Equality & Diversity: Part 7 - Faith & Belief

By the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage it is expected that children should 'have a developing respect for their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people'.

This complex aspect of personal, social and emotional development is a fundamental part of equalities work, but often causes anxiety and confusion. We don't always realise just how much faith and belief can be intrinsically linked with culture and the way that society has organised itself.

As Jennie Lindon writes in Understanding World Religions in Early Years Practice, 'When a particular faith has been part of a society for a long time, the religious practices often become intermingled with the culture to form traditions that affect virtually every aspect of society: social, moral and political. The traditions originated with specific beliefs in the religious faith but then became part of what people see as "normal" life. Simplified religious ideas are absorbed into everyday language and rituals, and religious celebrations continue but with secular cultural overtones rather than religious ones' (page 5).

Pancake Day (the day before Lent) and Halloween (the eve before All Souls' day) are two obvious examples of practices that were originally rooted in Christian practice but have become almost exclusively secular. Christmas and Easter are national as well as religious holidays, and attendance at church is only one of many ways that people choose to celebrate them. The practice of referring to a person's first name as their 'Christian name' is another example, though it is now beginning to die out as people question its relevance.

This absorption of religious ideas into everyday life has parallels with institutionalised bias in other areas, as it reinforces the sense that there is one 'normal' or 'right' way of viewing the world. This often leads to judgements and misguided assumptions when we are exposed to other ways of looking at things. If you have been brought up to believe that the writings related to your particular faith are 'true', then you might find it hard to see other religious accounts as anything other than just 'stories'. Many people see a link between moral values and their religious upbringing. This unfortunately implies that others from a different faith or without any religious belief might therefore be lacking in moral values, which is clearly untrue.

Being open to finding out more about other religions and belief systems can help increase your understanding of your own faith background and the belief structure of the culture in which you were brought up. This isn't always an easy thing to do, however. We can't expect to agree with everyone else's religious opinions or belief systems, and none of us can be an expert on all religions. But it is our responsibility as reflective practitioners to be aware of the gaps in our knowledge and to be open to learning and understanding more. It is okay to get confused and make mistakes, but it is not acceptable for us, as professionals, to close our minds to the significance of the religious practices, symbols, festivals and beliefs of other people, or to tell children that one faith or sect is more 'right' than another.

'Some people believe ...' is a useful way of responding to children' s questions about God and religion. Jennie Lindon writes, 'Your role will be to respond positively to children's individual identity as shaped by the faith of their family. Your task is also to help all the children in your care to understand the perspectives of different groups within society and to value such differences day by day in your setting' (page 10).

Religious diversity

Britain is now a multi-faith society and all the major world faiths - Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism (as well as many others) - were represented in the last census returns. However, anti-bias practice in this area is about more than just religious faith. It also takes into consideration the beliefs of people who don't identify themselves with a religion. This includes humanists, atheists and agnostics. In the 2001 census, just over 23 per cent of people said they had no religion or chose not to state one. Yet there is still a frequent assumption that families in the UK are nominally Christian - and more specifically, Church of England, unless they specifically state otherwise, naming a different denomination of Christianity, another world faith, or another belief system instead. As with all our practice involving the families we work with, it is important to get accurate information and never make assumptions.

It is often forgotten just how much diversity there is within Christianity itself. Have a think about all the different denominations you know of within the Christian faith - Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Jehovah's Witness, to name just a few - or look up Places of Worship in the phone book and see just how many there are. How much do you know about the similarities and differences between them all, their rituals and observances as well as the beliefs upon which they are founded?

That same degree of diversity exists within all the major world faiths, particularly as they spread across different locations, absorb pre-existing practices and sometimes split within themselves. Within most faiths there is also the likelihood that some people will hold uncompromising views, sometimes judged as 'fundamentalist'. It is important not to generalise and make assumptions about any one religion based on the attitudes expressed by a group or sect within that faith, nor to assume that intolerance will be a feature of any religion.

Religion and Ethnicity

Ethnicity and cultural traditions are also often intermingled with religious identity. This is reflected sometimes in the way that people actively choose to identify themselves by their faith - for example, British Muslim, Irish Catholic. Unfortunately, the media also often blurs ethnicity with faith. This leads to stereotyping and reinforces ignorance, particularly in response to world conflicts or local tensions.

In its crudest form, this amounts to all Asian people being assumed to be Muslim, and all Muslims being seen as fundamentalist or extremist. Clearly this is wrong, but many people have experienced discrimination and prejudice as a result of this since the events of 11 September 2001.

This impacts even on very young children, who absorb these negative attitudes and act on them in their play as they explore the things they see and hear on the television. Being quick to stereotype all followers of a religion and link them with 'fundamentalist' or extreme views is inaccurate and hurtful.

ASK YOURSELF

About your attitudes to faith and belief

• Do you consider yourself to be a religious or spiritual person?

• How comfortable are you talking about your own religion or belief? About the beliefs of others?

