Anti-Bias Education
“PMCCP is a very special place where our child is seen and known. We have been thrilled to find a school that aligns with our values of racial justice and equity, and where our multicultural family feels inherently valued.”
Culturally Relevant / Anti-Bias Education
At Pike Market Child Care & Preschool, we are committed to anti-bias education in the early childhood classroom. This begins with collaboration among the diverse people who make up our community — children, families, teachers, and the wider Pike Place Market neighborhood.
PMCCP is a place where differences are acknowledged, represented, and celebrated. We value what each child brings to our learning community and intentionally reflect families’ identities, cultures, and languages in the classroom environment and daily rhythm.
Because bias and prejudice harm all children, anti-bias education goals are woven into daily classroom life in ways that are age-appropriate and responsive to children’s development.
The 4 Anti-Bias Education Goals
1. Identity
Teachers nurture each child’s construction of knowledgeable and confident personal and social identities.
Children demonstrate self-awareness, confidence, family pride, and positive social identities.
2. Diversity
Teachers promote each child’s comfortable, empathetic interaction with people from diverse backgrounds.
Children express joy in human diversity, use accurate language for differences, and form deep, caring connections across all dimensions of diversity.
3. Justice
Teachers foster each child’s capacity to critically identify bias and nurture empathy for the harm bias causes.
Children recognize unfairness, use language to describe it, and understand that injustice hurts.
4. Action
Teachers cultivate each child’s ability and confidence to stand up for themselves and others in the face of bias.
Children demonstrate empowerment and the skills to act — alone or with others — against prejudice and discrimination.
Derman-Sparks, L. (2020). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Anti-bias work is challenging and requires a commitment from staff and families to examine and confront the biases in ourselves, as well as in our relationships with children.
See our Family Resources page for more information.
