Three imperatives: valuing an anti-bias curriculum, investing in early childhood education and promoting collaborative research

Three imperatives: valuing an anti-bias curriculum, investing in early childhood education and promoting collaborative research

[Abstract]: This paper draws on a collaborative inquiry that employed the methodological design of Participatory Action Research. It involved two Australian preschool communities exploring how children’s literature could be used as a strategy to support and promote an anti-bias multicultural curriculum. Based on the argument that anti-bias multicultural education is a key factor in developing human capital for an inclusive, productive multicultural society this paper discusses three imperatives that impacted on the collaborative inquiry. The first imperative concerns the fact that anti-bias multicultural education must begin in the early years. The second imperative highlights the importance of investing research energy into early childhood education to assist educators with strategies for implementing an anti-bias multicultural curriculum. The third imperative emphasises the need to underpin such research with collaborative inquiry that is participative and transformative.

Deposited in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.

'Copyright Statement:

Intellectual Property

Open access. Some rights reserved.

As the publisher of this integrated report, Eidos has an open access policy which enables anyone to access our content electronically without charge.

We want to encourage the circulation of our work as widely as possible without affecting the ownership of the copyright, which remains with the copyright holder.

Users are welcome to download, save, perform or distribute this work electronically or in any other format, including in foreign language translation without written permission subject to the conditions set out in the Eidos Open Access License which you can read at the back of this publication.

Please read and consider the full licence. The following are some of the conditions imposed by the licence:

• Eidos and the author(s) are credited;
• The Eidos website address (www.eidos.org.au) is published together with a copy of this policy
• statement in a prominent position;
• The text is not altered and is used in full (the use of extracts under existing fair usage rights is not affected by this condition);
• The work is not resold;
• A copy of the work or link to its use online is sent to the address below for our archive.

By downloading publications, you are confirming that you have read and accepted the terms of the Eidos open access licence. You are welcome to ask for permission to use this work for purposes other than those covered by the Eidos open access licence.

Eidos encourages circulation of our work under certain copyright conditions. You can read a summary of our open access licence conditions here.'