Who are you?

Conversations around race and culture are never easy. Depending on your own life experience they will either be seen as a vital part of society and issues which particularly need addressing within education, or they may make you feel very uncomfortable and you would rather run a mile than get caught up in a conversation around them. I think when I was younger I would have put myself in the second category.

Yet over the summer, discussions around race and culture have really come to our consciousness with the murder of George Floyd in the United States of America at the hands of the police. Thus followed protests across the world pertaining to the view held by some that the lives of black people are often adversely affected by ‘the white majority’. The term Black Lives Matter has hardly been out of the media since.

In early October another news story hit the headlines but this time from Paris when a teacher was murdered. His crime? for teaching his students about tolerance. He was trying to encourage freedom of speech - something that I am sure all practitioners want for their children, whatever their age. My argument here would be that if we were less afraid to encourage our very youngest children (in the early years) to think about difference and diversity and to see it as an important aspect of their burgeoning identity that there might be fewer incidents of racism, and that children would grow up to understand difference in a more positive way.

This paper will focus on two main areas which I believe need to be addressed if real change is needed in the way that all children in the UK grow up to learn about aspects of difference and diversity.

• The often contested role of culture in policy – in particular the National Curriculum (Primary Curriculum) and the Early Years Foundation Stage

• The need to ensure as practitioners that we start to acknowledge the developing identity of children from the moment they enter early years settings, and the role of culture within this

Just a couple of things to note at the start of this paper:

Firstly, I always use the term practitioners to refer to everyone working with children. For me this values all those who work with children in settings across the country.

Secondly, I write this paper as a white British woman and therefore this is the position which I bring to my writing. When I started studying for an MA I became fascinated by how education systems across the world differ from that in the ‘western world’ and I will admit here and now that I am not always certain that we have it right here in the UK.

I have spent much of my career working in multi-cultural areas with families from across the world. Previous studies that I carried out focused on play, and on some of the anomalies of using a play-based curriculum with families who did not understand the UK’s fascination with play as a vehicle for learning. I think it is vital to try and unpick some of the differences in views around education sensitively and calmly, taking people’s views into account and using various tools to try and analyse why different opinions are held.

Further, this paper will bring my thoughts and ideas to discussions about race and culture and the impact they can have on a young child’s burgeoning sense of identity in the early years. You may agree with some and disagree with others. However, I hope that they might encourage you to consider how you can ensure that every child’s unique identity and nature is appreciated and developed.

In 1988 Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government launched the National Curriculum (NC). This was designed to ensure that all children across the country would receive the same educational curriculum wherever they lived. Interestingly, the National Curriculum was launched to ensure that it:-

• offers a curriculum which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and society and

• prepares pupils at the school for the opportunity, responsibility and experiences of later life (www.gov.uk)

In a similar way to the EYFS it sets out core subjects of

• maths

• science

and then foundation subjects of

• computing

• physical education

I have highlighted the subjects that seem to me to relate to culture and diversity.

As children become older, citizenship and languages are added to the curriculum. I wonder why these topics should not be offered earlier on in a child’s life? Many children these days come into primary school being able to speak more than one language and can tell stories from other cultures so why not nurture them from an earlier age, as this would ensure that citizenship education could begin earlier in children’s lives.

The NC and the EYFS have been criticised as having a very ‘eurocentric’ approach. Some subjects have also been viewed as focusing too much on the history of the particular country that children reside in. So, for instance children in the UK rarely focus on the history of Ireland, Wales or Scotland. It is too easy to forget that children who are the same colour will have very different heritages depending on which part of the UK they come from.

As we often hear through the media, it is of course vital that all children should learn about the history and geography of the countries that their families originate from.

This is not only important for children from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities but also for white British children, but not necessarily in a good way. Sometimes the history of our own countries is not positive, and the history of the UK in terms of slavery is something that brings alarm and shame to many.

