C a p a c i t y | C o m m u n i t y | C o l l a b o r a t i o n

Challenging racism and stereotypes in OSHC settings

http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Article 29 – Education

• Respect for the child's parents

• Cultural identity, language and values

• Responsible life in a free society

• Spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality and

friendship

http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Article 30 – Cultural and linguistic rights

• Enjoy his or her own culture

• To profess and practise his or her own religion

• To use his or her own language.

What is culture?

What is culture? Culture can be defined as ‘what we create

beyond our biology. Not given to us, but made by us’

(Williams, in MacNaughton 2003, p.14).

Using this definition, culture incorporates the scope of

human diversity and ways of being, such as gender,

ethnicity, class, religion, ability, age, and sexuality.

Educators Guide to the Framework for School Age Care, p58

What is culture?

What does culture mean for you?

What are some of the examples of different cultural

backgrounds and understandings within your service?

Cultural competence

• Using the Educators Guide to the Framework for School

Age Care, p57, develop your own working definition of

cultural competence

Cultural competence

• Willingness and actions to build understanding

between people

• Respectful and open to different perspectives

• Understanding each other’s expectations and attitudes

• Being willing to find out more

Educators Guide to the Framework for School Age Care, p57

Culture and language

• Inseparable

• Scope of nuances in language

• Cultural messages conveyed by language choices

Culture and identity

As culturally competent educators we need to think deeply

about how our work can support each child’s developing

identity and self worth.

Educators Guide to the Framework for School Age Care, p58

Our role as educators

• Why are educators important in relation to a child’s

developing identity?

• In your opinion, why is it important to discuss racism

and discrimination in childhood?

What is racism? What is discrimination?

Racism and discrimination are always operating in every

social setting – not just when an incident occurs

• Concepts and thinking

• Spoken discourse

• Everyday experiences, restrictions and privileges

• Identities

Swindler Boutte et al 2011

What is racism? What is discrimination?

Institutional racism

Important not to personalise in reflections

Swindler Boutte et al 2011

Racism and discrimination in childhood

The vast majority of educators do not intentionally commit

acts of racism.

Nonetheless, anybody can contribute to institutional

racism unless efforts are taken to avoid doing so.

Swindler Boutte et al 2011

Racism and discrimination in childhood

• Schools and care settings are not neutral spaces

• Children absorb attitudes from wider society

• Children need opportunities to formulate and question

initial understandings of difference

Swindler Boutte et al 2011

Stereotypes

• From very early on, children absorb stereotypes that

surround then concerning their own and others’

identities.

• Children pay close attention to how the important

people in their lives feel about differences and

similarities.

Derman-Sparks and Olsen Edwards 2010

Stereotypes

• Adults do not necessarily believe stereotypes to be true,

but young children are less flexible in their

understanding (Bussey & Bandura, 1999; Golombok &

Fivush, 1994)

Ambady et al 2001

Raising awareness of the social information children

absorb from us

• Identification I am a girl

• Social information Girls don’t do maths

or stereotype

• Self-concept I don’t do maths

Meltzoff 2012

Our role as educators

• We need to think about our own values, beliefs and

attitudes and acknowledge and address any bias we

have.

• Recognising and addressing bias is part of becoming a

culturally competent educator.

Educators Guide to the Framework for School Age Care, p58

Assessing your own comfort level

• I would rather not talk about discrimination and racism

• I am always/usually/sometimes uncomfortable talking

about discrimination and racism

• I am very comfortable talking about discrimination and

racism

Adapted from Teaching Tolerance 2016

Assessing your own comfort level

• I feel underprepared to talk about discrimination and racism

• I am worried I won’t have the skills to answer children’s

questions about discrimination and racism

• I try to redirect conversations with children where

discrimination or racism are highlighted

• Others don’t understand my own experiences with racism or

discrimination

Adapted from Teaching Tolerance 2016

Assessing your own comfort level

• The hardest part of talking about racism for me is…

• The benefits of talking about racism in my opinion are…

• I am worried about talking about race and racism because…

• My experiences regarding discrimination and racism are different

to others’ because…

• The things I need to help me feel prepared when talking about

discrimination and racism are…

Adapted from Teaching Tolerance 2016

Assessing your own privileges

• I can, if I want to, be in the company of people of my race most

of the time.

• I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured

that I will not be followed or harassed.

• I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the

paper and see people of my race widely represented.

• I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

Adapted from McIntosh 1990

Our role as educators

• Overt and covert messages

• What are families talking about with their children?

Our role as educators

• What are the overt values of your service?

• What else could you add to your overt values?

Our role as educators

• How can we challenge racism and stereotypes on a daily basis

(not when an incident occurs?)

Things to consider

• Our language choices

• Planning and documentation

• Resources

• Environments

• Family engagement

• Community input

Our role as educators

• What strategies can we use when a specific incident of racist or

discriminatory behaviour occurs in our setting?

• What support do you need?

Action planning

Commit to three actions to:

1. Support a child’s sense of identity and self worth

2. Take a strong approach to racism and bias

3. Uphold the cultural and linguistic rights of every child

Our role as educators

Our will and actions to build understanding between

people, to be respectful and open to different cultural

perspectives, to strengthen cultural security and work

towards equality in opportunity.

Educators Guide to the Framework for School Age Care, p57

Useful websites

• FKA’s Home page

• www.fka.org.au

• Request Bicultural Support

• http://fka.org.au/bi-cultural-support/request-bicultural-support

• FKA Multicultural Resource Centre and Catalogue

• http://library.fka.com.au/

• FKA Translated information for families

• http://fka.org.au/resources/translated-information-for-families

• FKA Reflective Tip Sheets for Educators

• http://fka.org.au/resources/tip-sheets

• UNICEF Information for Children

• http://www.unicef.org.au/our-work/information-for-children

• http://www.unicef.org/rightsite/files/uncrcchilldfriendlylanguage.pdf

http://www.fka.org.au/http://fka.org.au/bi-cultural-support/request-bicultural-supporthttp://library.fka.com.au/http://fka.org.au/resources/translated-information-for-familieshttp://fka.org.au/resources/tip-sheetshttp://www.unicef.org.au/our-work/information-for-childrenhttp://www.unicef.org/rightsite/files/uncrcchilldfriendlylanguage.pdf

References

Ambady, N, Shih, M, Kim, A and Pittinsky, T, 2001, Stereotype susceptibility in children: Effects of identity activation on quantitative

performance, in Psychological Science, Vol. 12, No. 5, September 2001.

CLASAlliance, 2012, What is cultural competence and why is it important?, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTh3pe8N3DQ

Commonwealth of Australia, My Time Our Place, Framework for School Age Care in Australia

Commonwealth of Australia, Educators' guide to the Framework for School Age Care in Australia

Derman-Sparks, L and Olsen Edwards, J, 2010, Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves, Washington, D.: National

Association for the Education of Young Children

McIntosh, P, 1990, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, in Independent School, Winter 1990,

http://ted.coe.wayne.edu/ele3600/mcintosh.html

Meltzoff, A, 2012, Early Interpersonal Relations, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbGT-enRSFk

Swindler Boutte, G, Lopez-Robertson, J and Powers-Costello, E, 2011, Moving Beyond Colorblindness in Early Childhood Classrooms,

in Early Childhood Education Journal, Issue 39, pp335-342

Teaching Tolerance 2016, Begin within, in Teaching Tolerance Magazine, Issue 52, Spring 2016,

http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-52-spring-2016

United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner - Convention on the Rights of the Child;

www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx

Section break

heading to go

here.

Thank you.

C a p a c i t y | C o m m u n i t y | C o l l a b o r a t i o n