Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves

by Louise Derman-Sparks, Julie Olsen Edwards

Overview

Becoming a skilled anti-bias teacher is a journey. With this volume’s practical guidance, you’ll grow in your ability to identify, confront, and eliminate barriers of prejudice, misinformation, and bias about specific aspects of personal and social identity. Most important, you’ll find tips for helping staff and children learn to respect each other, themselves, and all people. Over the last three decades, educators across the nation and around the world have gained a wealth of knowledge and experience in anti-bias work. The result is a richer and more nuanced articulation of what is important in anti-bias education. Revolving around four core goals—identity, diversity, justice, and activism—individual chapters focus on culture and language, racial identity, family structures, gender identity, economic class, different abilities, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781938113574
Publisher:	National Association for the Education of Young Children
Publication date:	04/14/2020
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	138,952
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 10.80(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Louise Derman-Sparks is an internationally respected anti-bias educator and author. She speaks throughout the United States and abroad. Louise has a lifelong commitment to building a more just society for all people. She was a Pacific Oaks College faculty member for 33 years—when its mission and pedagogy reflected anti-bias education principles. She served on the NAEYC Governing Board 1997 to 2001.

Julie Olsen Edwards began her early childhood education career working as a family child care provider. She worked for Head Start and taught in private and public preschools and elementary schools. For 38 years, Julie was on the faculty of Cabrillo College’s early childhood education department, served as program chair, and was founding director of the campus Children’s Center. A lifetime activist for children and families, she continues to write, teach, and consult on issues of equity, diversity, and anti-bias; emerging literacy; and family life and empowerment. She served on the NAEYC Governing Board from 2003 to 2007.

Read an Excerpt

What if someone told you that you could contribute in a small but significant way to making the world a better place? Would you want to do it? Of course you would. Then read on, because that is what this book offers—a chance to make the world fairer and more humane for everybody. And it offers the chance to achieve that grand goal from a place where you have already chosen to be—in your daily work with children and families.

Table of Contents

• Foreword, Carol Brunson Phillips
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Anti-Bias Education and Why it Matters
• Chapter 2: Constructing and Understanding Our Social Identities and Attitudes: The Life-Long Journey
• Chapter 3: Building an Anti-Bias Education Program: The Material Environment and Curriculum Principles
• Chapter 4: Building an Anti-Bias Education Program: Clarifying and Courageous ABE Conversations with Children
• Chapter 5: Building and Anti-Bias Program: Relationships among Staff and with Families
• Chapter 6: Fostering Children’s Cultural Identities and Fairness
• Chapter 7: Learning about Cultural Diversity and Fairness
• Chapter 8: Learning about Racialized Identity and Fairness
• Chapter 9: Learning about Gender Identity and Fairness
• Chapter 10: Learning about Different Abilities and Fairness
• Chapter 11: Learning about Economic Class and Fairness
• Chapter 12: Learning about Family Organizational Diversity and Fairness
• References
• Glossary

Editorial Reviews

Once again NAEYC has made available to the field a powerful expression of what all of us strive to provide for the children in our care. I remember embracing the original Anti-Bias Curriculum when I was a new Head Start teacher—it shaped and guided my practice for years. I am certain that this new edition will help the next generation of teachers create enriching learning environments that reflect, support, and respect the diverse backgrounds of the young children they serve.
—Calvin Moore, President, National Association for Family Child Care

The new book integrates our understanding of anti-bias with current research and knowledge, creating a theoretical and practical book for anyone interested in exploring antibias education. Louise and Julie have captured the essence of the original ABC book and expanded it—this volume is a thorough discussion of the issues with thought provoking questions and practical suggestions for anti-bias classrooms!
—Christina Lopez Morgan, Chair, Child Development and Education Department, De Anza College

How exciting to finally have the anti-bias “bible” updated! I love the addition of the “Voices from the Field” segments and the new chapters on economic class differences and family structures. I also greatly appreciate the focus on adult development in this process. This book should be a part of every early childhood professional’s library!
—Debbie LeeKeenan, Director, Eliot Pearson Children’s School, Tufts University

From the Publisher