Recently I have been researching Critical Race Theory (CRT) a theory which I should say now is contested by some. However, it does help one to understand how people of colour are often blamed for things that happen in society. I have been reintroduced to the work of Professor David Gillborn from the University of Birmingham, whose work I researched when studying for my MA. His work particularly focuses on race inequalities in education. He pulls no punches in what he writes, and at times it is distressing to read, but I felt it was time to revisit his work for the purpose of this paper. What I have written is a synopsis of his views and I would recommend that you look deeper into his work, as I shall in the weeks to come.

CRT takes the view that racism is normal in society and that it relates to the oppression of black people. It suggests that society is guilty of racism and raises the view that white people will always benefit more from society because they are in some way superior to people of colour. Black people will argue that this has come about through the slave trade which defined a lot of the UK’s history in the17th to 19th century across particularly Africa and the Caribbean. During this time Britain was guilty of appalling slavery and although this has now been abolished, it should never be forgotten.

More recently in the 1940’s and 1950’s when families moved across the commonwealth from Africa and the Caribbean to take up employment in the NHS, British Transport and in factories, families were treated appallingly and many still are today. These inequalities still exist between people of all cultures, and of course the pandemic has exacerbated this. Again, we have seen particular cultural groups in society affected, partly because of inequalities relating to where they live, their education and their employment. Children born to parents of different cultures still experience different life circumstances.

Gillbourn believes that successive UK Governments do little to alleviate these inequalities because on the whole they follow a ‘standards driven’ approach to education. Statistics continue to indicate that some children from BAME communities make less progress in GCSE’s than their white counterparts, and fewer students from BAME communities go into universities and enter the teaching profession. If children in schools do not see their ethnicity represented by practitioners in schools will they ever aspire to work in them themselves?

As I have been writing this paper, the government has spoken up again, stating that it does not want schools teaching children about ‘white privilege’ claiming that any teachers that do so will be seen to be ‘breaking the law’. We will all hold differing views on this but surely children need to be taught about history however unsettling it is, and to be given the tools to make their own minds up about these issues in a supportive mature way.

In 2008, the Labour Government combined three policies to launch the Early Years Foundation Stage. This new amalgamated policy was to be used for all children aged between birth to five. The following four aspects were laid out within the document:-

• the unique child

• positive relationships

• enabling environments

• learning and development

the unique child viewed:-

‘every child as a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and selfassured’ (DCSF: 2008 pg.5)

It celebrated the diverse characteristics of children, and also introduced the requirement that practitioners should offer ‘child led’ learning, which promotes ‘positive attitudes’ to diversity and difference in all children (p.6). The document went on to declare that practitioners must plan for the individual needs of children from varying cultures, and that issues of discrimination must be challenged. The policy stressed the importance of ensuring that the diversity of children and communities should be respected and celebrated, and that practitioners should ensure that no family should be discriminated against.

The document goes on to challenge practitioners to ensure that the development of their own knowledge around other cultures remains up to date, and that to do this they should attend training around different cultures and faiths. Practitioners are also required to maintain respectful dialogues between themselves and parents and carers, accepting that parents are a child’s first educator.

There is also a recognition of families’ spiritual belief systems within the Curriculum. This needs to be accepted by practitioners, whether or not they view themselves as ‘people of faith,’ and it is acknowledged that this can have an enormous effect on a family’s /child’s identity.

The document set out the following seven areas of learning – those highlighted seem to me to pertain particularly to culture and diversity

• Physical development

• Mathematics

In 2010 Dame Clare Tickell was tasked by the then Conservative / Liberal Democrat Coalition Government to review the EYFS. Amongst others, she added the following two areas which are fundamental to culture and identity: -

• Children should be encouraged to develop their communication skills which are responsive to the child’s interests, home language and wider development

• Bilingualism should be recognised as being an asset to children, and their parents should encourage use of their home language both at home and in settings. However, children should have good communications skills in English as they will be particularly needed when children enter Key Stage one of the education system.

I have always found issues around bilingualism as being highly contentious in early years settings. Many families prefer their children to be encouraged to speak English in settings, without understanding that they firstly need knowledge and experience of their home languages before they are able to take on a new language. Yet of course the languages that children use both in and outside the home are central to their identity. Sensitive dialogue is often needed with families during this important time.

