PROBING CHILDRENS PREJUDICE - A CONSIDERATION OF THE ETHICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES RAISED BY RESEARCH AND CURRICULUM-DEVELOPMENT

Since the mid-1980s many schools in predominantly white areas have tak en active steps to counter racism and ethnocentrism and raise awarenes s of Britain's ethnic diversity through curriculum development. This p aper is primarily concerned with the ethical issues raised by research into such initiatives at primary school level. We begin by alluding v ery briefly to the shortcomings of extant research into children's pre judice, noting that some studies can be criticised for the unwitting r einforcement of stereotypes. We move on to examine the ethical and met hodological considerations which have underpinned our own work in this area, focusing on a recent investigation into children's understandin g of Jewish culture and identity. The techniques employed to probe the children's beliefs and attitudes and challenge their taken-for-grante d assumptions are described at length, together with the ethical dilem mas addressed during the course of the research. In the second part of the paper, we focus on issues raised by our own curriculum developmen t work in anti-racist and multicultural education in 'all white' schoo ls. We draw extensively on a recent case-study of 10 and 11 year-olds' responses to a teaching programme which aimed to counter stereotypica l images both of developing countries and Islam.