Nursery World - Inclusion

Why it is important for early years settings to understand the particular issues for children with diverse cultural backgrounds by listening to them. Gina Houston explains her study findings

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Listening to the voices of young children through methods such as observation, storyboards, video recordings and Persona Dolls is accepted good early years practice (Brown 2008). However, there has not been a specific focus on listening to the experiences of black children.

I hear my black mixed-race grandson telling me that if he goes to Jamaica on holiday, his friends won’t like him because the sun will make him too black; his white classmates say he is different and not like them. This indicates to me that racism, whether conscious or unconscious, is impacting negatively on the lives of many young children who identify as black and are made to feel different.

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