However, there is criticism of the EYFS and the fact that despite its focus on ‘the unique child,’ it does not go far enough to embrace the cultural diversity of the UK. Ang (2010) discusses how the document addresses issues relating to social justice, equality, and the need to celebrate the festivals of cultural groups and communities, but suggests that it gives an ‘elitist notion of culture’(p. 45) stating that the British culture is that which is extolled, in the main throughout the EYFS. Ang goes on to state that it is not in line with the ‘constantly evolving’ population in the UK and the ‘increasing numbers of children who are bi-racial or from mixed heritages,’ (p.43). Ang challenges the government to give more consideration to those children that come from ’linguistically and culturally diverse communities’ to ensure that early years provision is appropriate for the learning and development of all children.

Although the document has gone through many changes since 2008, the concept of ‘the unique child’ has never been eroded, which fills me with some confidence that within the early years, children are still seen as unique individuals.

Having focused on culture and its place in policy, the second part of this paper will examine the need for practitioners to ensure that the burgeoning identity of children is nurtured in early years settings – particularly in relation to their culture. This became apparent to me as I was carrying out the research for my book. I became fascinated by the way that children begin to learn about themselves, their family and environment, who they are, what they look like and what they like and dislike. I began to realise that this was something that I had not really considered before. Much of this paper draws on my book, and explains how and when children start to develop ideas about their identity and what practitioners should do to try and encourage them to have a positive sense of themselves. I hope that you will find it helpful and that it will give you ideas for your practice.

The term identity is a concept that is organic. It changes throughout life as children develop, learn and ask questions relating to their lives. Gunaratnam (2003) suggests that identity is

‘a process through which multiple and changing subject positions are given a sense of coherence.’ (p.11)

Brooker and Woodhead (2008; pg. 4) view identity as ‘multidimensional’ with characteristics such as the child’s name, and nationality established and registered at birth. Children then go on to develop other more personal identities through their life. Aistear (d u) suggests that a child’s identity firstly relates to their place within the family, their parents’ roles in the community and their culture. They go onto suggest that identity also reflects the child’s characteristics, likes and dislikes, self-esteem and personality.

Barley (2014) makes a similar suggestion that some parts of our identity are anchored. These might relate to our position in the family, culture, faith, nationality and gender. Issa and Hatt (2013) state the view that the culture children are born into is a large aspect of their identity. They go on to suggest that the two terms, identity and culture are interchangeable and cannot be separated. They discuss the view that cultural diversity relates to

‘a dynamic process which facilitates the transformation of particular social and cultural characteristics of the child’s home and community.’ (p.6)≠

So having defined/described what identity is and viewed it as incorporating many aspects of families’ lives it is worth focusing briefly how it builds in a child’s life.

Before the age of two, children are very much ‘at one’ with their parents or main carers and they start to slowly develop a sense of self- concept – that is who they are. They feel safe when they are with their family and see themselves (very much/ delete?) as part of their parents’ lives. During this time, babies are forging those important links of attachment with their main carers and are beginning to find out who they are, what place they have within their family and who is important to them. They are learning that communication is reciprocal and reliant on someone else noticing them and communicating with them. They are getting to know their community and their role within it. For some this may mean that they are learning to recognise what is known as their nuclear family, with which they live. For others, growing up in wider family groupings means that they may be learning from their wider family who may be grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins or community elders.

However, at around the age of two things begin to change. Children start to acknowledge that they are people in their own right. This can be especially recognised through their language skills. Prior to the age of two Simpson (2011) suggests that children use the term ‘my’ or their name as a prefix to an action they are taking; however once they turn two they are more likely to use the term ‘I’, thus recognising that they have an opinion and a place in society. At this time in a child’s life we sometimes observe a rise in temper tantrums, this is not because the child is trying to be malicious or cause their parents extra stress but because their worlds have suddenly changed, they are aware that their communication skills matter, and they are testing out boundaries to see how far they can go.

