Teaching Preschoolers about Diversity: A view from Greece

This paper describes instances of teaching preschool children about diversity among human groups, as it has taken place in some kindergartens in a Greek town. The focus is on the categories used and on the way they are proposed, questioned, accepted, refused or legitimated by the teachers and pupils taking part in the interaction. The paper analyses eight reports written by trainee teachers in a preschool education department at a Greek university, which describe classroom activities and report classroom dialogues. Teaching relies on stereotypes and a strict classification of human kind into four races that the trainees defend against occasional attempts to 'defy' them on the part of the children. The paper contends that teacher training should include sensitising courses that provide perspectives on race, ethnicity, culture and nationality. Trainee teachers would thus have access to conceptual and linguistic resources more suitable for dealing with the topic of human diversity.