Good practice at the Sheffield Children's Centre in Yorkshire is highlighted in the second edition of Children in Europe, a bi-annual international publication published in Britain by Children in Scotland (News, 13 September 2001). The magazine's current theme is 'celebrating diversity'. It offers examples of innovative approaches to diversity in Belgium, France, Italy, Netherlands, Germany and England.
The magazine's editor, Peter Moss, who is professor of early childhood education at the University of London's Institute of Education, said, 'The challenge is to learn how to work with diversity as a great potential to be realised not as a problem to be solved. Children in Europe shows examples of services in many countries rising to this challenge.'
At Sheffield Children's Centre diversity is regarded as covering many areas, including socio-economic groups, religious faiths, ethnicity, family composition and health status.
The centre says that its staff find that promoting diversity in so many areas often means challenging accepted norms, and one way the centre does this is by developing a workforce that reflects diversity in the wider society. Of the 58 workers, 25 are men, and among them the staff speak 24 languages because they 'recognise communication takes many forms'. Staff have a range of assessed disabilities, including learning disabilities. Diversity is built into the curriculum implementation and planning.
Chrissie Meleady, chair of the Sheffield Children's Centre, said, 'Our approach is done to re-affirm the children's backgrounds and to provide the opportunity for them to experience a range of diversity because we live in a diverse community and it is unrealistic for children to go through life in a mono-cultural way.'
The September issue of the magazine, on the theme of parents, will feature children's services in Scotland.
Children in Europe is available from Children in Scotland, Princes House, 5 Shandwick Place, Edinburgh EH2 4RG (0131 222 2411). A year's subscription costs 7.