The situations that children experience before the age of two, however, do have an effect on their developing sense of identity. Children will have an awareness of the language used at home and how this may be different in certain circumstances or with different people. They may also be hearing and ‘playing with’ more than one language as part of the process of becoming bilingual in the future.

Culture is a word which, like identity, is often hard to define and seems to mean different things to different people. It is often a word which gets confused with issues relating to faith. People become mystified as to whether certain aspects or habits of someone’s life relates to culture or faith. Some define culture as being about the traditions and customs that bind groups of people together. Others view this as a superficial explanation which suggests that culture is fixed and unchangeable and does not accept that artefacts, values, music, food and clothes are an important aspect of culture too. Vianna and Stetsenko (2006) view the term as being a ‘living continuous flow of practices which are enacted by different generations of people’ (p.90). This view values culture as being similar to identity – it is changeable, dynamic and evolves over time. Some hold the view that different communities change over time, suggesting that they reflect historical and familial changes.

Often children get mixed messages relating to culture particularly in relation to traditions and festivals that are celebrated around the UK. A child coming to the ‘westernised’ world at Christmas might think that this celebration is about Santa Claus, snow and reindeer. This is a cultural view and is not the Christian view of Christmas which is about the coming of Jesus to the world. Likewise when celebrating Easter, children hear about chickens, bunnies and chocolate –cultural ideas of Easter and not the Christian story. The same could be said for Hindus who celebrate Diwali. Again, settings celebrate this because it is about light and the celebration of light coming at the end of dark – children often make little Diwali lights but there is much more to this celebration than lights, as the festival is celebrated to signify good over evil (www.reference.com/) Similarly when settings recognise Ramadan and celebrate Eid they may not mention that it is a thanksgiving to the God Allah for all the blessings that he gives to Muslims (Maqsood 2009) . Not taking note of the ‘wholeness ‘of celebrations and customs which might also include Sikhism, or Jewish and other faiths, may appear to be tokenistic.

It is imperative when relating to children’s identity to be aware that if children grow up with negativity in terms of their culture or any other area of their lives, it can have a damaging effect on the way that they view themselves and their identity. Of course, this is why events such as Black Lives Matter, which encourage society to consider again issues around prejudice and racism, are so important. Swadener states that:

‘Children who learn that their family, faith or cultural group is stigmatised, or otherwise discriminated against, need additional support for their growing self-esteem and self worth.’ (2008: pg.22)

As I mentioned at the start of this article, I believe that it is therefore vital that when practitioners are working with children, they do not just offer experience of ‘westernised’ notions of childhood. They may be growing up in the UK, but essentially all children need to experience the traditions, festivals and cultural aspects of the world that they live in. This can be done through storytelling, singing, drama, role play and getting to know about the ‘cultural tools’ that come from their particular country of origin.

Here we see the importance of adults and practitioners who will respect children for who they are, who will form strong reciprocal, respectful relations with them and who will help them to understand their lives and their growing sense of identity.

So, to close, how can practitioners ensure that their practice encourages all children to value each other’s culture and identity positively? Here are just a few suggestions of ways that you can adapt your practice to make settings more inclusive:

• Rather than using plastic toys, provide more natural toys such as treasure baskets and heuristic play - these can inspire children to learn, and can break down barriers for parents who do not quite understand the Western fixation with toys.

• Use posters / pictures which reflect diversity

• Ensure that craft activities reflect a diversity of cultures, especially art from different parts of the world

• Offer painting activities which encourage children to mix paint and discuss how they themselves are different from each other

• Resource home corners with different cooking utensils from around the world

• Food can be brought in from other cultures for children to taste

• If the setting is responsible for the meals that children eat, you could offer a variety of foods such as pizza, pasta, curry, stir fries

• Lengths of fabric can be offered for children to dress up, in rather than relying on dressing up clothes that represent characters from television programmes.

I do realise that at the moment some of these may be out of bounds because of the pandemic

• Look carefully at books in your setting– how many of them represent multicultural Britain, or are they in the main related to white children? Books need to reflect the every day worlds of all children.