Early Years Wales is an umbrella charity funded by Welsh Government, Local Authorities and members to support the early years and childcare sectors in Wales.
As a third sector organisation, our Race Equality work is undertaken in the context of the Race Equality Action Plan and through the early education commitments to the Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic Communities, Contributions and Cynefin in the New Curriculum Working Group recommendations that were accepted by Welsh Government in March 2021.
Under the leadership of the current CEO, Early Years Wales has ensured that all staff working for the organisation have undertaken at least two opportunities to receive race equality training since 2020. These training sessions have been delivered to enable every member of the staff team to understand the lived experiences of people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities; understand how the early years sector can demonstrate leadership and provide meaningful learning opportunities to embrace the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society Wales is; and contribute personally and through their work to ensuring Wales is an anti-racist country by 2030
Early Years Wales has worked with organisations, including:
- The Black Nursery Manager Training and Consulting Ltd.
- Promote Equality
- BAME Ed Wales
- Show Racism the Red Card
- DARPL
- Welsh Government's Cross Party Working Group on Race Equality
- Cardiff Metropolitan University
- Sticks and Stones Outdoor Learning
- No Boundaries
The range of educators on race equality that Early Years Wales has engaged with ensures that our content is balanced, research-informed and authentic; being led by professionals with qualifications, training, and personal experience in race equality issues in the UK.
We are committed to the following funded and values-led aspirations.
- To work proactively and in collaboration with Welsh Government in response to the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan
- To work strategically and share information with individuals, organisations, and childcare and playwork providers to support their contribution to the Welsh Government in response to the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan and to further embed anti-racist principles in settings and in practice.
- To demonstrate leadership in embedding anti-racist practice in organisations.
- To proactively work towards increasing the diversity of the workforce in early years, education and leadership in Wales.
- To developing training materials to increase the understanding of anti-racist practice and embed this in settings.
- To develop learning materials to support an understanding of, and celebration of diverse cultures.
- To ensure all children in Wales feel valued, recognised and welcomed in early years spaces with sensitivity to their cultures, religions, and heritage.
We will do this through:
- Committing to regular leadership training and staff development opportunities to keep our knowledge up to date.
- Supporting recruitment strategies to increase the diversity of the workforce.
- Providing opportunities to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities to engage with, inform and shape our work.
- Providing leadership to address inequality.
- Providing resources and training opportunities to support the early years workforce.
- Regularly reviewing our work and outputs with sector leaders in race equality and diversity.
Date reviewed: June 2022.