• How do you support staff to raise their levels of understanding and make the most of opportunities to discuss issues and talk through any confusion or disagreements that arise and arrive at shared values

• Do you have a clear policy for how you address matters of faith and belief within your daily practice and how you respond to parents' requests based on religious or other personal beliefs?

• How do you show respect for beliefs and religious practices that differ from your own - among your colleagues and among children and families within your setting? How do you demonstrate that you value all faiths and belief systems equally?

• How do you help children to appreciate that although some major world religions originated elsewhere (just like Christianity) or are linked with particular countries, they are not 'exotic' and are part of the British multi-faith society in which we live?

• How do you respond to those difficult questions children ask about life, death and the universe, while respecting the different views held by families? Think about your potential responses to tricky remarks and explore ways you can make your comments inclusive and responsive to a child's developmental stage.

• How do you encourage the spiritual aspect of children's development and their understanding of the human experience through quiet contemplation and awe and wonder in the natural world?

• How sensitive are you in the way you use or display religious artefacts, symbols and pictures? Check out the appropriateness with a parent or other reliable source first.

Festivals and holidays

In an effort to recognise and celebrate diversity in faith and belief, it has become common for settings to focus on festivals and religious holidays. There are some basic problems with this, as Louise Derman Sparks describes in the preface of Celebrate! An Anti-bias Guide to Enjoying Holidays in Early Childhood Programs by Julie Bisson. 'Because, by definition, holidays are special days in all people's culture, over-reliance on holiday activities results in children not learning about the daily life of people different from themselves and thus prevents them from understanding the diverse ways people live out their shared human needs. Incorporating holiday activities as one strategy for respecting and learning about human diversity is appropriate.'

However, if it is the only strategy used to explore diversity in faith and belief, then it creates what has come to be known as a 'touristic' approach to the curriculum - where children 'visit' a culture or religion, experience a few isolated activities just as you might do on holiday in another country, and then 'return' home to their everyday 'normal' life in the setting.

This promotes misinformation and trivialises the festivals and religious observances of world faiths other than Christianity. It implies that the only important thing worth knowing about the people of that religion is one particular festival and the clothes they wear and the food they eat on that special day - and that everyone in that group celebrates in exactly the same way. It is important to make connections with people's daily lives as well as the special occasions, and to reflect on similarities as well as differences.

Done well, a responsive, developmentally appropriate approach to celebrating festivals and acknowledging religious holidays is an effective way of validating children's cultural and family life. Seeing aspects of what is important in their home life reflected in their experiences outside the home is enormously important for children. Exploring unfamiliar festivals can also be beneficial, particularly in settings where there is little religious diversity. But it is important to think carefully about the approach you take, to make sure it is meaningful and developmentally appropriate.

Celebrations

Bombarding children with one festival after another in an attempt to show diversity in the curriculum is not helpful or effective. To be valuable, they should reflect the home lives of the children in your setting, along with one or two less familiar festivals.

• Ideally, they should be balanced equally so that no one festival is considered more important, and not go on for too long. This applies to Christmas too, when responsive, developmentally appropriate activities are often abandoned as the month of December becomes one long rehearsal for the nativity and a production line for cards and party hats.

• Involving parents and families in the planning for festivals makes them more authentic and meaningful for everyone.

• Not every festival needs to be actively celebrated with a party or performance. Sometimes a discussion, a parent coming in to talk about how they celebrate at home, or maybe just a story might be more developmentally appropriate and acceptable to families who may prefer their children not to participate in festivals other than their own.

• Persona Dolls are an excellent way to introduce information about unfamiliar festivals, or to explore what it might feel like for a child whose family doesn't participate in a majority faith celebration, such as Christmas.

• Ideally, creative activities focused on a particular festival need to be open-ended and voluntary as you would with all other creative activities, so children can choose to engage with them on their own terms.

• This is valid for all children, but it is also another way to reassure parents who prefer their children not to take part in festivals, as it means they needn't be excluded from activities. It is important to respect parent's wishes and to involve them in exploring solutions to help make sure their children feel included even if they are doing something different.

• It is equally important to involve all children in understanding and respecting individual family preferences. This is particularly true around Christmas, when children from Christian families get a lot of validation from everything around them that their way of celebrating is the norm. But Father Christmas is not universal and being told that only good children get presents from him is unfair to children whose families don't give gifts at Christmas. Far better to talk about how there are different times when families give presents, and for different reasons.

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

• Jennie Lindon (1999), Understanding World Religions in Early Years Practice (Hodder & Stoughton)

• Jennie Lindon, Equality in Early Childhood (Hodder Education)

• Julie Bisson, Celebrate! An Anti-bias Guide to Enjoying Holidays in Early Childhood Programs (Redleaf Press)

• Babette Brown, Combating Discrimination (Trentham Books)

• Jane Lane, Young Children and Racial Justice. National Children's Bureau

• www.persona-doll-training.org/ukhome.html

• www.earlyyearsequality.co.uk/index.php

• www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=293 2001 census

• See also Part 1 of Equality & Diversity (Nursery World, 24 September 2009)

With thanks to Woodlands Park Nursery School & Children's Centre, London, for their help with photographs