Diversity, Equality and Inclusion in Early Years Setting
Introduction
Diversity refers to the consideration that each individual is unique and thus recognizing our discrete modification. This can be viewed in different perspectives like ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, race, social, economic status, age, physical abilities and political ideologies. On the other hand, equality can be defined as the state of being equal in regards to the administration of justice, equal rights and freedom from discrimination (Cologon & Mevawalla, 2018). However, inclusion is the state of being included within a group or leadership platforms.
Importance of promoting diversity equality and inclusion.
Promoting these virtues help to ensure that all children in a given society have the same access to education and protected from child labor and corporal punishment as well. It also promotes protection of teenagers from discrimination as a result of ethnicity or social status. Taking these virtues into account helps promote a peaceful society where all human rights and freedoms are enjoyed equally. In this regard, the virtues promote national cohesion, development and also ensure justice prevails at all time.
Effects of prejudice and discrimination to child’s life chances
Prejudice and discrimination impacts the future of children negatively. For instance, when children are discriminated in education, they do not reach their full potential in life. This leads to dropouts from school and thus increase in the rate of crimes. Alternatively, rise of prejudice leads to biased opinions on individuals and thus can compromise children potential. This leads to hatred within the society and thus slows economic growth of any given state.
Barriers to implementing equity in early year’s settings
There are varieties of barriers to equity in early time settings. They include but not limited to; lack of mentors, gender preferences, work place culture, chauvinism and lack of female leaders in the society. All these factors are hindrances to equality and above all, gender preference is the major barrier (Freeman, 2017). This is because some societies value some genders over others. However, these barriers can be eliminated by, equal participation of people in governance and economic production, encouraging education for all children regardless of gender, campaigning equal rights for individuals and discouraging gender discrimination in a society.
Cultural practices that undermine child’s rights
There are so many practices that affect the rights of children. They include, gender preferences among some communities. Additionally, early marriages undermines child rights and as a result leads to early pregnancies which at times results to maternal deaths. Due to different myths and misconceptions still existing in various communities, there is need for administrations to enact legislations to safeguard and protect juvenile rights. In the same note, children born with disabilities should be given equal opportunities to gain education in special schools (Schachner, 2019). In this perspective, perpetrators found guilty of any of the above practices should be punished according to the rule of law .This will ensure children achieve their full potential and become responsible citizens it the society.
Legal requirements and guidance relating to safeguarding children
Due to increase of cases of child discrimination, several legal guidelines has been put in place to safeguard children from exploitation. These requirements include, rights of children to quality education, protection from harm as a result from corporal punishment, right to play, right not to be separated from parents among others (Crawford & Hoiry, 2017). The impacts of this guidelines has reduced the rate of school dropouts, crime rates and has led to health environment where human rights are preserved.
Conclusion
Children are the future administrators of the society and there is need to shield them from harmful cultural beliefs which hinder their progress in life. To safeguard these juvenile rights, all humanitarian from all walks of life need to play a role in order to warrant children of their survival in the community. Abuse of child rights are rampant and thus when noticed, should be reported to relevant authorities and stern measures put in place to stop reoccurrence of the same. Lastly, school dropouts as a result of irresponsible parents or discrimination in the society should be considered for rehabilitation and readmitted back to school.
References
Cologon, K., & Mevawalla, Z. (2018). Increasing inclusion in early childhood: Key Word Sign as a communication partner intervention. International journal of inclusive education, 22(8), 902-920.
Crawford, A., & L’Hoiry, X. (2017). Boundary crossing: networked policing and emergent ‘communities of practice’in safeguarding children. Policing and society, 27(6), 636-654.
Freeman, M. (2017). The value and values of children’s rights. In Children’s Rights (pp. 91-106). Routledge.
Schachner, M. K. (2019). From equality and inclusion to cultural pluralism–Evolution and effects of cultural diversity perspectives in schools. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 16(1), 1-17.