Equity through Play: Cultural Diversity Materials as Invitations for Dialogue about Equity in Early Childhood
Alison Wishard Guerra, Monica Molgaard, Thandeka Chapman, Shana Cohen
University of California, San Diego, United States of America
The inclusion of diversity-oriented play materials (DPM) in Early Childhood Education (ECE) is a requirement of internationally utilized quality rating scales (e.g. CLASS, ECERS) and licensing regulations (NAEYC, 2019; Sakai et al, 2003). DPM include racially diverse dolls, kitchen/food items, musical instruments, and international dress-up clothes (NAEYC, 2019; Sakai et al. 2003). As US ECE programs tend to receive low Cultural Awareness and Promoting Diversity scores (Sakai et al, 2003; Sanders & Downer, 2012), the inclusion of DPM is criticized as insufficient, favoring pedagogical approaches to reduce inequality (Durden et al. 2015; Suoto-Manning & Rabadi-Raol, 2018). In the micro context of dramatic play, children reenact everyday life, including reproducing macro systems of power and oppression (Vygotsky, 1978; Rogers et al., 2021; Velez-Agosto et al., 2017). Without appropriate professional development (PD), ECE may inadvertently reinforce macro systems of oppression (Iruka et al., 2020; MacNevin & Bermin, 2017). This paper investigates how ECE teachers integrated new DPM into classroom activities after receiving anti-bias training, how DPM prompted conversations about diversity, and PD needed to promote equity in ECE.
Methods
Data was collected as part of a Research Practice Partnership within a university affiliated ECE program in the United States. The teachers (n=32, M 28-years) were predominantly female (91%), English home-language (69%) and of diverse (63% person of color, 37% White/non-Hispanic). Teachers participated in a full day anti-biased PD and were given new DPM including multilingual blocks, international musical instruments, kitchen/household items, and global fabrics and textiles. To explore teachers’ engagement with DPM and application of anti-biased PD, an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design used an online-survey followed by semi-structured interviews.
Results
Teachers reported children were very/interested (70%) in the DPM and that there was an increase (56%) in conversations related to equity and diversity. Some (37%) of teachers only provided access to DPM in free-play settings, while (49%) both allowed access to DPM in free-play and included them in planned anti-bias pedagogical practice at least 2-3 times per week.
Qualitative data indicated that the DPM sparked new modes of dramatic play, promoted inclusion among children from non-White backgrounds, and garnered positive approval from parents. “I took out the play clothes and she brought these wonderful, these different fabrics from Africa and I just put them like different scarves. And yeah, you see the play has like changed.” Teachers noted the insufficiency of simply including new DPM, highlighting the importance of dialogue. Teachers requested explicit training in using DPM to promote equity without reinforcing societal bias.
Educational Importance and Connection to Conference Theme
Inclusion of diversity-oriented play materials is a necessary, but insufficient, approach to leverage ECE as a mechanism to reduce inequality. ECE teachers have varying degrees of comfort and training in implementing anti-bias pedagogy, which could contribute to the reinforcement of structural inequality through children’s dramatic play. ECE professional development programs and quality rating scales must include a more specific focus on anti-bias pedagogical strategies (Escayg, 2019; Iruka et al., 2022).
Early Childhood Educators Engagement with Families on Cultural Diversity
Monica Molgaard, Alison Wishard Guerra, Thandeka K Chapman
University of California, San Diego, United States of America
Early childhood education (ECE) is one of the most challenged contexts when it comes to discussions of critical topics that address inequities such as race and racism with young children (Sanders & Farago, 2018). ECE has been seen as the antidote to address systemic inequities children face through the use of multicultural pedagogy embedded within Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) (Escayg, 2019; NAEYC, 2019). Though DAP provides a necessary developmental perspective, its historical underpinnings reflect the values of White middle-class Americans, which may blind ECE providers from understanding the profound impacts of racism (Suoto-Manning & Rabadi-Raol, 2018), leading to ineffective engagement with children and their families (Bouette et al., 2011). This race evasive approach leaves families to bear the responsibility to teach others about their lived experiences, while also advocating for their children of color (Sanders & Downer, 2012). This study investigates early childhood educators' perceptions on the role of families and providers to support children’s development of cultural diversity and exploring the ways they are engaging with families on diversity topics.
