Books: A Key to a More Diverse Mindset
Angela Briggs-Mee is Trust Subject Network Lead for PHSE, and teacher at Ilkesthall Primary School
Imagine for a moment that you are an 8 year old child sitting in a classroom in rural Suffolk. You look around the classroom and you probably see faces that look very similar to your own and know that most of the others come from homes that are probably quite similar to yours too. So, how do you ever experience difference and develop an empathy and interest in people who have different skin tones, different family structures or different beliefs to you?
As educators it is our responsibility to find opportunities to expand children’s experiences of the diverse world in which we live, and teach them to love and appreciate it. One simple way we can stride toward this goal is down the corridor in our school libraries. That’s right: the answer is books!
When we read books, it allows our minds to wander to far-flung locations and live amongst people we have never experienced before. When we read quality stories with diverse characters and settings to children, we have the potential to open up ways of life they have never encountered previously. A reader almost always empathises with a character on their journey and can see that these people (no matter their bodily ability, religious views, skin tone, family circumstances,etc.), deep down are the same as they are: just people with feelings and ambitions.
When choosing the next class novel or display of books for your school, consider if there is a range of backgrounds and cultural contexts there, not just in a contrived way to tick a diversity box, but to genuinely provide the children with the chance to immerse in something new and different.
