The Minister for Justice Mr John O’Donoghue today launched two reports focussing on addressing discrimination in early childhood and education.
"Éist - Respecting diversity in early childhood care, education and training" is published by Pavee Point Travellers Centre and highlights the need for including diversity education in early years training and practice.
This report advocates an anti-bias approach in education, which stresses an awareness of culture and aims to develop an understanding among pupils and teachers of cultural difference.
The report acknowledges current international research on the development of prejudice in young children and recognises the need for adult training which addresses racism and discrimination issues.
Minister O’Donoghue said: "It would be wrong of us to deny that prejudices still exist in our society. Prejudice is born of fear and ignorance.
"We all need to address our prejudices and ensure that we do not pass them on to the next generation. We need to ensure that the children of today are not the bigots of tomorrow."
Arising from the report, the Éist project, which is to be funded by the Government for its first, three-year phase, involves the development of appropriate materials for use in childcare settings and in training.
It will also involve raising awareness of the anti-bias approach through information leaflets and the provision of in-service training to meet the immediate needs of service providers.
The second report launched today, "Respect" is a report of the conference "Education without Prejudice, a Challenge for Early Years Educators in Ireland", which took place in 1998 and was also organised by Pavee Point.
The conference highlighted the need to address issues of racism, discrimination and prejudice in training and practice in the early years sector.