Federal Government Orders Political Indoctrination of Two Year Olds

Pre-school guidelines for activists

Susie Obrien, Daniel Wills: The Advertser | April 13, 2009

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25331336-5006301,00.html

HIGH-PROFILE Labor MP Maxine McKew wants to train toddlers and pre-school children to become political activists.

She has drafted her controversial Early Years Learning Framework which, if adopted, would cover all kindergartens, childcare centres and other early childhood settings.

The guidelines would also provide the basis for the education and care of all Australian pre-schoolers and are due to be implemented in July.

Ms McKew, the woman who ousted former Prime Minister John Howard at the 2007 election, is the Parliamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education and Child Care. She wants children to:

CONTRIBUTE in a meaningful way to reconciliation, including flying the Aboriginal flag and inviting elders to give talks.

USE “social inclusion puppets” and “persona dolls” to explore exclusion and ethical issues.

CHALLENGE and resist bias and discrimination.

TAKE action in unfair situations and learn to act when injustice occurs.

ASSESS and act on power dynamics as they get older.

The political emphasis of the guidelines has divided early learning experts.

Leading educational consultant Kathy Walker has questioned the merits of such issues being “rammed down the throats” of two, three and four-year olds.

“Although I welcome the emphasis on play-based learning, there is an air of political correctness about the document overall,” she said.

University of South Australia early childhood education expert Anne Glover said racism was a major problem in SA and steps must be taken to eradicate “negative attitudes” in early childhood.

“While some people might say this is a form of social engineering, all our activity is some kind of engineering, and it’s all political,” she said yesterday. “Children aren’t born with prejudice, they aren’t born with negative attitudes, they learn them from their environment.”

SA Association of State School Organisations director David Knuckey said members of his council had been involved in lengthy consultation sessions on the framework. He said it was critical educational values were not dictated by government bodies.

“Certainly you would want children to learn the values associated with what we would call social inclusion,” he said. “But it is important these policies, these agendas, are being driven by community ideals and not a political agenda.”

Under the $700,000 new approach to early childhood education, the goal will be to “promote children’s civic participation and nurture sociall ...

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