Early Level:
Principle 7
Our children will be supported to reflect on positionality, privilege and power, and to unlearn bias, prejudice and divisiveness.
This principle explores privilege, a concept that refers to advantages that benefit groups or individuals, due, for example, to their race, gender or economic status. With children, this principle involves exploring what we mean by power and ways in which we can bring together our powers collectively to bring about change or take positive action.
Unpacking the principle
Questions and considerations
Do spaces …
enable children to explore power in positive ways, such as consulting with them about different spaces in the setting?
encourage children to identify and carry out things that they would like to do together?
present images, activities and games which actively challenge stereotypes?
Do interactions …
open up discussions about what children understand by power?
explore why working together is a really powerful way of getting things done and making changes?
think about different ways children can use their powers positively in the setting to help others?
explore when people have power over children? When is this appropriate and when is it not?
Spaces and experiences
Consulting children about different spaces in the setting and supporting them to identify things they would like to see included will enable them to experience the positive role of power in collective decision-making. For example, outdoors, could a discussion about the organisation of equipment, litter or accessibility be explored? Can all children be enabled to have responsibility for collectively taking care of a space so that together, they make it a better place to be?
Suggested Activity: Inside or outside, children can sit in a circle and work together to create a poem. Children can look around the natural environment for sights, sounds and smells. One child then begins the game with a word, a sound or a phrase to describe the day, and everyone else contributes their own ideas to create a poem. Scribe the group’s ideas and then read the poem together to celebrate the power of all of their ideas coming together to create a communal piece. An alternative activity could be to create a communal piece of art.
Discuss: what ideas/objects did your friends bring to the poem/art? What did you bring? We all have the power within ourselves to choose when to work together and we can do great things when we do this. We all have different ideas and parts of ourselves we can bring and share.
SHANARRI Indicators(s)
I am included.
I am respected.
I am achieving.
UNCRC Article(s)
Article 2: I have the right not to be discriminated against and to be treated fairly whatever my language, religion, gender, where I live, whether I have a disability or whether I am rich or poor.
Home/Community Links and Opportunities for Parent/Carer Participation
Involve all parent/carers in the life of the setting, including planning, activities, developments and trips, for example.
Citizen science projects enable all children to be active citizens and see themselves as scientists, challenging stereotypes of scientists and bias. They are a great way to show the way in which we all have the power to make change alongside other people. Projects should be shared and explained to parents so that they are all aware and able to participate if they choose. Considerations for timing, travel and translators would need to be taken into account.
Key words from this principle are meaningfully and fairly. This principle is about embedding the children’s experience of rich and diverse communities in the everyday life and routines of the early years setting. It is not about emphasising ‘otherness’ or exoticizing other cultures and communities and should not be explored solely through ‘culture/diversity days’ or only at times of religious celebrations, for example. It is also important to avoid reinforcing stereotypes through images and stories which provide a single story and do not paint the complete picture.
Key Things to Note
Unpacking
the principle
Do spaces …
enable children to explore power in positive ways, such as consulting with them about different spaces in the setting?
encourage children to identify and carry out things that they would like to do together?
present images, activities and games which actively challenge stereotypes?
Do interactions …
open up discussions about what children understand by power?
explore why working together is a really powerful way of getting things done and making changes?
think about different ways children can use their powers positively in the setting to help others?
explore when people have power over children? When is this appropriate and when is it not?
This principle explores privilege, a concept that refers to advantages that benefit groups or individuals, due, for example, to their race, gender or economic status. With children, this principle involves exploring what we mean by power and ways in which we can bring together our powers collectively to bring about change or take positive action.
Spaces
and Experiences
SHANARRI
Indicator(s)
Questions
and Considerations
Consulting children about different spaces in the setting and supporting them to identify things they would like to see included will enable them to experience the positive role of power in collective decision-making. For example, outdoors, could a discussion about the organisation of equipment, litter or accessibility be explored? Can all children be enabled to have responsibility for collectively taking care of a space so that together, they make it a better place to be?
Suggested Activity: Inside or outside, children can sit in a circle and work together to create a poem. Children can look around the natural environment for sights, sounds and smells. One child then begins the game with a word, a sound or a phrase to describe the day, and everyone else contributes their own ideas to create a poem. Scribe the group’s ideas and then read the poem together to celebrate the power of all of their ideas coming together to create a communal piece. An alternative activity could be to create a communal piece of art.
Discuss: what ideas/objects did your friends bring to the poem/art? What did you bring? We all have the power within ourselves to choose when to work together and we can do great things when we do this. We all have different ideas and parts of ourselves we can bring and share.
I am included.
I am respected.
I am achieving.
UNCRC Articles(s)
Article 2: I have the right not to be discriminated against and to be treated fairly whatever my language, religion, gender, where I live, whether I have a disability or whether I am rich or poor.
Home/Community Links and Opportunities for Parent/Carer Participation
Involve all parent/carers in the life of the setting, including planning, activities, developments and trips, for example.
Citizen science projects enable all children to be active citizens and see themselves as scientists, challenging stereotypes of scientists and bias. They are a great way to show the way in which we all have the power to make change alongside other people. Projects should be shared and explained to parents so that they are all aware and able to participate if they choose. Considerations for timing, travel and translators would need to be taken into account.
Key Things to Note
It is important that practitioners have time to reflect on their own biases and carry out some professional learning to examine their own values, attitudes and beliefs in relation to power and privilege. Much of this principle will be enacted through modelling and behaviours of practitioners in the early level setting as they observe, interact and talk with children, parents and other members of staff. Settings where children are predominantly White should find ways to present wider Scotland in order to push back against bias and enable children to function, as they grow older, in a diverse society without relying on stereotypes and misinformation. It will also guard against White children developing a perception that White majority culture is the norm or superior.