Preventing Conflict and Building Social Cohesion through Respecting Diversity through Preschool Education

Preventing Conflict and Building Social Cohesion

through Respecting Diversity through Preschool Education

Ingrid Jones, (Albania) & Ljiljana Vasic, (Serbia)14th April 2015

THIS PROJECT IS FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) Civil Society Facility (CSF)

IntroductionEarly childhood education and development are seen as the most crucial elements in a child and therefore an adult’s development.

Learning about social relationships, interaction and respect for the individual and for diversity is an important part of every young child’s development. Yet, within preschool curricula within the Balkan Region there is little if no inclusion of these vital elements.

The Balkan Region in the last 20 years has seen civil disruption and war and this has left many people and countries divided and deep divisions that continue to affect daily the lives of many. If we wish to see a future with social cohesion and improved relationships we need to begin by working with young children.


Why did we Choose to Address Social Cohesion through Young Children?

The ‘Partnership for Reconciliation through Early Childhood Education and Development in Europe.’ (PRECEDE) Network was set up in December 2012 through funding from the European Union under its IPA Programme. The project was initially funded for two years with a potential 2-year follow-on grant.

The project was intended to develop a proactive and cohesive network of civil society organisations and governmental stakeholders within the Balkans to promote and implement peacebuilding, reconciliation and tolerance within communities through working with young children under the age of eight years old, their families, their teachers and their communities.


The Intended Results of the PRECEDE Project

The countries included: Albania, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Northern Ireland and from January 2015 Montenegro.

The strategy of the PRECEDE Network is to achieve the results through five main groups of activities:

•Action Research•Monitoring and Evaluation•Advocacy•Implementation of a Programme Toolkit within preschools settings and•Ensuring quality standards within civil society organisations.


Development of a Peace Building Programmatic Toolkit for use in Kindergartens

Three organisations, Pomoc deci, Serbia, Partnerë për Fëmijët, Albania and the Early Years Organisation, Northern Ireland had been members of the International Network for Peace Building through Young Children, INPB) since 2004.

Within Northern Ireland both during and following ‘the troubles’ and conflict, the Early Years Organisation have worked to improve the provision of preschool education and to breakdown the barriers and issues between the families and communities.


Choosing Peace Building Programmatic Toolkits to be Piloted in Kindergartens in the Balkans Region

1. The INPB members developed the International Toolkit Manual For Practitioners Working with Young Children and Families in Regions Experiencing or Emerging From Conflict for use within kindergartens or preschool classes across the world.

2. Aflatot is a preschool manual developed by the Aflatoun Secretariat in the Netherlands, for use with children aged between 3 and 6 years old, (preschool children). It addresses child rights, respect for oneself and others; the child and his/her family and community and savings and spending.

3. The Edu-Map Box of Diversity was developed by two authors in Croatia and specifically addresses diversity through disability.


The Pilot Phase within the Kindergartens • Five countries participated in the pilot phase:• The pilot period was from March to June 2014:• 48 kindergartens participated. They were chosen to represent both urban and

rural communities across the individual countries:• Each pilot class had a minimum of 20 children aged between 3 and 6 years old:• A minimum of half the parents with children in the classes would be invited to

participate in the interviews:• The preschool teachers would be trained to use the specific toolkit that they

would pilot:• 6 training programmes were implemented in Zagreb, Belgrade, Tirana, Prishtina

and Skopje for preschool teachers, kindergarten directors and other education or pedagogical specialists.


Baseline Survey• A guideline, consent form and interview questionnaires were developed for use

by interviewers:• The interviewers were supported and trained by a national project coordinator

who had participated in the training undertaken by the preschool teachers:• The baseline survey included 683 children; 83 Preschool teachers, all them

were female and 485 parents or family members:• The parents of all children were asked to sign a consent form giving permission

for their child to be interviewed. The parent was given the option to be present whilst the child was interviewed, but he or she was asked not to prompt or guide the child in his/her responses. If a child did not want to respond to a question a ‘no response’ was recorded.

• Photographs were used to support all the questions the child was asked and to ensure that there was no gender biais the photographs matched the child’s sex.


Baseline Survey – Some Photographs


Findings– Recognising Differences • Children were able to recognise difference amongst the photographs of the

children that we used. One child was a child that typically looked like a child from the majority population; another was a child in a wheelchair and the other child was a child from the Roma communities.

• Children tended to choose the child from the majority population as their first choice of a friend to sit next to, play with or to share their sweets with. For boys their next choice was the child in the wheelchair whereas the girls chose the girl from the Roma community.

• When ranking their friends the children repeated the same choice of photographs, therefore supporting the initial findings above.


Findings – Recognising Exclusion • Children found this particular exercise more difficult within the baseline

survey to initially distinguish that a child in the photograph was excluded from the group of children playing or reading a book.

• Typically they concentrated on the group activity and or the contents of the room, providing a long list of equipment rather than on the child sat apart and not joining in.

