In many ways, Early Childhood Education (ECE) has been at the forefront of anti-biased curriculum in education. Louise Derman Sparks first published Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children in 1989. Anti-bias education is an underpinning that permeates everything in an early childhood program—including interactions with children, families, and coworkers (Derman-Sparks, Edwards, 2019). Parents and caregivers may not realize that very young children have an awareness of race and gender. Infants as young as six months old recognize differences in skin color. Research shows that by two and a half, children prefer playmates who are similar in race and gender; they form judgments about people based on racial differences as early as three years of age (https://news.yale.edu/2020/06/15/its-never-too-early-talk-children-about-race). Understanding this will help parents and caregivers understand why the anti-bias curriculum in ECE is indispensable.
How can we best collaborate with parents and caregivers around this topic?
One positive and proactive method that may help parents embrace your anti-bias curriculum is Windows and Mirrors. Windows and Mirrors is a curriculum method that values breaking stereotypes and reflecting and revealing the multicultural world to students. It enables the child to look through window frames to see the realities of others and into mirrors to see their own reality reflected. Picture books and children’s literature are central tools for teaching Windows and Mirrors.
Windows provides opportunities for children to look through literature, activities, and experiences to gain insights into the lives, cultures, and experiences of people who are different from them. Exposure to diverse experiences through Windows fosters empathy as children learn to appreciate the challenges, joys, and perspectives of others.
Mirrors reflect aspects of children’s own identity, culture, and experiences back to them. It involves using literature and activities that positively represent the child’s background and affirming and promoting a sense of identity, belonging, and self-worth. It also reinforces the idea that everyone’s story is valuable and valid.
Teaching parents and caregivers about how you use Windows and Mirrors in your classroom is one way to foster collaboration. Below are other tips. At the heart of this is the collaborative partnership with parents, which is central to the anti-biased curriculum.
Tips to Enhance Collaboration with Parents in Anti-Biased Curriculum: Be Proactive!
1. Share with parents the titles and synopses of books that you will be reading with children. When ECEs are proactive, parents are prepared for their children’s questions about their identity and the identities of others.
2. Share with parents some tips from experts when discussing the topic of race with their toddlers. You may want to share https://caribu.com/2020/06/24/how-to-talk-to-toddlers-about-race-according-to-experts/ with your families to provide them with a guide about how to talk about race.
3. Share the Windows and Mirrors approach with your parents and your purpose for using this method. The brief explanation of Windows and Mirrors in this blog may suffice. For more detailed information, you can read https://www.wcwonline.org/WCW-Blog-Women-Change-Worlds/On-the-30th-anniversary-of-emily-style-s-curriculum-as-window-and-mirror.
4. Invite parents to come in and talk about their family traditions. This can and should happen all year long.
5. Share your overarching anti-bias curriculum goals, themes, and topics for the year.
Anti-biased work is essential but not always comfortable for teachers or parents. It’s ok to be uncomfortable, to dive deep, and do this work. Our goal is to grow our children into adults who are more comfortable with differences than we may be and to deeply understand and appreciate one another, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or ability. We are building inclusive communities fostering anti-racist attitudes so that our children are more likely to contribute to creating a just and equitable society.
Let’s foster inclusivity and empower children through diverse perspectives and family partnerships.
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