Early years practitioners have a big job to do in cultivating respect, cultural awareness and a positive sense of identity in young children, argues Anne OConnor
You dont have to be a fan of Celebrity Big Brother to know about the row raging around racist bullying on the show and the eviction of the culprit, Jade Goody.
I will own up to having watched the programme and - whatever the rights and wrongs of reality shows - it has certainly exercised my brain on the whole complex question of racism and how we identify it.
I also believe that all of us living in Britain today have much to benefit from this debate and, for those of us involved in the care, education and support of young children and their families, it throws up many questions that we must address if we are to move the debate forward. The reality, as I see it, is that there are no simple answers to these questions, so I am certainly not going to suggest any.
Education secretary Alan Johnson says the racism and bullying in the Big Brother house mirrored the problems within society as a whole, and should be combated, and that schools should be a force for good in tackling racism by creating understanding and debating what it means to be British (see this at www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2565188_2,00.html).
I couldnt agree more, but the education secretary seems to think the answer lies in compulsory citizenship lessons for secondary school children. Lets ask ourselves, though, what kind of early years input and practice would have made a difference to the adult attitudes and dispositions of Jade, her supporters and her housemates who stood by, uncomfortable, but unwilling to challenge the bullying and racism that they saw.
Racism
One aspect of the controversy that has intrigued me is the uncertainty with which many (though not all) Big Brother commentators struggled to decide exactly what constitutes a racist act. Some preferred to classify it as cultural ignorance, while others decided that it was bullying but without racist intent.
As early years practitioners, we will probably also have faced this uncertainty in our settings when pondering entries in our racial incident book. Lets not forget that a racial incident occurs when the victim believes or feels that what happened was because of their racial background and, in the case of young children, where an older witness recognises it as such.
Celebrity Big Brother watchers will have been aware that Shilpa Shetty seemed to change her mind about whether or not the attacks on her were racist. This is unsurprising when the victim has no one to confirm their experiences, or where social conditioning and the desire not to offend or cause trouble overrides the original reaction. The National Early Years Network handbook Action for Racial Equality in the Early Years has some excellent guidance on this subject.
We have legislation in the shape of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act (2000) to ensure that childcare and educational establishments have policies for race equality and are aware of the need to challenge discrimination.
As with most things, though, training in this area can be hit and miss, and there isnt room here to offer much in the way of theory or advice. But if the Big Brother controversy has got you thinking, then you need to check out reliable background information and good advice (see box).
Britishness
But what of our Britishness in the midst of this controversy? Mr Johnson believes that secondary schools, in the proposed citizenship lessons, need to focus on the core British values of justice and tolerance... [and] teach children about their modern history, which saw Britain become an island inhabited by a multitude of cultures, so they would better understand the UKs makeup.
Such an approach, he feels, should be taken in all schools, with or without ethnic minority students, as many white children in Britain often lacked any understanding of their modern society or identity.
Jades gang probably fall into that category. This lack of identity, coupled with cultural ignorance, may lead people to feel threatened and resentful of others they believe to be different or to have deprived them of something. Along this spectrum lie attitudes and actions that stem from ignorance, thoughtlessness and institutional and structural racism. At the far end of
the spectrum lie organisations such as the British National Party (BNP).
Research has shown that this perceived lack of identity is much stronger among the English and less of an issue for the Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish. A Commission for Racial Equality survey (see box) also found that people still often cite skin colour and parentage as the significant factors identifying nationality.
Recent TV programmes on family history have highlighted the growing interest in DNA ancestry tests, which have pointed to the likelihood that white British people have ancestry elsewhere on the globe and that many of them are, in fact, not British at all.
We dont need to wait until children are 11 before we begin to explore with them issues of national identity and cultural awareness. Celebrating the diverse and rich cultural make-up of Great Britain also allows us to celebrate the things peculiar to our nation or that we took from somewhere else to make our own! Fish and chips, a nice cup of tea, jam sandwiches and the Queen probably have meaning for all our children, as well as local customs, traditions and events that can be explored, discussed and celebrated. Global awareness begins with local awareness. Ask children for their thoughts about who they are, where they live and how they know this and dont forget to ask yourself first!
Emotional intelligence
The other B word in the Big Brother controversy is, of course, bullying. And again I want to pose the question, what would we want to give the three-year-old Jade and her housemates to help them feel safe, confident and resilient enough to be neither a victim nor a
perpetrator of any form of bullying?
For me, the answer lies in the way we empower and support our children in the development of their emotional intelligence. I would have wished for them the kind of early education that supported the development of:
* strong, secure attachments essential for their neurological and emotional well-being
* a positive self-image and identity not one based on the concept of celebrity, viewer ratings or perfume sales
* impulse control, so that they think before they speak
* resilience to deal with bullying behaviours and attitudes and to help them resist becoming a bully themselves as a means of survival
* the security not to feel threatened by others by their beauty, intelligence or difference
* the ability to empathise with others
* respect for others opinions and lifestyles
* the assertiveness to challenge others attitudes or actions that they believe to be wrong.
I dont believe we need an early years citizenship programme to provide all the above. An early years and primary curriculum that has nurture at its core and puts emphasis on the development of positive dispositions for lifelong learning would go a long way to providing what is currently deemed to be missing at age 11.
Hope for the future?
At the Beit Hashoah Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, California, visitors have at one point to choose between two doors when passing to the next part of the exhibition. The first is marked Prejudiced, the second, Unprejudiced. The second exit is locked, a forceful reminder that we are all capable of thinking or acting in a prejudiced way and most of us will, at some point or another. The important thing is to be able to recognise it.
With the public show of remorse and apology from Jade, it would seem that she has begun to see this. Whether or not her subsequent actions are genuine or an attempt to manipulate public opinion, it must be clear to her that she has something to learn from this. It could go either way, of course she could find solace in people who reinforce her previous attitudes. However, I cant help hoping that with a bit of support she could be a real force for good in the challenge against racism.
Suggested further reading and guidance
* All about... Anti-discriminatory practice by Mary Dickins (Nursery World, 3 January 2002)
* Action for Racial Equality in the Early Years by Jane Lane (forthcoming from NCB, tel: 020 7843 6000)
* Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for empowering young children by
L Derman-Sparks and the ABC Task Force (NAEYC, Washington DC, available from NCB)
* Bloody Foreigners - The story of immigration to Britain by Robert Winder (Little, Brown)
* www.rewind.org.uk - a useful site for challenging the myths that surround racist opinions and ideas
* www.decsy.org.uk/culturalmentor. asp (Development Education Centre)
* Readable and informative essays, including the report Citizenship and Belonging What is Britishness?, are available on the Commission for Racial Equality website at www.cre.gov.uk/diversity/wordsandmeanings/index.html and www.cre. gov.uk/research/britishness.html
* Unlearning Discrimination in the Early Years and Combating Discrimination: Persona dolls in action, both by Babette Brown (Trentham Books)
* Early Years Trainers Anti-Racist Network (EYTARN), tel: 0151 639 1778
