others as individuals, helps boost a child’s self-esteem, ensures equal opportunities for all children and makes sure that all children are included and nobody is every left

All procedures and strategies used should give off a positive attitude towards all individuals, no matter their age, gender, race, culture or disability. For students and children, anti-discrimination must form part of the foundation of early year’s education. It is important within the setting for the adults to make sure all the children always have the opportunity to take part in activities and reach their potential. Whilst working with children, during the activity the practitioners should use good language and positive actions as children mimic what you say and do.

Multiculturalism in education is an essential element in shaping America’s increasingly diverse society by reducing racism. This research takes a look at the relationship between multiculturalism and how educating the youth would cure racism. Multiculturalism is the view that cultural differences should be respected or even encouraged. The concept of multiculturalism reduces racism in our society because it forces people to communicate and understand individuals’ cultures that are different from theirs. Multiculturalism is very important in our Society. It helps us look at other cultures

There are many strategies that I could learn to lessen the negative effects of differences or misunderstandings between students and their parents. According to our textbook Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards, you need to have positive relationships with and among families (Derman-Sparks, Edwards, & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2010, p. 36). The information that I learned from this book will help me develop appropriate strategies that will decrease the volume of misunderstanding that could develop in the classroom.

Prejudice and discrimination can generate social and emotional tension amongst children and by not educating and teaching children the differences between other cultures and beliefs in a positive manner from an early age may lead to resentment and hostility in later life towards other cultures.

I feel as if children today a much more aware of the multicultural and anti-bias. It also depends the child how they would react or feel about these topics. Here in Brookings we have the situation of having a college in the town as well as the Babybel Cheese factory. With these in our town, children here our exposed to many other cultures or nationality groups. With the college, we are going to have families from all over the world, and with the Babybel cheese factory, other the last couple of years the schools have been exposed to the French nationality. Young children are going notice the difference, but they aren’t going to be offended or discouraged by what they see. For many children, they have grown up in Brookings, they are

As a Family Advocate, I work with families and children from different backgrounds and cultures. After completing the observations, anti-bias curriculum is a must to reflect the cultural and background of the families and children in the program. Many families I work with are low income. My goal is to create an environment where children and families from different backgrounds can feel comfortable and belonging. I would like to work closely with families and provide the support that they may need.

Children and young people can experience prejudice and discrimination from their earliest social encounters with others. Prejudice is an unreasonable or unfair dislike or preconceived negative view of individuals belonging to a particular group. Discrimination is the bigoted behaviour of singling out a particular person or group for different treatment than the others. Both of these unacceptable responses usually arise as a result of ignorance of the benefits of diversity and a primal impulse of ‘group mentality’.

One of the most stimulating aspects of early education is observing and supporting young children as they develop their individual identities. This development takes place within different social contexts where issues relating to human diversity and difference impact significantly on children’s understandings and ways of being in the world. Arguably, our education begins when we are first able to detect causes and consequences, and continue to form the basis of our identity, behaviours and knowledge of the world around us. Glover (1991) in the early 1990s found that as 2-3 year old children became aware of difference they simultaneously develop positive and negative feelings about the differences they observe. For example, racial awareness impacts on their perceptions of skin colour and on their preferences in the social relationships they initiate and foster with other children. An Australian study conducted by Palmer (1990) exemplifies how preschool children were able to make negative judgements based on racial characteristics of young Aboriginal children. Children were reportedly saying ‘You’re the colour of poo… Did your mum drop you in the poo?’ This observation suggests that children as young as 2 years old are becoming aware of diversity and differences of others, and these judgements children are making are often affecting their ability to make sound judgements of others

Obtaining a good education allows a person to gain the basic skills he or she would need to thrive in the world as an adult. In order for a child to acquire the benefits of a good education, a stable environment must be provided without the influence of any negative outside forces. One negative force that can directly impact a minority child’s education is racism. Interestingly enough, there are several other aspects that are involved in the making of the standard quality education, which include student life and disciplinary actions. A troubled student life and the impact of bias disciplinary actions can result in a lack of standard educational opportunities for children in a minority group situation. Racism can negatively affect the quality of a minority child’s education by causing difficulties in a student’s life inside the classroom, unfair disciplinary actions, and academic failure.

First, the article mentions parents’ perceptions on how children develop an understanding for cultural awareness. The article notes that parents assume children are color innocent, therefore the subject is often ignored. Further, children’s’ understanding of culture is influenced through their environment, resulting in developing misconceptions and biases. Therefore, it is crucial as educators to examine closely how children make sense of racial and ethnic diversity in order to determine the best approach to incorporate multicultural and antibias education.

Educators should critically examine their own values, beliefs, and attitudes related to difference in diversity because we as individuals all have different experiences, beliefs, values and attitudes that can be quite diverse. Staying mindful of this difference is essential in professional practice. For this to really be effective, you need to critically reflect on how your own life events have shaped your beliefs, values and attitudes. Educators must put all assumptions and bias’s aside and keep an open mind when dealing with these differences. For example, by reflecting on your background, you can become aware of biases and prejudices that may impact on your relationship with others from different backgrounds. Once identified, you can then