“You might say that my entire life is early childhood focused!”

Dana Bentley takes long strides through the early years landscape, taking note of what flourishes and what requires further nourishment. She has long observed the early years from afar, but also up close. She is as much an observer as she is part of it. Dana is an assistant professor in Early Childhood Education at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She also teaches PreKindergarten in Cambridge. First and foremost, she is the mother of two young children. These worlds within worlds enable Dana to gather perspectives that traverse theory and practice.

“It’s been many years, and so much has changed, but so much has stayed the same,” Dana muses.

Eighteen years ago, when Dana set out, some things were not talked about all that much. Anti-bias education was one such area. Dana was drawn to it. Even to begin with, she understood that her work was about relationships and empathy. For Dana, her work embodied inclusion and supported communities in meaningful ways. There were indelible links. 

“For me, anti-bias practice is all about wonder. It’s all about questions. If we, as educators, begin with wondering, it opens up the curriculum and the classroom.  If we begin with the understanding that we don’t know, that we have to learn from children and families, and that this learning will shape our work as a class, we position ourselves differently, as open and willing to be changed by the communities around us.” 

While ‘bias’ and the notion of it is often part of our collective discourse, it is not always clear what it means.

Bias imprints on us all, in ways we may not be aware of. Part of combating these prejudices is questioning.

“As a white woman, this means that I am always questioning myself too, and my perceptions,” said Dana. 

“I have to question my own assumptions or ‘knowledge,’ wondering about how my biases, and how institutional bias is shaping what I think that I know.  This can be hard as a teacher, when I want so much to have the answers! But this work is all about questions, all about not knowing, about wondering with the children, and about making something new based on who we are and how we come together as a community.”

Anti-bias, removing biases in education, is fluid, evolving. Dana said there is no one answer when questioning or disrupting preconceived assumptions. She does have some thoughts on the process.

“In disrupting assumptions, I have to position myself as willing to question, and willing to be wrong.  This is something, active, something that I do constantly, and that I try to model for my students as well as my own children.”

“The next piece is about empathy, about learning the stories of my students that challenge my assumptions, being worthy to hold those stories, and being willing to be changed by them.  It’s this constant process of wondering, questioning, learning new stories and identities, and making space for those new stories to rewrite my reality.”

Dana has taught in Boston, Cambridge, and Manhattan, in diverse, urban settings with many different identities.  For many years she taught in a non-profit, United Way agency called Ellis Memorial, serving children and families in Boston’s South End.  From there she moved to a university-based early childhood center at Teachers College in New York, a place that focused work on diversity and inclusion. 

Now in the PreK at Buckingham Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, her work focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Dana’s research is entirely based on stories from the classroom. When she puts pen to paper to observe and analyse, she realises that her assumptions are challenged. Dana said stories become more visible, stories that she had not necessarily noticed before. 

“All of these strands are interwoven, (hopefully) keeping me in a place of questioning and disruption that allows for new understandings.”      

Some people may wonder about such things as bias in an early year setting. It may be deemed an aside to someone so young. However, at the crux of the matter, from birth children are rich observers. They absorb subtleties of language and behaviour. They may not comprehend the bias but that is not to assume it is not existent in their world. Dana said the first thing we can do with young children is to talk to them. 

“To tell them, in age-appropriate ways, about bias in the world.  We can explain, think with them, and support them in developing responses.” 

“There are many resources, books, classes, parent and teacher groups, but those are secondary to talking with our children.  When something is important to us, as teachers or as parents, we talk about it.  We teach about it.  We have to talk about bias.  We have to be brave, to share what we know, to question with children so that they grow up with this knowledge about institutional bias, and what they can do about it.”

“I have such faith in children, in their ability to make sense of this work, and to combat bias.  They are just so good at it.  We are the ones who are afraid, who stay silent.  So, we have to talk.  Have the conversation. Listen to your child, to your students.  You will find that they can handle it.  And they will teach you. And that will change the world.”

Children are honest and speak freely. This is one thing that is wonderful about youth and learning, the uninhibited aspect. Anti-bias education merely provides them with ways to think in considered, sensitive ways.

