5 Case studies and practical applications

SHADDAI TEMBO

We know from the research that, certainly amongst practitioners, the narratives of colour avoidance, where we don’t need to be discussing children's awareness of racial difference, are quite commonplace. But this case study is a really good example of how race really features in quite a fundamental way to Joshua’s early friendships. It seems quite important for him in those early years that he’s being drawn to children with a similar skin colour to him, which can be really important in developing and maintaining his own sense of a stable racial identity.

We talk a lot about attachment theory between the primary caregiver and the child. But in this context, there’s a real good attachment that seems to be happening with Joshua and his friends until they leave, of course. I think that’s really important to remember, how fundamental and important children’s peer cultures and peer friendships can be in maintaining their own sense of self-identity in a positive and affirming manner. Children are, of course, already well aware of differences from a really young age. So it’s great to see that Joshua was supported in his home environment but, of course, disappointing to see that that wasn’t carried through in the nursery.

I think really here, it’s important that the setting does take a bit more responsibility in supporting Joshua to maintain a positive sense of self. I also think that the parents of other children within that setting also have a responsibility, particularly when their children are less likely to understand and reflect on their own racial identity. They also have a responsibility to talk with their children about difference, about people who look different to them, and the value of being kind and perhaps challenging those broader stereotypes that we might see in the media about Black and minoritised people. So really, we’re thinking here about the responsibility of practitioners but also parents of all children within the setting to support that early socialisation of children’s positive racial identities.

In terms of the short-term effects on Joshua’s racial identity then and his sense of self-esteem and wellbeing, I think it’s very likely to evoke feelings of shame, of Joshua not feeling like he’s good enough insofar as he doesn’t have lighter skin or straighter hair like other children. That can therefore lead to poor feelings of self-esteem and ultimately an internalisation of these norms that he’s different and not as good as the other children.

It can often lead to a really poor and kind of reclusive kind of attitude about these sorts of issues, where Joshua might feel afraid to speak out in certain situations. It could affect his confidence and his ability to engage in an outward going manner with other children. All of this can lead to a long-term sense of racial trauma, I think, and a really internalised feeling of poor self-worth because of the racism that he’s experienced in his early life experiences.

Potentially, it could lead to a lack of wanting to engage academically. He might think that schooling isn’t for me because I’m bullied all the time, because I’m led to feel like I’m worthless. I think that’s a real long-term implication that we need to be aware of.

Practitioners would already be well versed on supporting children’s personal, social, and emotional development. I think there’s a real need to understand that through a racialised perspective and understand how young children come to develop their own sense of racial awareness and begin to notice difference in themselves and others. So we know from the research that from as young as three months old, babies tend to look at faces from their own familiar racial group of their primary caregiver compared to those from other different racial groups.

That differentiation only improves with age. So from around one to two years, children begin to use racial difference and skin colour and physical facial feature differences to differentiate themselves and others. As they begin to play together, they use those markers to create in-groups and outgroups in their play practices.

Actually, by the time that they’re three or four years old, research has shown that children of all races tend to hold pro-white biases in terms of peer friendships but also preferences for resources. And the doll test is a famous experiment of that that, I think, carries a lot of salient consequences even in today’s understanding of children’s play practices. So certainly training but with a specific racially aware focus for me is really important. What we’re trying to do here is ask educators to become more attuned to these sorts of issues in young children’s lives.

We can often come up against colleagues who are less willing to engage and more hesitant for a number of different reasons. So including the whole staff team can be really important in creating that holistic understanding. The ways in which you can do that is just by beginning slowly in your everyday practice to raise those questions about race and difference.

Begin to have those conversations. And begin to develop an open culture where it feels comfortable to have conversations about what it’s like to discuss race and racism with young children. These can be small, micro moments where it’s really important for practitioners who perhaps aren’t aware of these sorts of issues to begin to think about the nature of racial difference in young children’s lives. So certainly, having that training around the young children’s racial identity development and how that works from a young age but also ensuring that all practitioners within the setting are on board and feel confident to speak about how these sorts of issues play out with young children can be really, really important.

Parents are the first educators of children. So we know that they have such a significant responsibility in promoting their own child’s positive sense of racial identity. I suspect there’ll be lots of parents listening to this conversation now and reflecting on the training materials. They have a real responsibility to call out and call in their settings and really hold them to account with regards to the work that they’re doing.

They can be useful resources. So perhaps settings are a little bit unsure about what to do, what to say, what language to use. Parents and carers can be proactive in having those conversations with their nursery settings and ensuring that their child is supported with regards to their racial identity development in the home but also in the nursery environment.

Another thing that parents can do perhaps is talk to other parents, build those coalitions and those communities. It’s very likely that if you are living in the same community you might be facing similar issues with regards to the broader political context and what’s happening going on in that community safe space.

So building those coalitions, having those conversations with other parents. What sorts of issues are you experiencing with your young child? Are you seeing the same sort of thing? That can be really useful.

And it can often help those interactions between children. Because when the children’s parents are aligned on the importance of discussing difference, that can feed down into young children’s play practices. And perhaps there’s comments that they might have received from media or even parents or other adults in their lives might be mitigated against if parents are actively having those conversations with young children about the value of inclusivity.

I think that’s particularly important for parents of white children too. A lot of people and families can think that we’re all white here. Therefore, we’re all right here. And we don’t need to have these sorts of conversations.

Actually, it’s even more important for those families that they have those discussions about race and difference and people who are different to them within the world and ensure that they are supported to be proactive with those sorts of conversations. It can ultimately mitigate and challenge the racism that we might see in nursery environments, leading to all sorts of things in terms of poor self-esteem, poor confidence, and negative wellbeing that we discussed earlier with regards to Joshua.