“I fought for a long time, but in the end we made the switch anyway.”

An Explo­ra­tory Qua­li­ta­tive Pilot Study on Addres­sing Insti­tu­tio­nal Racism in Ber­lin Day­care Centers

Child­care cen­ters are not spaces free of dis­cri­mi­na­tion: Fami­lies are repea­tedly con­fron­ted with ever­y­day racism there. This qua­li­ta­tive pilot study uses semis­truc­tu­red inter­views with par­ents and experts in Ber­lin to examine the expe­ri­en­ces fami­lies have and how they and the day­care cen­ters deal with inci­dents of racism. The fin­dings: Fami­lies expe­ri­ence racism in day­care cen­ters through dis­cri­mi­na­tory assump­ti­ons, mate­ri­als, and rou­ti­nes. Par­ents and day­care cen­ters deal with expe­ri­en­ces of racism in dif­fe­rent ways. Some par­ents bring up the issue of racism. In this way, they enable the day­care cen­ter to reeva­luate its own struc­tures and pro­ces­ses and res­hape them with an anti-racist per­spec­tive. Howe­ver, par­ents also report that some day­care cen­ters down­play racism, refu­sing to address the issue and ther­eby rejec­ting oppor­tu­ni­ties to imple­ment anti-racist prac­ti­ces. This sta­bi­li­zes the initial state. The fin­dings sup­port exis­ting rese­arch and align with demands from civil society, inclu­ding those for orga­niza­tio­nal deve­lo­p­ment that addres­ses racism, trai­ning cur­ri­cula for edu­ca­tors that address dis­cri­mi­na­tion and pro­mote diver­sity, and an insti­tu­tio­na­li­zed com­plaint manage­ment sys­tem. In addi­tion, the pilot study high­lights the signi­fi­cant need for rese­arch on racism in early child­hood edu­ca­tion in Germany.

Bos­tancı, Sey­ran; Biel, Chris­tina; Neu­hau­ser, Bas­tian (2022): “I Fought for a Long Time, but Then We Ended Up Swit­ching After All”: An Explo­ra­tory Qua­li­ta­tive Pilot Study on Deal­ing with Insti­tu­tio­nal Racism in Ber­lin Day­care Cen­ters. NaDiRa Working Papers 1, Ber­lin: Ger­man Cen­ter for Inte­gra­tion and Migra­tion Rese­arch (DeZIM).

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