1. Equality and Diversity Policy ingredients Peter Moss Thomas Coram Research Unit Institute of Education University of London

2. Early childhood policy that supports equality while leaving room for diversity to flourish – a common framework  strong decentralisation Wider commitment to equality and diversity Diversity is about people and groups – but also about ideas and practices EC policy to include –Values –Understandings –Actions

3. Wider commitment to equality and diversity Countries with best EC services – Nordic societies - have best record on equality Good services do not  equality: wider commitment to equality and paying taxes  equal access to good services Good EC services – like good schools – need strong and direct public funding (1.5% of GDP EC services cannot ‘cure’ inequality and injustice

4. Diversity is about many things Welcoming and valuing individual and group difference Challenging discrimination and injustice Openness to new thinking and practices – resisting standardisation and categorisation, preconceptions and predefined outcomes

5. “Putting everything one encounters into pre-made categories implies we make the Other into the Same, as everything which does not fit into these categories, which is unfamiliar and not taken-for-granted has to be overcome…To think another whom I cannot grasp is an important shift and it challenges the whole scene of pedagogy. It poses other questions to us pedagogues. Questions such as how the encounter with Otherness, with difference, can take place as responsibly as possible” (Dahlberg, 2003

6. “The education of young children as a community project” “[The early childhood worker needs to be] more attentive to creating possibilities than pursuing predefined goals… [to be] removed from the fallacy of certainties, [assuming instead] responsibility to choose, experiment, discuss, reflect and change, focusing on the organisation of opportunities rather than the anxiety of pursuing outcomes, and maintaining in her work the pleasure of amazement and wonder.” (Aldo Fortunati, 2006 )

7. EC policy Coherence and diversity Common national (and European) framework to support equality + decentralisation to support diversity Values Understandings Principles

8. Values Equality – an inclusive EC service for all children and families Diversity – ‘the norm not the exception’ Dialogue – recognise doubt, surrender control Democracy - participation of equal citizens Rights

9. Sheffield Children’s Centre “The quote refers to our long-standing focus on men and childcare…But, for us, ‘diversity covers many other areas: socio-economic groups and political affiliations; religious faiths and belief forms; age, race, ethnicity and nationality; sexuality; family composition; health status and physical and mental abilities…Social inclusion is paramount for us. We want to ensure equal access and fair outcomes with an acknowledgement that all sections of our society contribute to the public good and every individual has value in her/his own right” (Chrissy Meleady and Pat Broadhead, 2002)

10. Dialogue “[Dialogue] is of absolute importance. It is an idea of dialogue not as an exchange but as a process of transformation where you lose absolutely the possibility of controlling the final result. And it goes to infinity, it goes to the universe, you can get lost. And for human beings nowadays, and for women particularly, to get lost is a possibility and a risk” (Carlina Rinaldi, 2005)

11. Democracy as a fundamental value “Democracy forms the foundation of the pre- school. For this reason, all pre-school activity should be carried out in accordance with fundamental democratic values” (Swedish pre-school curriculum)

12. Democracy as a fundamental value EC centres are democratically organised and practice democracy, e.g decision-making, evaluation Democracy is understood as a way of life and relating – not a subject to be taught “Democracy is a way of life controlled by a working faith in the possibilities of human nature…[and] faith in the capacity of human beings for intelligent judgement and action if proper conditions are furnished” ( Dewey, 1939 )

13. Understandings What is your image of….? The child as a rich child and citizen The EC centre as a public institution, a forum and a collective workshop The EC worker as a reflective and democratic professional

14. ‘The rich child’ “ A child born with great potential that can be expressed in a hundred languages; an active learner, seeking the meaning of the world from birth, a co-creator of knowledge, identity, culture and values; a child that can live, learn, listen and communicate, but always in relation with others; the whole child, the child with body, mind, emotions, creativity, history and social identity; an individual, whose individuality and autonomy depend on interdependence, and who needs and wants connections with other children and adults; a citizen with a place in society, a subject of rights whom the society must respect and support” (Children in Europe, 2008)

15. A forum and collective workshop Forum: a place of encounter between citizens - younger and older Public institution, responsibility and space for all children and families Workshop of many, many purposes, projects and possibilities – social, cultural, political, ethical, economic, aesthetic etc etc.

16. Purposes, projects, possibilities include…. Collective production of knowledges, values and identities…of diversity! Collective researching, e.g. children’s learning processes, ‘outcomes’ Build solidarity and offer support Cultural sustainability and renewal Economic development and activity Promote gender and other equalities Practice democracy and active citizenship 

17. A democratic and reflective professional a critical thinking a researcher an experimenter a co-constructor of meanings, identities and values “A person who is part of contemporary culture, who is able to question and to analyze this culture with a critical eye…An intellectually curious person who rejects a passive approach to knowledge and prefers to construct knowledge together with others rather than simply to ‘consume’ it.” (Carlina Rinaldi, 2005)

18. Actions For equality and coherence Integrated responsibility – 1 ministry Universal entitlement – from ?12 months Integrated funding - tax-based supply side Integrated workforce - early years profession Integrated provision – 0 to 6 ‘children’s centres’ Integrated curriculum - 0 to 6

19. Actions For diversity Diverse workforce – 20% men  ‘Framework’ curriculum – open to local interpretation and additions Democratic experimentation – the state stimulates and supports local innovations (networks, pedagogistas….) Participatory evaluation – pedagogical documentation

20. Participatory evaluation “Evaluation as a democratic process of interpretation, a process that involves making practice visible and thus subject to reflection, dialogue and argumentation, leading to a judgement of value, contextualised and provisional because it is always subject to contestation” (Dahlberg, Moss and Pence, 2007)

21. Pedagogical documentation making practice visible by documentation interpretation of practice (making meaning) provisional and contestable conclusions/ judgements in relation with others, co-constructing by dialogue, contestation, reflection values multiple perspectives and diversity of interpretation

22. “ Documentation represents an extraordinary tool for dialogue, for exchange, for sharing. For Malaguzzi, it means the possibility to discuss and dialogue ‘everything with everyone’ (teachers, auxiliary staff, cooks, families, administrators and citizens)… [S]haring opinions by means of documentation presupposes being able to discuss real, concrete things – not just theories or words, about which it is possible to reach easy and naïve agreement ” (Alfredo Hoyuelos, 2004)

23. References Dahlberg, G., Moss, P. & Pence, A.(2007) Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care (2 nd ed). London: Routledge Fortunati,A. (2006) The Education of Young Children as a Community Project* Hoyuelos, A. (2004) ‘A pedagogy of transgression’, Children in Europe 6* OECD (2006) Starting Strong II. Paris: OECD Unger, R. (2005) ‘The future of the left: James Crabtree interviews Roberto Unger’, Renewal 13, 2/3 * Available from Children in Scotland, 5 Shandwick Place, Edinburgh Other reading Dahlberg, G. & Moss, P. (2005) Ethics and Politics in Early Childhood Education. London: Routledge Moss, P. (2007) Bringing politics into the nursery. http://www.bernardvanleer.org/news/2007/bringing_politics_into_the_nurs ery Rinaldi, C. (2006) In Dialogue with Reggio Emilia. London: Routledge