New kinder program challenges stereotyping

the scourge of family violence.

Bethany is one of the first kindergarten providers in the nation to launch an organisation-wide innovative approach to challenging racial, gender and disability prejudice, stereotyping and bias across all kinders.

Dr Scarlet said the implementation of the anti-bias approach within the Geelong kinder service provides a strong platform to ensure children get a good start in life, have a strong sense of identity and contribute to their world.

“Anti-bias education is a particular approach to early childhood education that has been designed to enable teachers to work with four particular anti-bias goals,” Dr Scarlet said.

“They’re basically about children accepting themselves for who they are, children accepting diversity and honouring diversity and children standing up in the face of injustice.”

Dr Scarlet said from a very young age children understand and adopt bias around gender, race, class and inequity.

She said claims that children only adopted this behaviour from their families was incorrect, instead children absorb all types of messages reinforced through advertising, television and conversations.

“We think that children are isolated — but they still hear TV and radio. They still go to (the supermarket) and see all the messages,” Dr Scarlet said.

“(Examples are) they think pink is a girl’s colour and blue is a boy’s colour when, in actual fact, colour is a colour.”