• In the Post-Evaluation Survey more children commented on the child not joining in and many added that the child was sad or left out.


Findings – Recognising Feelings • Children were shown four girls with different facial expressions depicting;

happy, sad, angry or frightened.

• The highest number of recorded comments was for the sad face or as some children commented the girl was crying with an equal number of responses for the happy and angry.

• Interestingly there were a large number of children who rather than use the words for feelings interpreted the girls as having been good or bad.

• The post-evaluation survey showed that more children were able to recognise the feelings correctly, but with equal numbers of children using sad or crying equally.


Preschool Teachers -Findings • Preschool teachers in the baseline survey did not have a clear

understanding of what inclusive education meant, with the highest number choosing the option: ‘Children with a physical disability attend the same kindergarten or preschool group as their peers’.

• In the post evaluation survey a higher number chose the option: ‘An accessible kindergarten with an inclusive policy and programmes where girls and boys with many differences and unique qualities learn together’, which was the desired answer.

• Regarding whether children recognise differences between themselves and others over the pilot period a large number of preschool teachers had changed their ideas to accepting that children do recognize differences in others.


Preschool Teachers -Findings • Regarding children excluding others due to difference there was a move

by preschool teachers over the three months that young children do exclude children because a child is different.

• Preschool teachers do think that kindergartens can influence the behaviour of young children and this is a very good basis for starting to work with children in the development of their attitudes and behaviour towards all children. Equally the majority of the preschool teachers feel that they can influence the behaviour and attitudes of young children even where the messages that they are given at home is less inclusive.

• Little change was found in preschool teachers opinions about their influence on young children in comparison to what children see on the television, in cartoons, books or on the internet. This would indicate that the materials provided to young children need to be suitable.


Preschool Teachers -Findings • Preschool teachers were in strong agreement that they and the child’s

parents need to work together to develop positive attitudes and behaviour in young children and that on their own neither group would have much effect if the community or society in which they live was unsupportive.

• Regarding parental involvement, the majority of preschool teachers had discussed the diversity programmes with parents and the majority of the parents were in favour of the pilot. The number of parents who were in favour of the programme had doubled in the post-evaluation survey.

• The preschool teachers were in favour of using the manuals and materials as this enabled them to discuss topics with young children that they had previous found very difficult as they neither had the methods or activities to do so.


Parents and Family Members -Findings • Similarly, parents within the baseline did not think young children noticed

differences in others, but at the evaluation stage more parents were now aware that their children did recognise differences and were excluding some children from their play due to difference.

• Regarding the reasons why young children pick on other children, the parents overwhelmingly in the initial survey did not think this was due to the child being different, but they had changed their views on this after the implementation of the pilot.

• Parents in both surveys believe that they have a major role in the attitudes and behaviour that their children develop and therefore it is important that we equip them with tools and means of explaining about differences to use with their young children.


Parents and Family Members -Findings • Parents were divided when asked if their influence on their child was small

in comparison to the influence of television programmes, cartoons, books and the internet, but in the post-evaluation survey there had been a move to wards more of them disagreeing with this statement and an acknowledgement that they could influence their child’s attitudes and behaviour.

• Equally there was a change in the parents views about their ability to change stereotypical ideas and views adopted by their child. More parents felt they could address these issues after the programme was implemented.

• Parents agreed that they and kindergartens needed to work together to develop positive attitudes and behaviour towards diversity with young children.


Parents and Family Members -Findings • Parents stated that they are happy when their child played with a child that

was different and this was replicated in the post-evaluation survey.• Did parents see the value of young children learning about diversity. In the

baseline survey there were many who did not see the value and thought the children were too young but this changed in the post-evaluation survey with more parents seeing it as important and also very much more interested to learn themselves.


Lessons Learnt• Both preschool teachers and parents have changed their minds in regard to

the need for young children to learn about diversity and to respect differences.

• There is a need for programmes, methods and materials for preschool teachers and parents to be able to discuss and explain to young children about diversity, so children understand uniqueness but also similarities and don’t exclude others or pick on them because they are different.

• Children can if provided with the words and facial expressions recognise feelings and how a person looks if they are happy, sad, angry or afraid. This can lead to empathy.

• Children can through learning about feelings understand how a child feels if they are excluded.


Next Steps• Develop a manual that includes what we have learnt and the best examples

and activities from the three piloted manuals.• Test the new manual and activities out in more kindergartens and for a

longer trial period.• Attract more parents or family members to be involved in the kindergarten

activities as this will strengthen their knowledge and ability to explain and discuss with their child confidently differences.

• Support the preschool teachers through mentorship to use the activities and the content of the manual in daily activities and not to see it just as a separate set of activities to be done on occasions.

• Evaluate if the findings in this pilot are replicated on a larger scale.


Thank You!

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Preventing Conflict and Building Social Cohesion through Respecting Diversity through Preschool Education