Social Justice and Equity – a Journey toward ‘flourishing with difference’ at ECMS
At the 20th Social Justice in Early Childhood Conference on beautiful Gadigal Land in July, ECMS Victoria was among four amazing recipients to win an Anti-Bias Award. We thought carefully about what this would look like, given we had only been on this journey for the last two years. However, we knew it was important for us to tell a part of this story to date, recognising that we are not alone in our ongoing journey towards ‘how to live well and flourish with difference’ (Taylor & Giugni, 2012, p. 109) as a large for purpose early childhood education and care provider.
In this blog, I wanted to share a bit about what this journey has looked like so far in the hopes that organisations and teaching teams can connect with other ways of doing and being when it comes to operations and pedagogy and how the two can be used to grow and transform anti-bias approaches at scale. Through this holistic, whole organisation approach, we’ve learned so much about ourselves, each other and the power of ‘WithShips’ (Scarlet, 2020).
An Evidence Based Approach
We have been fortunate enough to partner with academic mentor, Dr Red Ruby Scarlet, throughout this journey, whose work using anti-bias approaches within post humanist and post-colonial paradigms stems from her postdoctoral research with Professor Affrica Taylor in 2010-2012 in which a framework widely known as ‘Common Worlds’ was developed. We have since embraced Dr Red Ruby Scarlet’s practice of “withshipping’ that brings unlikely things together. The magic of this evidence-based approach has meant we’ve been able to map the connection between the guiding goals of the anti-bias approach and the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF V2.0) version two learning outcomes, creating the foundation of our organisational approach to ‘Pedaration’, but more on that down the page!
A Catalyst for Change
We began this adventure back in 2022, recognising that embracing an anti-bias approach was anchored in our ECMS Pedagogical Framework, and together with our new ways of working introduced by Dr Red Ruby Scarlet, we set upon creating the threshold conditions to open the hearts and minds of ECMS to consider change at scale across our organisation.
Our bespoke pedagogical framework is anchored in ‘place-based’ education, which has opened our eyes to the unique gifts each ‘place’ brings in promoting anti-bias approaches and practice. It’s been amazing to see how this approach has transformed the way we interact, communicate, and relate to each other.
In ECMS we affectionately refer to place based as the gift of place – engaging explicitly with Indigenous ‘ways of working’ (Martin 2008) as it deepens the authentic ‘situatedness’ (Haraway 1997) of the places in which each ECMS services belong. Haraway’s (2003) work has influenced our search for meaning making within the new concepts in the EYLF V2.0, related to social cohesion (within the context of ‘belonging’ and ‘becoming’) for more socially just ways of practicing as early childhood practitioners and system leaders.
In our collaborative work, we recognise there are many kinds of ‘belongings’ that are formed through the relationality ‘with’ place, people and our ECMS purpose, ‘to foster lifelong learning’ (ADGE, 2022). In our ways of working, we become attached to these elements of people, place and purpose as one of our ‘WithShips’ (Scarlet, 2020)
The Power of Collaboration
One of the unique aspects of this journey has been our inquiry-based approach, which is all about working together to engage in pedagogical awakenings, together with our operational approaches, which we know are necessary in all organisations. This is where the term ‘Pedaration’ was born. Pedagogy leading through operations to create places and spaces where every person at ECMS can see themselves and their work, in what we collectively do in our journey toward social justice and equity in practice. Using an enquiry-based approach means that operational practices are now being crafted to be based on pedagogical approaches outlined in the anti-bias goals and the EYLF outcomes.
We’ve formed strong collaborations between our pedagogical and operational teams, making sure that everyone is on the same page as we scale our initiatives. This has been slow, purposeful work where coming together to unpack, go deeper, share, understand and often sit in the discomfort of transformative practice.
By prioritising anti-bias approaches, we’re reshaping how our organisation operates. It’s all about being critically inclusive—creating spaces that truly honour and celebrate diversity. This commitment has driven our awakening to the possibilities of place-based pedagogy within our ECMS Pedagogical framework.
