PREVIOUS RESEARCH HAS EMPHASISED the importance of active citizenship in the early years for the development of a tolerant and cohesive Australian society. This paper presents findings related to young children's beliefs about exclusion based on gender and race1. The findings draw from a larger study exploring the development of children's moral and social values and teachers' beliefs and practices related to teaching for moral development in the early years of school in Australia. This current study examined reasoning about exclusion in early childhood with children aged five–eight years. One hundred children from seven schools (Preparatory to Year 3) answered questions relating to two scenarios where the children had to make a decision about whether to include others of different gender or race in their play. The majority of children believed that others should be included in their play, regardless of their gender or race. When asked to explain, the children primarily gave reasons related to moral concern and fairness. They were then asked whether they would continue to include or exclude if their friends (social consensus) or teachers (authority) suggested otherwise. Most maintained their beliefs when beliefs to the contrary were voiced by their peers and teachers. The implications of these responses are discussed.
Funded by the Australian Research Council 2008–2010, DP0880000.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AboudF. E., & LevyS. R. (2000). Interventions to reduce prejudice and discrimination in children and adolescents. In PskampS. (Ed), Reducing prejudice and discrimination (pp. 269–293). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum.
2.
AilwoodJ., BrownleeJ., WalkerS., Cobb-MooreC., Boulton-LewisG., JohanssonE., & WainmanB. (in press). Educational policy for citizenship in the early years in Australia. Journal of Education Policy.
3.
ÅkerlindG. S. (2005). Variation and commonality in phenomenographic research methods. Higher Education Research and Development, 24(4), 321–334.
4.
BowmanB., DonovanS., & BurnsS. (2001). Eager to learn: Educating our preschoolers.National Academy Press: Washington, DC.
5.
BrownleeJ., BerthelsenD., DunbarS., Boulton-LewisG., & McGaheyP. (2008). Investigating epistemological beliefs in vocational education for child care workers: New ways of thinking about learning and training. The Australian Educational Researcher, 35(3), 135–154.
6.
HillM., DaviesJ., ProutA., & TisdallK. (2004). Moving the participation agenda forward. Children & Society, 18, 77–96.
7.
JosephR. (1999). Environmental influences on neural plasticity, the limbic system and emotional development and attachment. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 29, 187–203.
8.
KillenM. (1991). Social and moral development in early childhood. In KurtinesW. M.., & GewirtzJ. L. (Eds), Handbook of moral behavior and development, Vol. 1: Theory; Vol. 2: Research; Vol. 3: Application (pp. 115–138). Hillsdale, NJ England: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
9.
KillenM. (2007). Children's social and moral reasoning about exclusion. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(1), 32–36.
10.
KillenM. (2008). Future directions: Social development in the context of social justice. In LevyS.R. & KillenM. (Eds), Intergroup attitudes and relations in childhood through adulthood, (pp. 642–657). New York: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2009.00548.x
11.
KillenM., Lee-KimJ., McGlothlinH., & StangorC., (2002). How children and adolescents evaluate gender and racial exclusion. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 67(4), 1–119.
12.
KillenM., & StangorC. (2001). Children's social reasoning about inclusion and exclusion in gender and race peer group contexts. Child Development.72(1), 174–186.
13.
LansdownG. (2005). Can you hear me? The rights of young children to participate in decisions affecting them. Working Paper 36 in Early Childhood Development. Bernard van Leer Foundation: The Hague, The Netherlands.
14.
LindsayG. (1998). Brain research and implications for early childhood education. Childhood Education, 75, 97–104.
15.
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) 2005.General Comment No. 7 (2005: 01/11/2005). Implementing Child Rights in Early Childhood. Available at http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/comments.htm.
16.
MaccobyE.E. (2000). Perspectives on gender development. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 24(4), 398-406. doi: 10.1080/016502500750037946
17.
MacNaughtonG., & DavisK. (2001). Beyond ‘othering’: Rethinking approaches to teaching young Anglo-Australian children about indigenous Australians. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood2(1), 83–93.
18.
MacNaughtonG., HughesP., & SmithK. (2007). Young children's rights and public policy: Practices and possibilities for citizenship in the early years. Children & Society, 21(6), 458–469.
19.
NesdaleD. (2008). Social identity development and children's ethnic attitudes in Australia. In QuintanaS.M. & McKownC. (Eds), Handbook of race, racism and the developing child (pp 313–338). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
20.
RutlandA., CameronL., BennettL., & Ferrell (2005). Interracial contact and racial constancy: A multi-site study of racial intergroup bias in 3–5 year old Anglo-British children. Applied Developmental Psychology, 26, 699–713. Available online at www.sciencedirect.com.
21.
RutlandA., KillenM., & AbramsD. (2010). A new social–cognitive developmental perspective on prejudice: The interplay between morality and group identity. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(3), 279–291.
22.
SmetanaJ. G. (1983). Social-cognitive development: Domain distinctions and coordinations. Developmental Review, 3(2), 131–147. doi:10.1016/0273-2297(83)90027-8
23.
SmetanaJ. G. (1995) Parenting styles and conceptions of parental authority during adolescence. Child Development, 66(2), 299–316.
24.
SmetanaJ. G., & BraegesJ. L. (1990). The development of toddlers' moral and conventional judgments. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 36(3), 329–46.
25.
TheimerC. E., KillenM., & StangorC., (2001). Young children's evaluations of exclusion in gender-stereotypic peer contexts. Developmental Psychology, 37(1), 18–27.
26.
TroppL. R., & PrenovostM. C. (2008). The role of intergroup contact in predicting children's inter-ethnic attitudes: Evidence from meta-analytic and field studies. In LevyS.R. & KillenM. (Eds), Intergroup attitudes and relations in childhood through adulthood (pp. 236–248). New York: Oxford University Press.
27.
TurielE. (1983). The development of social knowledge: Morality and convention.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
28.
WainrybC., BrehlB., & MatwinS. (2005). Being hurt and hurting others: children's narrative accounts and moral judgments of their own interpersonal conflicts. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 70(3), viii.
