Gender Equality

[Guest]

Hi and help

At our Ofsted last month one of our recomendations is to increase resourses

of above- any ideas anyone?

[Rea]

Posters, jigsaws, books etc showing men ironing, women laying bricks, male nursers, female firefighters etc.

 

I used to cut pictures out of magazines, newpapers and stick them into a home made book.

I also included pictures of cultures, disabilities, ages. Anything that challenged the 'usual' way of looking at things.

 

Most of the education catalogues have a section on it but I found my own pictures related more to the real world.

 

I think these day most areas are covered in so much that most children get to see men and women in a variety of roles.

How about taking photos while you're out and about.

 

Above all I think it's more about challenging steryotypical thoughts within your setting. If a boy tells a girl she cant be a doctor, ask him why, show him pictures of female doctors. If a girl tells a boy he cant be a ballet dancer have resources to hand that show a different story.

I remmber a lad who wouldnt make a necklace because 'boys dont wear them'. I found a great photo of African tribesmen wearing the most colourful and varied beads. I didnt bombard him with the information, just had it displayed next to the necklace making activity.

[Guest]

QUOTE "Above all I think it's more about challenging steryotypical thoughts within your setting"

 

Couldn't agree more Rea, in fact I had a disagreement with an Ofsted Inspector a few years back over ta similar subject, ethnicity, she also said I didn't 'display' enough multicultural images. Even when I showed her the dispaly of childrens faces who attended the session. We had done an all about us topic, the display of childrens faces included, Canadian, Belgian, English, Irish, Back/Irish, Jamacan, Cypriot, South African and Japanese, all of which attended my setting at the time. She then went on to say that my mobilo people collection did not include a 'proportionate mix' of ethnic diverse characters, when I sorted them into sets they represented 4 different cultures.

I sopke to her about how having a poster displayed, or pictures of gender, ethnic diversity was just tokenistic if it was not used in the context of childrens understanding, she then argued with me that I was being tokenistic by having Handa's surprise book in my book display, I then showed her my planning about healthy foods to say I didn't have handa's Surprise out as a tokenistic gesture but because we had used for for a food topic, relevant to the childrens learning.

 

needless to say our personality clash resulted in a poor outcome.

This is a #hot topic' for me and as long as we all acknowledge that we are all prejudiced in many ways, but are all stiving not to be, that we value individuality, regarding ( not regardless as some equal opps policies state) differences such as gender etc then that is the best attitude to have and will foster childrens ability to 'see out the box' that adults can condition them to be stuck in.

 

Using real positive role models is much more effective than displaying photo's of, or using toys that supposedly represent the real world.

 

Ironically the seal photo pack has 144 pictures of children showing different emotions, of these there are more ethnic diverse pictures of children than white English. The 'proportionate mix' is not realistically correct.

 

Peggy

 

p.s. sorry got on my soap box there.

[Guest]

just to add Sheila, if you know you are not disciminating against gender, and that the Ofsted Inspectors comment has helped you review your practice, then that's good, just think before you go adding resources, are they tokenistic and only of benefit for inspection? or are they of real value to the childrens understanding of such a subtle and complex subject? only you know. I bet I can guess that you are just doing fine and that the Inspector couldn't find much else to 'pick you up on'

 

peggy

[Guest]

Totally agree Peggy. We have only a small nursery and quite a few posters up, jigsaws, clothes,food etc. and I did feel that the nursery would just become saturated with this subject. We got an overall good for both care and education and I did feel she was looking for something to pick up on for next time. Just looks as if we have not got resourses covering the subject at all.

[bubblejack]

I have been advised to use my inventory of equipment to highlight all my multi cultural resources.

Equipment is used on a rotational basis so this will be the long term provision. I then have to list all the different nationalities/faiths attending and show how I provide for them and what resources I have.

Oh dear that's reminded me to do it NOW.

[Guest]

Do you have a male nurse dressing up outfit? Both policeman and policewoman dressing up clothes? Role play is a great way to show gender equality. Also we were fortunate to have a male parent rota in when Ofsted did their last inspection.

[Guest]

Hi and help

At our Ofsted last month one of our recomendations is to increase resourses

of above- any ideas anyone?

 

 

Hi

I think what you should do is do an assessment on your setiing is it very famine based? for example have you every had a building yard in the role play area. Look at your environment with a males eye it's very interesting what you can pick out, ask someone who is not fronm your setting maybe even a male.

[Guest]

I was the committee member who got to attend the ofsted inspection for my son's playgroup a couple of years ago, and we got pulled up on exactly the same thing. We spent many hours trying to find the right thing and in the end we settled for buying the people sets out of Galt. I had left by the next inspection so I don't know if they were correct.

[Guest]

I love this subject and maybe its because I am not studying that I am on here putting my two pennyworth in. I think if Ofsted want more representation from each culture then they are asking for the impossible. The children in the nursery in the school I work in right next to my office have 18 different languages - trying to be representative of the community they live in would just be a bridge too far without upsetting someone somewhere. As far as I see them they are all just children, they laugh, they fight, they show affection - just small children growing up with each other. Lack of communication can be a problem sometimes and I believe can be more restrictive and less inclusive for the children than their colour or culture ever is. But that's my personal opinion. Ensuring that all the children are able to communicate and play with each other is vitally important for all children at this age. Watching them and seeing them develop these skills is fantastic - getting to grips with a common language is great.

Nikki