Deep Connections and Conversations
Over the past two years, we’ve teamed up with our 68 teaching teams and our robust 55-member Support Services Team to dive deep into the 16 modules of the Anti-Bias Approach in the Inclusion Rooms professional learning series. We tackled topics like bias, prejudice, and racism, with an in depth focus on Indigenous perspectives, which has brought about transformative changes in how we privilege Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, doing and being in both our teaching and learning programs, and as a support services team.
Throughout this journey, we’ve engaged in some profound relational work. Regular meetings, arts practices, and, yes, even some heated debates have helped us explore different perspectives and foster a sense of ‘withness’ among our teams, for both our teaching teams and at support services. We’ve learned to be radically honest with each other, and that’s made our work unique and relevant to our context.
Arts embodied practices have enabled ways of knowing, doing and being that stem from Paddy Lather’s (2003) question of ‘what counts as valid knowledge and who decides’ the very question we will all find on page 18 of EYLF V2.0. This critically inclusive way of working has generatively and delightfully unexpectedly began to craft the ECMS identity of all of us working here.
For example, ‘WithShips’ (Scarlet, 2020) emerged from ‘Memory Palaces’ (paper and writing implements that enabled human collectively) as they captured vulnerable and critical somatic experiences of bias and the extent to which people saw and felt it in themselves and others. The work is equally tender and tricky – but either way – necessary.
Privileging Indigenous Perspectives
Engaging with Indigenous perspectives is a crucial part of our work. We’ve been inspired by the research of incredible early childhood Indigenous scholars like Aunty Dr. Sue Atkinson and Dr. Karen Martin. Their insights have helped us authentically connect with the places where our ECMS services are located.
We have learnt that Aunty Dr Sue Atkinson’s Signs, Signals and Symbols (2007) can be applied to both what works to include or what works to discriminate. This Yorta Yorta way is a critically inclusive framework that ‘matters’ into and out of place, body and mind. For us, it illuminated how non-human things construct and create us – like Country growing us up.
We’ve also had the privilege of partnering with the University of Melbourne on some ground-breaking research within the Ngarrngga project. This collaboration has given us valuable insights into how we can better support the early childhood education sector in understanding Indigenous knowledge systems. It’s about ensuring that all Australian children have the chance to connect deeply with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures and the role our organisation can play in this.
It’s worth noting this is long slow work. Dealing with racism is central to sustainability of a society and while the EYLF version two does in multiple places now compel educators to ‘embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives’ – we have yet to explicitly address racism – which is the most necessary element of authentically embedding these perspectives as non-Indigenous people.
Looking Forward
At ECMS, we know that the journey toward equity and social justice in early childhood education is ongoing. While much research focuses on individual classrooms, we’re proud to take a holistic organisational approach. We’re just getting started, and our findings so far show how pedagogical practices can positively shape our operational ones.
At ECMS we privilege the necessity of anti-bias approaches as a whole organisation way of working – and lean into the EYLF V2.0 with its explicit expression of the anti-bias goals and sustainability in all its forms (social, economic, environmental).
Our goal is simple yet profound: to help over 1000 educators and 50 support staff answer the question, “How do we invite children to know who they are and where they are?” Together, we’re building a community that values and embodies an anti-bias approach. And we’re excited to share where it takes us next in the coming years.
“Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
We would love to connect with you about what social justice and equity practices look like at your place – get in touch with so we can keep the conversation going.
Emma Forsyth
emma.forsyth@ecms.org.au
Reference List
Atkinson, S. (2020). The challenges and successes of Indigenous parents as decolonisers of ‘mainstream’ early childhood spaces in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. In Scarlet, R. R. (2020), The Anti-bias Approach in Early Childhood. MultiVerse Publishing: Erskineville
Haraway, D. (2016). Staying with the trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press: Durham.
Martin, K. (2008). Please knock before you enter: Aboriginal regulation of outsiders and the implications for researchers. Teneriffe, Qld: Post Pressed.
Scarlet, R. R. (Ed) (2020). The Anti-Bias Approach in Early Childhood. MultiVerse Publishing: Erskineville.
Taylor, A. & Giugni, M. (2012). Common worlds: Reconceptualising inclusion in early childhood communities. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 13(2), pp. 108-119