End discriminatory practices and prioritise meaningful inclusion
This is a short article I wrote for the Early Education Journal back for their Autumn 2023 issue. It’s a piece I like as it outlines some key aspects of a critical pedagogy, drawn from Paolo Freire’s work.
You can purchase the full journal here, it’s issue 101.
The revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework states the need for practitioners to embed anti-discriminatory practice, whilst ensuring that every child is included and supported to flourish. This is welcome given the political context where discussions about equality appear increasingly polarised and contested. However, definitions of what counts as anti-discriminatory practice vary and implementation can take different forms.
For instance, it can be approached on narrower terms as an issue of resources (not enough brown dolls in the home corner), topically (thematic weeks to celebrate particular cultures), or at a deeper level through critical staff reflection and proactive engagement with parents, carers, and the wider community.
As a former early years practitioner, recognising the need for anti-discriminatory practice has been a journey that I continue today. I remain aware that there are always more opportunities to deepen our understanding of anti-discriminatory practice. I remind myself constantly that, for anyone working in education with children, the need to stand firm against inequality is part and parcel of why we do what we do, even if we do not consistently articulate it this way. Undoubtedly, we all want the best opportunities for our children to grow, unrestricted by inequalities.
Anti-discriminatory practice through Freire My learning about anti-discriminatory practice has long been motivated by insights from Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educational philosopher. He was born less than forty years after the abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1888 (the last Latin American nation to abolish slavery and perhaps the last in the Western world). Freire (1972) understood that only a radical re-formation of the socio-economic base could establish the conditions necessary for a radical reconstitution of the polity. His ideas have had an enormous influence on the theory and practice of education worldwide.
Freire believed that education is a critical activity which can provide the conditions for learners to reflect upon, shape and even transform their world in the interests of social responsibility. Examples in the current context might include Malala Yousafzai or the youth activists leading the recent Black Lives Matter and climate activism campaigns. Here, education, including the early years, takes on a social justice agenda that orients pedagogy in line with a broader political responsibility. This perspective challenges any notion of neutrality in education and instead maintains that all educators perpetuate political values of the world in one way or another. Freire wrote:
I do not see why I should omit or hide my political stance by proclaiming a neutral position that does not exist. On the contrary, my role as a teacher is to assent the student’s right to compare, to choose, to rupture, to decide. (Freire 2000:48)
Download the article to read the rest.