B1: Discrimination can occur in various forms during a practice setting. For example social events during the calender year can cause serious discrimination issues for the practitioner.
Some religions do not recognise Birthdays whilst others actively encourage it. Is the practitioner expected to get all the children to sing “Happy Birthday” to the relevant child,or would this cause offence to another child within the group.
Also Christmas can pose discriminative challenges. Can the activities involve all the children without offence, or would celebrating the event cause upset and offence to another religion within the group.
Physical disabilities can pose challenges that could be labelled discrimination. For instance, in the Spring, Summer and Autumn, outside activities may not be within the physical capability of a child that uses a wheel chair. If the placement does not provide an external disability ramp out the back, as well as the front,this could have the disastrous consequences of leaving the child isolated, victimised and depressed.
The practitioner must also be aware of the various rates of learning, development and physical development within the group. It is so important that a child does not get left behind the rest of the group as again this tend to lead to feelings of isolation depression, low self esteem and self worth. This will stay with the child for the rest of their life as it is one of the most influential times for development.
A1- There are many pieces of legislation that influence all aspects of working practices within the early years settings.
The Health and Safety at work act 1974 was introduced to safeguard employees and indeed employers. As a follow on other statutory instruments and relevant legislation followed.
The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 was introduced to ensure fairness in the workplace and to ensure equal opportunities available regardless of sex. For example a male should not be refused work at a child care setting just because of his sex, this would also be discrimination
The Race Relation Act 1976 ensures that workers are treated equally regardless of race, cultural background or ethnic origin.
Control of substances hazardous to health COSHH 2002 places lots of responsibilities on employers and workers to ensure that no one ( child or adult) should be exposed to unnecessary risk from chemicals or harmful substances. For example at my last placement the cleaning chemicals particularly bleaches were stored in the staff toilet on a high shelf even though they had the legal required safety lids, this is as a result of COSHH.