Perhaps reflect and consider ~ Inclusion, equality, diversity, how do these principles get turned into what actually happens in settings?
Do the resources in a setting reflect the lives of the children and families who participate? Do they play a part in broadening children's knowledge and understanding of people and cultures different from their own?
Reflect on the importance in acknowledging that each of us deserves respect for our individuality. Showing this sort of respect takes many forms, for example - taking care to get people's names right even if they are unfamiliar and need practice to pronounce accurately.
Stress the importance of avoiding stereotypes, for example - it seems that many boys learn differently from many girls. What looks like noisy, aggressive super-hero play to a (female?) practitioner may be rich fantasy play to the small boys involved, and better suited to help them make sense of their world than trying to sit quietly at circle time.
Perhaps the most important is our expectations of children, our expectations play a key role in keeping the doors of opportunity open for them. If we assume that a disabled child will not be able to join in with physical play, they are likely to sit on the sidelines, being marginalised in the setting, and neither we nor they will know what they are capable of.
If we expect children from a particular area to be rough and rude, it won't be a surprise if they live down to our expectations.
But if we have high expectations for a child's achievement and tell them that we expect great things from them, that we know they can do it, the boost to their self-esteem may be sufficient in itself to carry them through to those great things.
As early years practitioners we need to take the issues of inclusion, equality and diversity seriously...we are very powerful, we play a big part in influencing the way children develop values and the ways they think, speak and behave....lets help them grow up without prejudice :soapbox:
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