We live in a country where the majority of the population has co-existed with diverse cultural ethnicities since World War Two, when immigration fundamentally changed the ecology of Britain's population.
Conceptualising a multicultural Britain should, ideally, have been a part of the process when the call went out to the colonies to come to help rebuild the ‘Motherland’ after the ravages of war.
However, now that we are where we are, conceptualising multiculturalism in contemporary Britain should, ideally, be a process of reflecting on Britain's colonial history and the part it plays in structural racism. Sadly, as a society, we appear to be in a state of persistent denial regarding the reality of racism and somewhat ignorant of how it truly impacts on different ethnic groups. Early years education, although widely viewed as a ‘fluffy’, feel-good space, does not exist in a bubble; it is a smaller-scale version of our ‘messy’ wider society. Unfortunately, our lack of a significant enough understanding of the realities of multiculturalism prevents us from creating a more equitable society; inequality negatively impacts the early years sector.
| PERCEPTIONS OF BLACK PEOPLE AND THEIR FAMILIES | ||
|---|---|---|
| Black people are lazy and abuse the system | ThugsAnimalsGhettoGangster | Single mothersDifferent fathersLoud womenLeft a bunch of children behind in their country |
| Absentee fathersDads in jailCriminals – thieves, rapists, murderers | Selling/buying/using drugsLove to party, hate to work | Look weirdDress weirdSmell weirdSpeak weirdAct weirdEat weird foodThey are not like normal people! |
| Beat their childrenViolentSocial services involvement | UnintelligentIlliterateBarely able to speak English | Poor backgrounds/came here for a better life‘Bolshie’ScaryPromiscuousDysfunctional family life |
The issues surrounding racism may be structural, but they also reach deep into each person's personal values and belief systems and into the ways we influence children's lives, consciously and/or unconsciously contributing to inequality in society. I came across an action research project (Epstein, 1993 – see box, page 33) that was structured around the theme of ‘too small to notice’, essentially asking whether ‘adults regard children in the early years of schooling as too small to notice or understand either racism or the significance given to skin colour in our society’ and whether racism is ‘too small a problem to be noticed when there are few, or no, children from racialised groups in the school’. This piece of research is more than 30 years old, yet the issues are still as relevant today as they were in 1993.
DEBUNKING STEREOTYPES
Think about what is promoted about black people and their lives in the UK. Does it look something like the box above, and have we taken measures to recognise when ideas like these seep into our practice?
Sadly, for any family, despite race, a number of the ‘labels’ above in the grid may be true – but if the assumption is that these ‘labels’ are photo-stamped onto the lives of all black children, then the fallout is that black children may be treated as a standardised group of delinquents who are not deserving of any real time and effort, as it will all just be wasted anyway. The persistence of these perceptions in the UK blinds the observer to the true circumstances of diverse black family life, whereas the diverse circumstances of white family life are understood and accommodated.
Unconsciously selective aspirations for the children in our care can result in an almost natural promotion of ‘good enough’ but not the best, due to an unspoken but widely accepted culture that expects underachievement from black children. The subtleness of a teaching and learning culture where you unconsciously do your best for children who look like you or are from similar backgrounds as yourself may inadvertently impact on the time and energy that is spent on the majority of ethnic minority children. I am of the school of thought that high standards in our profession as early years practitioners must include conscious anti-racist practice.
Questions for refection
- Why might black children be unhappy in their settings?
- How much control do we as leaders and practitioners have over how children view their experience in their learning environments?
- Why should leaders and practitioners be expected to ensure that all children have an equitable experience in their learning environments?
How much has changed? Research from Debbie Epstein, 1993
In ‘Too Small to Notice? Constructions of Childhood and Discourses of “Race” in Predominantly White Contexts’ (Curriculum Studies, 1(3), 317-334), Epstein observes that her own experience of working with young children shows that ‘young children [are] able not only to understand, use and construct dominant ideologies, but also to decentre and take part in deconstruction of these same ideologies … they are aware of difference and, indeed, of racism’.
In her research, she used a photo pack that represented people of different nationalities in non-stereotypical roles; as an activity, children were asked to choose photos they liked or disliked and give reasons why. Epstein explained that although the word was not used, this activity quickly turned into a discussion about racism.
‘In one nursery, for example, the reaction of one child became the source of considerable discussion by the children.’ A child named Alex had commented negatively on a photograph depicting some black children. ‘He described as “blackie”, saying, “I don't like them blackie ones.” This led to considerable confusion, since several of the white children in the class perceived Alex, himself, as “blackie”, while he denied that he fitted this description.’ Alex became very distressed, which led to his classmates making comments such as, ‘We do like blackies. I'm your friend’, and, ‘If you're nice, it's OK’ in an effort to make him feel better. ‘One group of white children also spent some time talking about how they would not like to be called “blackie” and speculating on how it must feel to be called, as they put it, “bad” names’.
Epstein also shared that many authors have established that young children are very conscious of skin colour and often display racist feelings and express racist opinions. She further states that ‘it is clear that expressions of racism are hurtful to young children’ and also that ‘it is commonplace that young African-Caribbean and South Asian children have been known to try to scrub their skins “white”, but it can also be deduced from other evidence, such as Alex's distress at the suggestion that he might be “black”’.
Epstein cautions that assuming children are so innocent that they can't be racist actually ‘reinforces the status quo’ and ‘fosters racist forms of education’. She also argues that it is important to encourage children to notice and discuss racism, because ‘if children's expressions of racism (even where they are not fully understood by the children themselves) are left un-countered and unchallenged, then the very act of refraining from challenge in itself legitimates and helps to construct racist discourses’.
Racism and the brain
As early years practitioners, we are very aware of the importance of brain development for young children. I think we may also need to be aware of how racism happens in the brain. Racism does not come from just one part of the brain; it comes from many parts of the brain working together to interact with the world around us.
The part of the brain called the amygdala becomes active when we see people who are different from us, and if we are not equipped to understand how to appreciate each other's differences, this can lead, knowingly or unknowingly, to treating people who are different from us unfairly. The part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex is capable of cognitive reappraisal – it is designed to calm the amygdala down, but due to any number of reasons it may not be doing a very good job of this. When our prefrontal cortex is working well, it helps us to realise that just because our amygdala has recognised a difference and is making a big deal out of it, that does not mean that it is accurate or that we have to heed what it is telling us. Cognitive reappraisal helps us to understand that, generally, people who are different from us are not usually a threat to us in any way.
Sadly, this assumption of difference as a threat can be present even in the early years. Let us think about this in this way: what do we, as practitioners, do when we feel that something might be a threat in the early years? We put measures in place to control the threat and manage the potential for harm.
Questions for reflection
- How can we assess whether we could knowingly or unknowingly be reducing the potential of children who we see as different from us in an effort to control them because they are stereotypically perceived as being potentially harmful?
- How can we as leaders and practitioners in the early years put measures in place to help our prefrontal cortex do a better job?