“Anti-bias education positions children as empowered, agentive, and able to think through these complex issues and offer their own perspectives,” said Dana. 

“This might mean them advocating for a peer on the playground, or talking about immigrant families being separated at the border.  When we engage in this work with children, we support them in developing a critical stance as advocates, which supports them in addressing injustice, and gives them a foundation for acting as allies in the world.”

Dana said that working with children is everything in her experience. She loves to read, to research and to write, but her theory means nothing if she cannot find it in the everyday experiences we have together.

“It’s when I see these theories come to life, ignited by the kids, that they gain meaning.  Truthfully, the kids are much smarter than the theory.” 

“We, as adults, can write about them and observe them, try to put words to their experiences, but they are the experience. They are the real thing.  And if we are smart, we listen to them, and let them teach us about what it means to be a young child.  That’s what I get to do every day, and it absolutely shapes everything about me as a researcher.”

Dana has written a book titled Everyday artists: Inquiry and creativity in the early childhood classroom. It explores the role of creativity and art in educating the young in a rapidly evolving world.

“Creativity and artistic practice are the place where children challenge the status quo, where they problem solve, they wonder, and they imagine what might be.”

Dana expresses that this is not necessarily about drawing classes or musical performances. Of course, art is broader, full of nuance and detail not always apparent to the eye. Dana said it is about giving children the space to create, to explore without expectation or structured goals.

“It’s about wondering with them, challenging them creatively.” 

“We don’t give children much space to do this kind of work these days, as we focus on extracurriculars and enrichment.”

“I believe that that my own children do their most creative work when they are attacking our recycling bin, pulling out materials, and coating my kitchen in masking tape.  Suddenly, I find that a new city has been built of pasta boxes, toilet paper rolls, old yarn, and yards of tape. Then they’re telling me about the laws of the city, and carefully building characters to live there.”

Dana views the child centered classroom and curriculum as an ideal space for anti-bias work.

“This space is built out of the individuals that inhabit it, their identities, and the social world in which they exist.  This means that our curriculum is rewritten every year, growing out of wondering together with the children, sharing identities, and weaving a collective identity as a community.  These approaches to classroom community means that we grow out of the children and their families, allowing them to shape each school year.”

The early years landscape is constantly moving and changing. Maintaining the core values of empathy, understanding and wonder without prescribed bias, there is greater room to grow and flourish.

“In addition, we look to the world around us, to diverse literature, and shapes of conversation to build anti-bias practices in our classroom.”

Dana explains that one critical component is the shape of conversation.

“We collaborate with children as meaning makers, but we do not hold all of the answers or power in the classroom. We work with the children, framing them as leaders and modeling discussion, collaboration, problem solving, and disagreement.” 

Crucially Dana identifies that: “We practice the work of holding multiple ‘truths’ or beliefs within one community, practicing flexibility and the understanding that differing perspectives can exist side by side. There are so many elements to the anti-bias community, but I think that these fundamental elements are perhaps the most critical.”

We all recognise and remember early childhood experiences. They stay with us. Those early years of life when we are enthusiastic about being involved and excited to discover more. We are impressionable and trusting.

During the springtime Dana attended a graduation of her sixth-grade class. One member of the class spoke about his experience in Dana’s PreK classroom.

“He told the audience about a flood in our room, caused by bursting pipes (New England winters!), and how the problem was presented to the class.  He shared how they sat in the damp classroom, solving the problem and determining what would be the most just resolution, and how this kind of thinking shaped him as a student.  I want more moments like this, and I want to know how they shape our children as they move forward into adulthood.” 

“I want to know how our early childhood ideas of anti-bias grow into adulthood.”

Like teachers the world over, Dana is eager to watch how her work evolves with the children as they grow.  Even by adulthood, our ability to show empathy, understanding and inclusion takes work and thoughtfulness.

For all that is to come, early learnings paves the way to meaningful growth, through the changing cycles of life.   

Article by Sinead Halliday

Learn more: https://lesley.edu/about/faculty-staff-directory/dana-bentley