Methods
We conducted a Research Practice Partnership study to address racial bias and anti-racist pedagogy within a university affiliated ECE program. Participants included 32 teachers of 0-5 years-olds. The teachers predominantly identified as women (91%) and their mean age was 38 years. 69% identified English as their first language, 63% identified as a person of color, and 37% identified as White/non-hispanic. To explore teachers’ engagement with anti-racist pedagogy, an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design used an online survey followed by semi-structured interviews to extend emergent themes from the survey (Chen et al., 2009; Guyton & Wesche, 2005; Taylor & Sobel, 2001).
Results
Quantitative findings demonstrate that the majority (76%) of educators believe that families and ECE providers have an equal responsibility in supporting children’s awareness of cultural diversity and bias. Educators were evenly split across feeling confident (18% consistently confident, 32% usually confident) and beginning confidence (37% somewhat comfortable, 13% not yet confident) when engaging with families around culture and diversity topics. Qualitative findings demonstrate that while educators found that open communication was most effective for building trust and maintaining relationships with families from different backgrounds, they tended to focus on inviting families to contribute to the curriculum.
Implications and Connection to ICSEI Theme
ECE programs must move away from focusing on families as educators, to focusing on families as learners in an inclusive, bidirectional process of supporting children’s development, thereby, addressing and promoting social justice and equity. Educators need to better understand the diverse families that they are working with, including their lived experiences, goals, and expectations so that families feel connected to the learning process (Iruka et al., 2020). ECE must be a resource for helping families to become more knowledgeable about the education system by combating myths, discussing parental rights, and identifying school processes that can support their children. Anti-racist ECE recognizes the racial history of ECE, the strength of families, and systematically addresses discrimination and bias to provide opportunities for all children to thrive (Iruka et al., 2022).
Evidence of Effectiveness: Anti-Bias Curricular Outcomes from a Three-Year Research Practice Partnership
Thandeka K Chapman1, Alison Wishard-Guerra2, Monica Molgaard3
1University of California San Diego, United States of America; 2University of California San Diego, United States of America; 3University of California San Diego, United States of America
Using data from an ongoing research practice partnership (RPP), we share a set of curricular outcomes focused on anti-bias education from early childhood educators and university researchers. This presentation focuses on two research question(s) that highlight RPP outcomes.
- --How are early childhood educators (ECE) incorporating anti-bias and anti-racist materials into their curriculum following multiple years of professional development?
- --How do the curriculum changes at the early childhood centers represent how teachers are blending developmentally appropriate practices with anti-bias frameworks?
The RPP has developed professional development activities including two full-day teacher institutes, multiple teacher reading groups, identifying useful webinars and online seminars and conferences, and developing one-on-one mentoring between center administrators and ECE. During COVID-19 shelter-in-place, the teachers began writing curricula using National Association for the Education of Young Children’s (NAEYC) four goals of anti-bias education: identity, diversity, justice, and activism. Teachers created the “Mykala Doll” activity which allows children to ask the doll questions about her brown skin color, curly hair, favorite things, and family and community affiliations. Units also included children participating in a school supply drive for homeless children and partnering with Scholastic INC who donated a book for every pair of pajamas the children collected during the pajama drive.
We relied heavily on established anti-bias (Derman-Sparks et al., 2019; Souto-Manning & Rabadi-Raol, 2018) and new anti-racist pedagogy scholarship (Escaygu, 2019; Wright, 2021) to analyze the curricular changes from the past three years. Material documents and artifacts were collected from the centers with the permission of the administration. The researchers were an integral part of the professional development series and continue to interview individual and focus groups of educators at the centers. Data Sources are material documents, such as lesson plans and newsletters to parents and families, and curricular artifacts of children’s work. We also introduce recent interview data from ECE educators who have participated in the RPP.
Through participation in the RPP educators became more intentional with incorporating social justice content and racial, cultural and social identity development in classrooms ages 9 months to four years old. This intentional planning included teachers generating lessons that include families as partners, but did not rely on families to initiate cultural activities. Activities around holidays and cultural events remain important; however, educators have developed lessons that are not attached to calendar events, therefore normalizing anti-bias curriculum as everyday practice and institutional culture.
While the conceptual literature focused on anti-racist education gains prominence in early childhood conversations (Escayg, 2020; Muller, et al.,2022; NAEYC, 2020), the empirical research documenting anti-racist education practices and children’s outcomes in early childhood remains scant. Education practitioners, including those who collaborated in the RPP, desire examples and models of practice. In order to develop equity models of practice in ECE, researchers and practitioners working in collaborative spaces need more professional development models and examples of practice (Wright, 2021). The outcomes of the professional development series have enhanced the center’s effectiveness and improvement towards equity-minded ECE.
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