Prejudice reduction with grade primary and one students : a comparision of multicultural and anti-racist teaching strategies

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of Multicultural teaching and Anti-racist teaching in reducing prejudice in grade primary and one students. The study involved 92 five- to seven-year-old children. They were administered a pre-test of an adapted Bogardus Social Distance Scale one week before the treatment. Following a presentation of The Black Snowman, by Phil Mendez, the subjects were randomly assigned to a treatment group, Multicultural, Anti-racist, placebo, or control. After a twenty-five minute treatment session a post test was administered. A paired t-test of the pre and post-test indicated that the Multicultural treatment significantly (p =.0002) reduced prejudice. The Anti-racist treatment resulted in a small increase in prejudice which was not statistically significant. The results suggest that educators who wish to reduce prejudice should use a Multicultural approach with young children.